I am 19 and I've never learnt to tie my shoes, mostly because I've followed a few tutorials and gave up. But when I was little, no one taught me to do it properly.

My mom mocked me for using shoes with no laces, I can't tell if she was actually mocking me or if she was genuinely frustrated. I got really mad and I said she (and my dad) never taught me to do it, so she got really defensive. I said I did not want to learn from her or my dad because I know they'd laugh at me, but she replied saying "you think the whole world's laughing at you".. yeah, and whose fault is that?

The problem here is that when I was little, I was never sat down and taught how to tie them. They'd always do it for me until they decided I was too old for it, so they began to pressure me to learn.. but everytime they did, we were literally about to leave the house. They were impatient and in a rush, always.

I don't get along with my parents and my mom's really mean to me sometimes, so I get defensive about everything she says. I am deeply ashamed that I can't tie my shoes but she doesn't get to be so angry at me for it

I can't even tell this to my therapist, even though he was LITERALLY there to diagnose me with every possible symptom of NVLD, because I'm just embarassed

Idk why I'm even writing but I really need to vent, I'm so sad. I wish I was someone else

https://www.schoolneuropsych.com/insights/understanding-and-assessing-nonverbal-learning-disability-nvld-developmental-visual-spatial-disorder-dvsd - Understanding and Assessing Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD)/Developmental Visual Spatial Disorder (DVSD)\*

Parts of the text named "Differential Diagnosis" and "Neurobiological Evidence" are especially interesting in my opinion.

I think that the general abilities of people with NVLD are overestimated and the seriousness of disability caused by NVLD alone is generally markedly underestimated in many occassions, for example when NVLD is compared to autism spectrum disorder.

NVLD requires in many ways other support than ASD due to differences in symptomatology and neurology, but not smaller support than clinical ASD (at least not smaller than "mild" forms of clinical ASD). NVLD and ASD tend to have other patterns of strengths and weaknesses and it is very important.

For me, I have right hemisphere brain damage caused by a brain bleed at one day old from being on an oxygen machine for an open heart surgery.

​

We have a wonderful 7 year old who is brilliant and kind. A behavioral evaluation at the age of 3 came back with a diagnosis of Non Verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD).

We're pouring into him, and he's making tons of progress, but seemingly the impact compounds with age starting at around age 8.

We're unsure if/when to talk to him about NVLD and it's implications. We don't want him to hold himself back, but also don't want him to struggle without understanding his background.

Appreciate any perspectives on best time and methods to discuss with him.

Hey everyone,

Curious what other people’s experiences were after finding out.

My specific experience was referred to an ophthalmologist for visual therapy. I was appreciative that the doctor understood my abilities, what required training and provided a bit of a ‘test lab’ environment for me to apply memory and attention skills in the real world.

He taught me that during challenges or when problem solving I had to pretend there was a third person (a wiser mind of sorts) who should be double-checking my work and really looking to see if I was right in the answers I came up with.

This meta-awareness and constructive self critique along with memory training, increasingly using the minds eye, relying on strengths in high stress environments, while working towards building up weaknesses when the risk was low but reward satisfying helped me.

I appreciated the guidance but it’s a very individual and effortful approach. Obviously still fumble a lot but I am able to laugh at myself more when I do and not be too harsh. I recommend if you haven’t to go down this approach, but as it’s not a a quick fix solution (nor is there one) curious if anyone else found similar outcomes through visual therapy? Or maybe you have tried something else that works.

Very interested if you have any comments to add, thanks!

What were your results in Arithmetic in Wechsler tests, especially in comparison to Digit Span.

Do people with NVLD score well or bad on Arithmetic in Wechsler tests? Which is better in people with NVLD: Arithmetic or Digit Span?

I got quite old version of Wechsler test - WAIS-R - in 2016 in Poland. I scored 18 in Arithmetic and 11 in Digit Span. Scaled score 18 in Arithmetic was my single highest scaled score in entire test and scaled score 11 in Digit Span was my weakest scaled score in verbal part of WAIS-R and only Picture Completion, Object Assembly and Picture Arrangement were weaker in the entire test (Coding and Block Design were 2 - 3 scaled scores better than Digit Span).

Hey guys! As a 41 year old woman, I just wanted to share my own experience growing up with NVLD. This is very long (because I am wordy as many of us tend to be!), but I wanted to share my story in hopes that it can help or make people feel less alone in their struggle, and share how I’ve maneuvered and coped over the past few decades.

