As I've mentioned in a few of my posts, I'm new hear, but I was unofficially diagnosed with what is called "Non Verbal Learning Disability/Disorder" (along with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression) and not Aspergers, but NLD is supposed to be VERY closely related to Aspergers.
I don't think it's in the DSM, but the main criteria is a very large discrepancy between language skills/reading/writing/English/humanities and Mathematics/Spatial orientation/sciences etc.
I have always been very gifted in languages, English, writing and reading, and very poor at Math, spatial orientation and Sciences, and would test high on standardized tests in English and very low in Math.
NLD people tend to have certain things in common with Aspies, like I have an extremely hard time detecting sarcasm or reading social cues.
Mean kids were able to make fun of me in school because even though as a lifelong martial artist most knew I could beat them up if they got in my face, they were usually able to realize that I was slow to realize when I was being made fun of so they'd say things in passing and I wouldn't realize they were making fun of me until they were already gone, and this kind of thing seems to be common amongst Aspies too.
Unlike SOME Aspies (I know this isn't true for even close to all of them) I have no trouble remembering to maintain eye contact BUT...I have pretty severe anxiety surrounding it, so much that I've needed Klonopin because I get very uncomfortable about exactly how much of it I should make with people.
I will have trouble thinking about anything else in conversations if I am not medicated, to the point where I'll worry that the person thinks I am weird cause I am making too much eye contact and then start looking away and then wonder if they think I'm weird cause I'm looking away and not making enough eye contact.
Many years back I had a HORRIBLE panic attack in public due to this and got on Klonopin and since then I have usually been just fine and it doesn't occur.
This is of course a type of social anxiety, and I've heard it called "peripheral eye contact anxiety".
Another thing I have trouble with which many NLD people do, has to do with movement in small spaces in cars and bikes.
I was NEVER able to learn how to ride a bicycle as a kid.
My parents tried to teach me and while I could go straight for a little while, anytime I'd try to turn on the bicycle I'd fall off and so finally around age 10 or 11 I gave up trying and to this day at 36 I still can't.
I feel a bit bad about it at times as there are many situations a bicycle can be useful, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna be caught as a grown man falling off a bicycle by my neighbors haha.
Likewise, when it comes to driving a car I am a perfectly decent driver on the roads, whether they are small roads, back roads, or major highways, but when it comes to turning around in small spaces and parking lots I have a lot of trouble.
I guess I am lucky here, as you are less likely to die going 20mph in a parking lot than on a highway, so I'd rather have trouble there than on the road, but I've gotten into quite a few accidents this way.
Basically: I have a hard time when backing up in my car figuring out how far I really am from other cards and have gotten into fender benders.
When I turn into a parking spot, I often think I have more space than I do and hit other cars and have had to pay a lot in damages over the years, and I frequently hit the curb when parking because judging space is just so hard for me.
And anything to do with mechanical thinking will be difficult for me in general.
I am the absolute last person who you would find solving a rubix cube, a complex puzzle, put together moving parts in sequence,etc.
And I make many social faux pas to say the least.
So, in a nutshell, these are some of my symptoms and some of those people with NLD have, and as you can see, some of them have a lot in common with Aspergers.
So I am wondering if anyone else here has Nonverbal Learning Disability/Disorder??
I've only talked to one or two in passing in my entire life, and it would be nice to talk to more and learn more about myself this way.
I don't think it's in the DSM, but the main criteria is a very large discrepancy between language skills/reading/writing/English/humanities and Mathematics/Spatial orientation/sciences etc.
I have always been very gifted in languages, English, writing and reading, and very poor at Math, spatial orientation and Sciences, and would test high on standardized tests in English and very low in Math.
NLD people tend to have certain things in common with Aspies, like I have an extremely hard time detecting sarcasm or reading social cues.
Mean kids were able to make fun of me in school because even though as a lifelong martial artist most knew I could beat them up if they got in my face, they were usually able to realize that I was slow to realize when I was being made fun of so they'd say things in passing and I wouldn't realize they were making fun of me until they were already gone, and this kind of thing seems to be common amongst Aspies too.
Unlike SOME Aspies (I know this isn't true for even close to all of them) I have no trouble remembering to maintain eye contact BUT...I have pretty severe anxiety surrounding it, so much that I've needed Klonopin because I get very uncomfortable about exactly how much of it I should make with people.
I will have trouble thinking about anything else in conversations if I am not medicated, to the point where I'll worry that the person thinks I am weird cause I am making too much eye contact and then start looking away and then wonder if they think I'm weird cause I'm looking away and not making enough eye contact.
Many years back I had a HORRIBLE panic attack in public due to this and got on Klonopin and since then I have usually been just fine and it doesn't occur.
This is of course a type of social anxiety, and I've heard it called "peripheral eye contact anxiety".
Another thing I have trouble with which many NLD people do, has to do with movement in small spaces in cars and bikes.
I was NEVER able to learn how to ride a bicycle as a kid.
My parents tried to teach me and while I could go straight for a little while, anytime I'd try to turn on the bicycle I'd fall off and so finally around age 10 or 11 I gave up trying and to this day at 36 I still can't.
I feel a bit bad about it at times as there are many situations a bicycle can be useful, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna be caught as a grown man falling off a bicycle by my neighbors haha.
Likewise, when it comes to driving a car I am a perfectly decent driver on the roads, whether they are small roads, back roads, or major highways, but when it comes to turning around in small spaces and parking lots I have a lot of trouble.
I guess I am lucky here, as you are less likely to die going 20mph in a parking lot than on a highway, so I'd rather have trouble there than on the road, but I've gotten into quite a few accidents this way.
Basically: I have a hard time when backing up in my car figuring out how far I really am from other cards and have gotten into fender benders.
When I turn into a parking spot, I often think I have more space than I do and hit other cars and have had to pay a lot in damages over the years, and I frequently hit the curb when parking because judging space is just so hard for me.
And anything to do with mechanical thinking will be difficult for me in general.
I am the absolute last person who you would find solving a rubix cube, a complex puzzle, put together moving parts in sequence,etc.
And I make many social faux pas to say the least.
So, in a nutshell, these are some of my symptoms and some of those people with NLD have, and as you can see, some of them have a lot in common with Aspergers.
So I am wondering if anyone else here has Nonverbal Learning Disability/Disorder??
I've only talked to one or two in passing in my entire life, and it would be nice to talk to more and learn more about myself this way.
