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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Nonverbal learning disability (NVLD), a poorly understood and often-overlooked disorder that causes problems with visual-spatial processing, may affect nearly 3 million children in the United States, making it one of the most common learning disorders, according to a new study by led by Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
The study, the first to estimate the prevalence of NVLD in the general population, was published online today in JAMA Network Open.
"NVLD is a huge and hidden public health burden," said Jeffrey Lieberman, Chair of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. "This important work might never have come to light if not for the support of dedicated advocate and their philanthropic support. We hope that these findings raise awareness of the disorder and lead to an understanding of its neurobiology and better treatments."
The name of this neurodevelopmental disorder may be part of the problem: children with NVLD are not nonverbal, as the name suggests, and have no difficulty reading. Instead, children with NVLD have difficulty processing visual-spatial sensory information, which can cause problems with math, executive function, and fine motor and social skills. "Children with this disorder might shy away from doing jigsaw puzzles or playing with Legos," says lead author Amy E. Margolis, PhD, assistant professor of medical psychology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. "They may have trouble tying their shoes, using scissors, or learning routes or schedules."
NVLD was first described in 1967, but compared with other learning disorders it has received little attention. There's little consensus among physicians on how to diagnose the disorder, and it is not included in the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The cause of NVLD is not known and there are no treatments.
Few parents have heard of NVLD. "Most parents recognize that a child who isn't talking by age two should be evaluated for a learning disorder. But no one thinks twice about kids who have problems with visual-spatial tasks," says Margolis.
[...] Margolis advises parents to seek evaluation for children with symptoms of NVLD. "Diagnosis can be accomplished using basic assessment tools," says Margolis. "It doesn't have to involve complex and costly neuropsychological testing. We envision that all clinicians who use DSM5 will be able to use our new criteria to determine who may meet criteria. They can then send patients for basic psychological testing that is always available through schools to identify/quantify a problem with visual-spatial processing."
-- submitted from IRC
Journal Reference:
Amy E. Margolis, Jessica Broitman, John M. Davis, Lindsay Alexander, Ava Hamilton, Zhijie Liao, Sarah Banker, Lauren Thomas, Bruce Ramphal, Giovanni A. Salum, Kathleen Merikangas, Jeff Goldsmith, Tomas Paus, Katherine Keyes, Michael P. Milham. Estimated Prevalence of Nonverbal Learning Disability Among North American Children and Adolescents. JAMA Network Open, 2020; 3 (4): e202551 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.2551
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2020, @10:05PM (5 children)
I don't want to say anything bad about my late father, so posting AC, but this reminds me of something that happened when I was a teenager. We had a clothes line in the unfinished part of the basement so we could hang the big comforter up to dry.
When one side of the comforter is dry, you need to turn it so that the other side dries in a decent amount of time. So my Dad is like, "can you help me?", and I had seen my folks do this before--take the comforter off the line, turn it over, and put it back on the line. You needed two people to do that. I hadn't really thought about it much, but then it occurred to me that I could keep it on the line, and just sort of pull one end back along the line, flipping it over without ever taking it off the line. I sort of butted in as he was about to take it off the line, and turned it over way faster and with no risk of it falling on the floor.
He was like, "OK, smarty pants", but at the same time I think he was proud of me for being like that.
I had always assumed that the WW2/military generation had "teamwork" drilled into their heads. That, I reasoned, was why turning over the comforter had to be a two-man operation for him.
In retrospect, maybe my Dad had this issue, or maybe it was just a random thing. I went on to get a EE degree and do computer stuff. My Dad did clerical work, and then later managed others who did clerical work which seems like it doesn't involve too much spatial reasoning.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Thursday April 30 2020, @01:00AM (3 children)
I seem to be good at thinking outside the box or seeing things that are obvious to me but not others:
When i was a kid taking driving lessons in school, we had to watch a video: the guy in the video does all this stuff and then at the end he looks in the rear view mirror and says something like "Uh oh, looks like the guy behind me won't be able to stop in time" and he leans forward and grabs the steering wheel.
My mind went to physics: i asked the teacher if the guy in the video shouldn't, instead, be pushing himself back into the seat instead. The teacher thought about it for a second and then said "I've been teaching this for 17 years and you're the first person to point that out."
What was obvious to me didn't seem to register with others (or register as a "I'll give a feck and point this out"?)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 30 2020, @01:04AM (1 child)
Great story, Grandpa. My Tesla drives itself so I don't have to worry about accidents.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 30 2020, @04:54PM
Just you wait until Runaway's truck loses the brakes and smashes into your rear end, at a light.
Then you will know why he chose that handle...and why your Tesla is like paper to a big rig.
(Score: 2) by Kell on Thursday April 30 2020, @02:48AM
I had written out a length reply about why the driver was making the correct action, and then reread your comment and noted that the scenario had the driver being rear-ended; as soon as I realised that, your point made sense to me. Appropriately, this is exactly the sort of visual/spatial reasoning that's being discussed: if I couldn't picture it in my mind's eye, I would not be able to ascertain that your solution was correct. This makes me wonder if the nonverbal learning difficulty is related to aphantasia.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 30 2020, @05:12PM
> ...keep it on the line, and just sort of pull one end back along the line, flipping it over without ever taking it off the line
Great minds think alike -- did the same thing for my Mom. We had a long outdoor clothesline and with sheets & towels it was quick to walk along the line, flipping/inverting each one in turn. Had to get them dry quickly, this area often has pop-up rain showers.
Can't dry clothes in our basement -- mold problems, even with dehumidfiers.