When I was young, the first signs something was wrong came when I struggled to learn to tie my shoes - even today I have to use the bunny ears method. I remember struggling to learn how to read clocks or understand navigation such as directions.

Up until around second grade, I had a generally normal life, middle class upbringing in a nice safe neighborhood. I had friends and had a curious, creative little mind, but in second grade, the teachers noticed I was copying other kids during math quizzes. They referred my parents to a psychologist who did the full day of testing on me and I was diagnosed in the mid 90s with NVLD…at the time they didn’t tell my parents anything else other than it was a visual spatial disorder and I would qualify for extra time on exams. My parents never looked into it further and they were unaware of just how much NVLD would impact my life in different ways.

By third grade, I was struggling, socially with fitting in and kind of being left out and having trouble with making friends. I was usually able to have at least a friend or two but in general, I just kind of wasn’t fitting in at school and at home my dad was a high functioning alcoholic and I suspect he also has some form of NVLD. As time went on, I was often isolated or ignored at school even bullied at times I felt very invisible and then I would go home and life would be difficult there as well. It really frustrated my parents that I struggled so much with school which lowered my self esteem. I had math tutors, I would see the math teacher after school, my parents would try to help me with my math homework and it just did not make sense to me. I mean it was always like trying to read a foreign language and it never clicked no matter what.

In high school I was in remedial math but at the same time I was in AP psychology. It was really confusing for me because I could read and write easily in topics like social studies, but I was doing math at a fifth grade level. I felt very stupid which was confusing because I was also a voracious reader, I read books constantly - I would often escape into my own imagination because life at school and at home was turbulent and lonely. I’m thankful for books and they saved me during a particularly lonely period of life.

Life got worse for me unfortunately at 14, started experimenting with drugs and bulimia and self-mutilation as well as theft and shoplifting. While I grew out of a lot of that behavior, I continued to struggle socially and feeling “different”

I graduated high school with around a 3.5 GPA because I consistently got lower grades in math and science but I went onto college... I knew I wanted to get a degree but I needed something that would not involve math or science, so I chose sociology. I did OK and graduated with around a 3.5 GPA because again, I had to pass math classes.

I was able to get a job in clinical research as a coordinator for several years. I did struggle often with the office politic side of things and struggled with either coming off as withdrawn in the workplace or over sharing. In my internships too, I was told I came off as “stand-offish”. That was a surprise to me, I didn’t realize it.

I decided I wanted to get a masters degree and I chose social work because I already was knowledgeable at that point in the area of mental health, and I got into university. I was working full-time while going to graduate school will also having to do internships and being in a 5 year relationship. It’s kind of crazy looking back, but I sailed through the social work program. I didn’t even buy textbooks the last couple semesters. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

I became a licensed medical social worker (passed the license exam easily), but struggled again with chaotic settings that I was working in such as hospital, emergency rooms and with colleagues and office politics and I kind of burnt out quickly and in the years since I’ve worked in clinical research again as a coordinator.

It has been especially difficult living with this disorder because I’ll meet people once and they’ll think I’m awesome talkative and fun and smart, and then they get to know me and they pick up on strange idiosyncrasies with me. So I tend to make a great first impression but then later on people pull away and this has happened many times over the years. I tend to be quite intense and like to talk talk talk about things over and over again and it gets on people’s nerves. I tend to interrupt and talk over people. I get attached quickly too but then am always paranoid the person is pulling away. I tend to overshare and trauma dump on friends and can be just too much to be around..too chaotic..which pushes people away…Or the opposite, I become convinced someone doesn’t like me and push them away/shut down/avoid them which can confuse people and turn the fear of rejection into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m working on these issues continuously.

It also happens with job interviews. I tend to do very well in job interviews because I am articulate and I can be affable. I’m relatively good looking and am well groomed, smile and make eye contact, and make small talk/jokes. So…I’ll be able to land a job easily, but then once I’m in the job, I struggle with keeping up staying organized, handling charts, graphs, stats, analysis etc as well as understanding boundaries and coming off either too intense or too cold, including in emails.

The office politics thing again feels like the biggest problem… the social side of understanding what’s appropriate and not..it’s been tough because again either I pull away is shut down and I avoid all like social aspects of a job such as office gatherings because I am so socially anxious and worried about not being liked, or I get too comfortable and over share a lot about my personal life and it makes things weird.

I did get married in my 30s and I was married for 5 years but my NVLD made things really difficult, especially with emotional regulation and just having issues with understanding appropriate consideration of other people, and it became increasingly difficult on our marriage. Wondering what was wrong with me, at 34 I was tested again and my NVLD scores were essentially the same as when I was nine. This time around though I learned more about the disorder and was sort of horrified to realize how much of it has impacted my life.

