Assessments for NVLD

Capitalizing on Gerstmann’s early work (1940), Johnson and Myklebust (1967) brought thinking about NVLD into the “modern age.” In their book, Learning Disabilities: Educational Principles and Practices they described their version of the syndrome of nonverbal learning disorders. They observed fine motor difficulties, difficulties with math and writing, and difficulties in visual–spatial processing including something they called “social perception.” They suggested that children with these issues had difficulties in the following areas: understanding gesture, nonverbal motor learning, body image, spatial orientation, right–left orientation, and social perception. Additionally, they also noted that children with NVLD also demonstrated distractibility, perseveration, and disinhibition. Later work has also found overlap with ADHD and executive function issues (Landau, Gross-Tsur, Auerbach, Van der Meer, & Shalev, 1999).