NLD: Non-verbal learning difficulties

NLD (non-verbal learning difficulties) may occur with a number of neuro-developmental disorders, most commonly with Asperger's Syndrome. People with Tourette Syndrome may exhibit the symptoms of NLD to a greater or lesser extent.


Symptoms and characteristics of NLD:

• Difficulties with misunderstanding or inability to respond appropriately to non-verbal communications
• Difficulty maintaining attention in noisy or visually complex environments
• Sensory Defensiveness
• Difficulty with remembering or recognising faces and names
• Problems with locational navigation (e.g. negotiating return journeys, becoming lost in buildings, following directions, coping with route changes)
• Difficulties with reading & writing quickly despite often having excellent language abilities and early reading abilities
• Diificulties with use of IT and electronic media: typing on a keyboard, reading from screens (especially backlit or flickering) and following information presented via audio/visual media 
• Often compensate for non-verbal difficulties with highly developed verbal abilities. Often rapid speech and too many words
• Perception of the environment as chaotic and may attempt to take on too many simultaneous activities
• Anxious about failure. Often over-compensate by doing too much too quickly and hence become confused with the complexity and magnitude of the tasks they are faced with
• Difficulty with the recognition of emotions in other people and in expressing one's own emotions
• Difficulty with the appropriate use of touching. When to do it, how and when not to