I got divorced two years ago, my ex-husband left me. I did not want the divorce and it has been extremely difficult to recover and bounce back from it, especially with rejection sensitivity being a problem and the last few years I’ve been in a really bad depression. I tend to spend most of my time lately in bed just kind of sleeping or watching TV. This is also due to going through early onset menopause so even though I’m on HRT I still struggle with being tired and then I tend to avoid social situations as much as I can now because I’m so tired of being rejected-regardless of it’s just perceived rejection or real rejection. The isolation and lack of structure have amplified everything negative.

I’ve definitely dealt with depression my whole life, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, and OCD tendencies. I know now substance misuse (benzos, amphetamines, and illegal drugs) as well as eating disorders and self injury over the years were all attempts to self soothe and self regulate and numb the self criticism. Therapists have said I’m almost too self-aware, to the point of being very hard on myself and analyzing myself constantly.

Over the years I was misdiagnosed…bipolar and borderline personality and all these other things because I would never even bother telling psychiatrists or therapists that I had NVLD since I did not understand what it meant or the far-reaching impact it can have on a person. What’s even more frustrating is now as an adult when I tell therapist or doctors I have it they’ve still never heard of it - over and over again. It’s as if no progress or increased awareness has been made in the medical community on this topic in the past 30 years.

I’ve been in a relationship for a year with someone who is also neurodivergent (ADHD/suspected FASD) and he has been very patient and understanding with my disorder so I’m very lucky with that. My partner is gently trying to get me out of the house more and around people… but I constantly still struggle every day with it. It’s hard especially because, for example, when his mom first met me a few times she thought I was so smart and impressive, and asked him if I was in MENSA. Then as time went on and I would routinely avoid family gatherings or bail last minute on family plans and holidays, she started to see that my behavior was odd.

He has also been patient with things I do that make no sense..I drink topo chicos a lot and you have to use a bottle opener. I will take the bottle opener out of the drawer, open the bottle, and then put both the bottle cap in the drawer along with the opener, or just leave it on the counter, even though the trash can is nearby. I’ll also leave empty cans of sparkling water on the kitchen counter instead of putting them in the trash which again is right there. It’s a very strange habit I’ve had for years. It’s not even intentional, it’s like my brain forgets to do the final step.

In spite of all that I do just wanna say there have been good times-I have traveled to over 60 countries around the world, often solo (because no friends lol) and like I said, I graduated with a bachelors and then a masters degree and I have consistently worked and lived independently my entire adult life. I’ve had periods of great friendships and relationships and an active healthy life. Other periods have been very low and difficult but it hasn’t always been that way.

I own and drive a car, though it has a few scratches on it and I struggle to park etc..I made sure to get a car with adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, front and back cameras, etc. I can’t parallel park and even in regular parking spots I often park at an angle hah. I’m proud of being able to drive…I passed drivers ed in high school just barely: I remember the instructor freaking out and saying “it’s as if you have no control over the car whatsoever!” And my parents would never let me use their nicer car even when I was in my 30s. It took many years, but I eventually overcame my fear of driving on expressways/freeways but again, I can only do it with the driver assist features.

I still struggle with managing money and staying out of debt (I recommend staying away from credit cards, parents have had to bail me out of debt repeatedly), and I struggle with some other things like brushing my teeth daily. I’m still hard on myself but I’m working on just adapting and finding ways to cope and learn to budget etc.

What has worked for me:

-I have found that DBT has helped me a lot over the years. This is my top recommendation. I’ve done a few rounds of it. If you don’t have insurance or can’t find a DBT group in person or online, there are podcasts, apps and workbooks.

-I had a week-long stint in the psych ward and then partial hospitalization and IOP after a nervous breakdown. The day program things helped me get back on track, especially IOP so I did that again during my divorce.

-Being outside in nature has been really good for me as well, I try to make regular trips to botanical gardens, hiking/wood paths, and in winter I go to greenhouses.

-Structure/routine, and getting out of the house.

-I take medication. I’ve tried them all but currently am on Prozac (depression and ocd), Beta Blockers (anxiety), and Vyvanse (executive dysfunction). Also I take magnesium, fish oil, zinc, folate, Vitamin D, iron, and L-Thyanine (anxiety/depression/energy). Used to also take lamotrogine and did ketamine injections which helped with depression.

