What is NVLD?

updated 1/2023 Children with Non-verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD) struggle with social and spatial disabilities. There is currently no diagnosis of NVLD in the DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders). Poor spatial skills combined with good verbal skills is the essential feature required for a diagnosis of NVLD. These children typically have strong verbal skills but this doesn’t mean they are good communicators! Given their verbosity, it is easy for people to overestimate their social and language abilities. Let’s take a look at the skills that students with NVLD typically find challenging. Knowing what areas to look for can help an SLP objectively evaluate the content of different speech therapy approaches and materials to ensure they are a match for the child’s needs and profile.

Pragmatics/Social Skills Challenges in NVLD:

Conversational reciprocity

Children with NVLD can be verbose. Help them increase their awareness of when they are monopolizing a conversation. Teach them the components of a successful reciprocal conversation and the difference between a dialogue and a monologue!
Turn-taking, asking questions and making comments to keep a conversation going as well as talking about a variety of topics with peers are possible areas of focus. Help them successfully make a topic switch and understand what defines an “abrupt” topic shift.

Nonverbal communication

Children with NVLD may have difficulties in discerning tone of voice, body language and facial expressions, all areas that can be addressed in speech therapy. These students may be good at emotional literacy but will miss subtle social cues that are given through nonverbal communication. In turn, they may give off incorrect messages via their own nonverbal communication.
It can be difficult for them to detect and understand sarcasm.
Understanding and using tone of voice. Children with NVLD may lack inflection and show little variation in the rhythm and tone of their voice. Understanding a message from tone of voice only is hard for them which is one reason that sarcasm can be lost on NVLD students.

Humor and irony

can be difficult for NVLD students to understand
They may need help in understanding how or why a joke is funny.

Assessing social situations

Social situations can be a landmine for these students. Help them assess their listener’s level of knowledge on a topic by asking questions such as “have you ever heard of” or “what do you know about ____?” to prevent them from providing too much information on a topic.
Use a graphic organizer to organize and evaluate social situations.

Recognizing and repairing conversational breakdowns

Help them understand how to determine if their listener is interested in what they are saying and what to do to repair a breakdown.

Generalization

Since they have difficulties generalizing information from one situation to another, help them take what they have learned in one social situation and apply it to a similar but new social situation.

Understanding emotions

These students may have strong emotional vocabulary on the surface, but find it difficult to evaluate the emotional state of another person. If they do understand a person’s emotional state, they may not know how to react.
Focus in on the nonverbal ways that people communicate their emotions.

Social naiveté and NVLD

Students with NVLD may be perceived as being socially “naive” as they may not be able to adjust their discourse to their audience and to changing social situations. When should they use formal language and tone versus informal? What topics are acceptable to discuss with different conversational partners?

Students with autism need things presented visually. Students with NVLD benefit from hearing verbal language used to describe and to teach concepts that are difficult for them to grasp. If you have a student with autism and a student with NVLD together within a social skills group, you’ll need to be sure you are teaching using both visual and verbal modalities! You might find this post on Six Ways to get More from your Social Skills Interventions helpful too!

Looking for some social skills products for your student with NVLD?

Check out these products for your elementary students:

Topic Maintenance: Elementary

Conversation Chaos: Elementary

Interruption Combustion: Elementary

Or these products for your middle or high school students:

Conversation Scripts: Middle and High School

Let’s Talk: Social Communication Bundle for MIddle and High School

Language and Organization Challenges in NVLD:

Changing Academic Needs:

Monitor their academic skills as they move from grade to grade. In their early years, they can be strong in phonics and reading as their phonological systems are typically intact. As they move up in grades, there are more holes in their skills, particularly related to reading comprehension. As reading involves more advanced, holes in the following skills may be noted: discerning the main idea, understanding figurative language, multiple meaning words, inferential thinking, irony and humor. NVLD students may not have the semantic networks needed to be adept in these areas.
NVLD students may need support with organizing themselves on a daily basis, including organizing projects and their written work. Graphic organizers and daily planners are essential tools for these students. Support them with managing their time and understanding increments of time.
As math becomes more complex, they may struggle in this area too. A student with NVLD that is a strong student in kindergarten may not be a strong student in third and fourth grade.

Processing Complex Directions

Many students with NVLD also have difficulties processing information. This may manifest itself in having difficulties following complex directions in the classroom. A good rule of thumb is to have teachers present directions sequentially instead of using complex sentences that include concepts such as “before” and “after.”

Compensatory Strategies

Students with NVLD need to be taught to use compensatory techniques for their poor handwriting and reduced organizational skills. Their deficits in spatial organization make it hard to navigate their way around a new school or in a new grocery store. Practice and rehearsal of getting around in new environments is essential.
Pairing the student with a buddy for transitions is helpful.
Apply age and grade level expectations with flexibility. The child with NVLD may parrot their favorite part of a book but not remember to turn in an assignment on time.

Nonverbal learning disorder is a complex disorder. These students can have difficulties with motor coordination, handwriting, attention, anxiety and more. If you have a students with a NVLD diagnosis, or you suspect one, I hope this article has been helpful to you.