Nonverbal learning disorder

Nonverbal learning disorder or nonverbal learning disability (NLD or NVLD) is a proposed condition characterized by a significant discrepancy between high verbal and lower performance scores on an IQ test

Intelligence quotient

An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The term "IQ", from the German Intelligenz-Quotient, was coined by the German psychologist William Stern in 1912 as a proposed method of scoring early modern...

, with deficits in motor, visual-spatial, and social skills

Social skills

A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways...

. Some proponents of the category believe that this discrepancy is attributable to dysfunction in the right cerebral hemisphere

Cerebral hemisphere

A cerebral hemisphere is defined as one of the two regions of the brain that are delineated by the body's median plane, . The brain can thus be described as being divided into left and right cerebral hemispheres...

.

NLD involves deficits in perception

Perception

In philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines would take about a decade,...

, coordination

Coordination

Coordination is the act of coordinating, making different people or things work together for a goal or effect.Coordination may also refer to:* Coordination bond, a type of chemical bond* Coordination number, a measure of an atom's nearest neighbors...

, socialisation, non-verbal problem-solving and understanding of humour

Humour

Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is and what social function it serves. People of all ages and cultures respond to humour...

, along with well-developed rote memory.

Nonverbal learning disorder or nonverbal learning disability (NLD or NVLD) is a proposed condition characterized by a significant discrepancy between high verbal and lower performance scores on an IQ test

Intelligence quotient

An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The term "IQ", from the German Intelligenz-Quotient, was coined by the German psychologist William Stern in 1912 as a proposed method of scoring early modern...

, with deficits in motor, visual-spatial, and social skills

Social skills

A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways...

. Some proponents of the category believe that this discrepancy is attributable to dysfunction in the right cerebral hemisphere

Cerebral hemisphere

A cerebral hemisphere is defined as one of the two regions of the brain that are delineated by the body's median plane, . The brain can thus be described as being divided into left and right cerebral hemispheres...

.

NLD involves deficits in perception

Perception

In philosophy, psychology, and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines would take about a decade,...

, coordination

Coordination

Coordination is the act of coordinating, making different people or things work together for a goal or effect.Coordination may also refer to:* Coordination bond, a type of chemical bond* Coordination number, a measure of an atom's nearest neighbors...

, socialisation, non-verbal problem-solving and understanding of humour

Humour

Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is and what social function it serves. People of all ages and cultures respond to humour...

, along with well-developed rote memory. As most people with Asperger syndrome

Asperger syndrome

Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and...

(AS) fit the criteria for NLD, a diagnosis of AS is often preferred. Some researchers assert that an AS diagnosis is more clinically useful than an NLD diagnosis, and argue that the NLD category is an example of excessive diagnostic splitting.

Nonverbal learning disorder and nonverbal learning disability