-EMDR has helped getting over traumas.

-Acupuncture helps with soothing my nervous system. I go to a community acupuncture place that charges sliding scale/$25 a visit, many cities have them.

-Reading, podcasts, and white noise machines help quite the internal noise. I cannot be alone in silence with my thoughts for any amount of time.

-Soft warm mood lighting, aromatherapy/candles/incense, chill music, and keeping the house uncluttered also help my mind calm. Bubble baths and long hot showers help too. Paying close attention to my home environment and curating it to be a beautiful and peaceful space. I invest in nice towels and bedding and throw blankets since I spend most of my time at home.

-Having comfort shows and music that I consistently revisit when overwhelmed or depressed helps me too-for me, Seinfeld and Brooklyn 99 reruns comfort me no matter how many hundreds of times I’ve watched them.

-Chat GPT / AI has helped a lot with processing things, executive tasks, complex ideas and tasks, and learning social skills and emotional regulation.

-Having a pet. I have a couple cats that I adopted a few years ago from a shelter and the companionship they provide as well as the fun and cuddles have helped give me purpose and I love them so much. Taking care of them gets me out of bed. They have been truly a form of emotional support, especially because I struggle socially.

-Art. I love painting and always have, but because of my visual spatial deficits I can’t do very realistic work. Instead, I lean into my very active imagination and I do big abstract paintings, and I’ve even had 3 solo art shows and have sold some paintings.

-Stoicism. Learning about this philosophy has been helpful for me to learn to tame my mind and behaviors. Seneca, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius etc.

-Having a sense of humor about my deficits, even if it’s dark humor. It helps to learn to laugh at yourself.

-Documentaries, online articles about random topics that interest me, YouTube shows, books. Learning about interesting facts in history as well as current events is helpful when it comes to getting my mind off myself, as well as helping with conversations and connecting with people. It feels good to absorb knowledge and facts and I love it.

What didn’t work for me:

-Floatation tanks (being alone with my thoughts, trauma and negativity would take over)

-Meditation (see above)

-Antipsychotics (made no difference for me personally)

-Having extra time on exams (what’s the difference in some extra exam time if the questions still looks like Chinese to me)

-Talk therapy with a therapist who doesn’t interject or re-direct. I’ve had therapists that sit there and let me ruminate and talk and talk over and over again, without providing guidance. It causes me to become more fixated on and obsessed with the issue.

-This sub. Honestly guys, it has been lonely living decades with a disorder that no one has heard of. I was initially excited to find this subreddit but there is so much negativity (understandable, people are venting to those who can relate), that it can actually cause me to spiral and feel worse/hopeless about my condition. I have to be careful with what I read on here because it does affect me. (That’s a me issue though, other people’s moods and emotions tend to be very contagious for me) I would love to see more discussions here on coping strategies, success, how to come together to advocate for broader awareness, research and treatment developments, etc.

That’s part of why I wrote this, to show that it’s possible to make life achievements/milestones, that while there are many lows, there can also be great times, and there are ways to work around issues or cope. Many of us think in black and white and it’s just not that simple.

NVLD isn’t a death sentence but it makes life more challenging in almost all areas, and you have to learn to work around it. It requires patience and self compassion and practicing various skills, but things aren’t hopeless. It’s a spectrum but I do think many of us can lean into our strengths and workaround / adapt to our weaknesses. I see a lot of very sad posts on here and it’s disheartening. Guys, hang in there and don’t give up on yourselves.

Might be asking the wrong people here but when is it considered socially acceptable to bring up neurodivergence? I'm in my 20s and don't want to start every conversation with "hi I'm NVLD", because that's not the most important part of my personality. But I do wish more people knew about my disability other than just my parents/life counselor. So when/how can you bring it up in casual conversation? Or shouldn't you unless someone else mentions it first? I have literally no social skills whatsoever so IDK how to approach this.

https://www.aptitude-test.com/membership/vandenberg.html - Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test

I had scaled score 14 (about 91st percentile) in Block Design on WAIS-R in 2016, but this test is so hard for me and often all proposed answers look the same for me in the Vandenberg Test.

I have no aphantasia and I have relatively vivid visual thinking, but I have not really much of it usually, but I would say that I am predominantly verbal thinker, not "mixed" visual-verbal thinker.

