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Treating NVLD in Children pp 53–72Cite as

Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: A Speech-Language Pathologist’s Perspective

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Abstract

Consider Sam, an 8-year-old who, in the middle of a task about describing geometric shapes, asks “Did you know that a zebra is something like a horse?” Or Melissa, a 20-year-old in the same situation, who describes a striped triangle as “a unilateral triangle with a black dot running straight along the point from the apex to the base, lined with vertical stripes”. Speakers like Sam and Melissa, whose communicative profile includes the production of fluent, grammatical sentences complete with sophisticated vocabulary, but who have difficulty in using language appropriately, are increasingly found on a speech-language pathologist’s caseload. Some of these individuals may be diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability (NVLD). The purpose of this chapter is to explore the communicative characteristics associated with NVLD, to examine areas of overlap with other diagnostic categories and to discuss implications for communicative assessment, intervention and future research.

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  1. Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, 3-48 Corbett Hall, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G4, Canada

    Joanne Volden Ph.D.

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  1. Joanne Volden Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Joanne Volden Ph.D. .

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  1. , Clinic and Training Center, San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Gro, Funston St. 9, San Francisco, 94129, California, USA

    Jessica Broitman

  2. California State University, East Bay, Carlos Bee Blvd. 25800, Hayward, 94542-3095, California, USA

    John M. Davis

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Volden, J. (2013). Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: A Speech-Language Pathologist’s Perspective. In: Broitman, J., Davis, J. (eds) Treating NVLD in Children. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6179-1_4

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