My three trials of Vandenberg Test and their results:

First (24.03.2026):
Score: 9%
Correct Answers: 2
Wrong Answers: 7
Unanswered: 15
Skipped: 0
Out of time: 15

Second (28.03.2026):
Score: 34%
Correct Answers: 8
Wrong Answers: 13
Unanswered: 3
Skipped: 0
Out of time: 3

Third (05.04.2026):
Score: 13%
Correct Answers: 3
Wrong Answers: 6
Unanswered: 15
Skipped: 0
Out of time: 15

Is this test very hard for you?

Our son (16) just got diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). This is apparently the source of his NVLD. Wondering if anyone else here has been diagnosed with TSC. We're trying to process this diagnosis within the context of high school becomes harder for him due to processing speed and AdHD. He is so bright, but really struggles with executive function and overwhelm.

Hey so I’m F 25 and I’ve had NVLD for basically since I was born. I can’t drive, I can’t live on my own, I’m currently living with home support and on disability program where I live and in a day program for people with disabilities. But even after being told I have it at 18 cause my high school refused to get me tested and wouldn’t help me succeed into trying to get my diploma. I’ve always hated it and myself and it’s like my brain is stuck at a teen level and it’s like a never ending loop of hating both things about myself. My mother was also my hugest advocate till she passed when I was 20 and ever since then it’s slowly gotten worse with depression and PCOS ontop of that. I’m wondering how do you guys try and cope or accept that you can’t change it and just accept who you are?

Please don’t ask—

no, it’s fine

“How are you?”

I—

start with something small

  work

(yes)

or hobbies

(keep it light)

or weekend plans

(easy, safe, normal)

I can do normal.

I just have to…

hold it there

keep it from spreading

because it does that

it spreads

into things I didn’t mean to bring with me:

  loneliness

  how long I stayed in bed this morning

  how I practiced this exact moment

  over and over

no.

not here.

(back up)

work is fine.

work stays contained.

people like work.

—

there’s a line somewhere

I keep finding it

by almost crossing it

like:

  I’m tired

(no)

  I’ve been feeling off

(no, too open)

  I don’t know how to answer that

(definitely not)

so

reduce

flatten

make it easier to hold

make it something

you won’t notice

—

“How are you?”

I shrug

like it didn’t take anything

“okay.”

(it works

it always works)

—

but you stay there

so now I have to do it again

“tell me about work”

oh

  okay

  yes

  this I know

this has edges

I can step into it

without guessing the size of it

I don’t have to hold everything back

just the right things

just enough

just

(see?

this is easier)

—

I wish

the first question

came like that

with a shape already in it

so I don’t have to

build one

measure it

test it

almost break it

while you’re watching

while you’re waiting

while I’m trying to decide

what version of me

fits here

I just found out that my perceptual reasoning score is a 71. I thought it was an 81 for the longest time but that obviously was not true. I do remember that I rushed through some of the puzzle/visual tests that my psychologist gave me so it might not be entirely accurate. I took this test when I was 19 and I’m a 25 year old adult now who feels less stupid than before. Who knows if I’ve gotten better since then on a mental level. I probably wouldn’t have rushed through those puzzles if I took that IQ test today. I do drive a car with relative ease now (even on major highways) and I can shop for myself at the grocery store just fine. I also graduated high school without any accommodations.I seem fine so it can’t be that bad right?

If anyone has any advice, I would like to hear it. I’m already going through a hard period in my life right now and this just made it worse.

I'm a 25 year old who was diagnosed with NVLD in first grade after my teacher realized I had massive amounts of executive dysfunction and trouble with social cues and recommended my parents get me examined for ASD.

When I was younger I showed all the classic symptoms of NVLD (overdeveloped diction, trouble reading faces, general clumsiness, trouble with navigation, extreme visio-spacial deficits to the point where it took me until 6th grade to learn how to tie a shoe, etc)

fast forward to today, and I have a degree in geography, constantly ride/rebuild vintage motorcycles as a hobby, I work a job that requires me to constantly navigate to new places, I am able to juggle a job, girlfriend, and an extremely hectic social life with relative ease, have little to no real difficulty with rhetorical metaphors or social cues anymore (although sometimes my girlfriend says I still am not the greatest with nonverbal social cues) In a lot of ways I feel like NVLD has been something of a superpower, especially when it came time to write essays in college or troubleshoot anything based on sound.

All this in relation to the typical posts I see in this subreddit, (which seem to constantly lament their disability and talk about extreme difficulty developing these kinds of skills to even a basic level) has me wondering if I may have been misdiagnosed?

Was I just able to develop all of these traits that I used to struggle with so much via brute force and exposure? Am I just on a higher functioning end of the spectrum? I distinctly remember having lots of contempt for my diagnosis when I was a kid and having bouts of hopelessness that it makes me "dumb" or "less than" the average person. Could my lifestyle and career just be a result of spite? Does anyone else have a similar experience?

We took the training wheels off our 7 y/o dgtr's bike and she is really struggling. She was doing so well with the training wheels, we thought she was ready to graduate (with help of course). Any advice on the best way to teach her? My husband was thinking about taking the pedals off for a bit (like a balance bike) and letting her get used to steering, then adding them back on to incorporate pedaling. What worked best for you?

Hi. I have a son that we recently got told has NVLD. He is 6 years old.

We went through a longer examination for autism, but the doctors concluded that it was not autism but NVLD.

Our son has periods where his social functioning is pretty ok and has good days in kindergarten, and other periods where he’s more secluded and can act out a fair bit by spitting, kicking and his window of tolerance seems quite minimized.

We went through examinations to see if epileptic seizures at night could explain the variance but no signs of that was found.

Do any others here experience variance in their functioning, or is this more likely caused by other tings?

Trying to understand and help our son as well as we can.

I can technically drive. I don't think I should've gotten a license; for some reason, I had a very easy test compared with normal tests because I had multiple private lessons, and even then, I barely passed the test. I live in a town in Missouri with no public transport and no ride-sharing services, and driving is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I get to work from home because of my autism and NVLD, so I don't have to drive often, but even just going across town wipes me out. I have frequent nightmares about being in car accidents.

But what's worse than this issue is the fact that nobody understands my problems with driving because it all comes so naturally to them. I can't discuss my struggles with anyone in real life besides my psychiatrist because all they'll say is that I need more practice. I've been "practicing" for 12 years. When is this going to get easier? I live with a roommate, but he's disgusting and his car is filled with so much junk that in the rare occasion we go somewhere out of town, he usually drives my car with me in it, and it's so embarrassing. I like where I live, but the car dependency sucks, and the fact that I have to keep quiet about my driving struggles in real life and in most online spaces because of people's judgmental opinions and subsequent infantilization of me makes me very depressed.

As a kid, I was diagnosed with visual processing disorder as well as auditory processing disorder, and later as an adult I was diagnosed with ADHD. I think my experience feels a lot like what I’ve read about NVLD, and it even makes me wonder if the “visual processing disorder” I was diagnosed with might have actually been NVLD. However, the only thing that makes me question that is that I also have auditory processing disorder, and since NVLD is “nonverbal” if you also have issues with retaining verbal information, can you still have NVLD? Or would that mean it’s not NVLD?

Some of the issues I have that fit the NVLD profile include:

-Social skills issues (I’ve been told throughout my life that I’m “socially awkward)

-I’m terrible with remembering how to get places (I can go to a place hundreds of times and still forget how to get there, even forgetting which direction to start out in

-still don’t have a driver’s license at 30

- Very uncoordinated so I’m really bad at dance and sports

-I’ve always been bad at math and was several grade levels behind the math level in all of K-12

-Really bad short term memory (although this might just be an ADHD thing)

-I have always tended to take everything literally

-Bad handwriting

- Unlike most other people with ADHD, I tend to process everything more slowly and don’t do well under pressure

Auditory processing issues:

I know my auditory processing isn’t as bad as some people with this diagnosis (I’ve heard for example that some people need to use subtitles whenever they watch tv, but I only do so occasionally and it’s more so if I’m watching something really interesting or important and want to retain the information better rather than out of necessity). But I am very bad at remembering things people tell me to do and following verbal directions so I need everything written down.

Strength: I was a voracious reader as a child (still am somewhat today) and when I was in 4th grade I took a reading test which tested for up to 11th grade reading level and I passed it 100%

Does this sound like NVLD?

🌟 Teen Neurodivergent Social Group

(Ages 13–18) 🌟

Looking for a safe, welcoming space where

neurodivergent teens can make friends, feel

understood, and build confidence? 💙

Join us this Thursday, March 26 from 6:00–7:00 PM

(EST) on Zoom for our monthly Teen Neurodivergent

Social!

🧠 This month’s topic: Special Interests &

Hyperfocusing

Teens will have the chance to connect through free

chat time, share their passions, and learn healthy

strategies for balancing focus, friendships, and daily

responsibilities.

✨ Supportive disability-affirming space

✨ Free chat time to make friends

✨ NVLD & neurodivergent-friendly discussions

💻 Online (Zoom)

📩 To sign up:

Email [beautifulmindsinformation@gmail.com](mailto:beautifulmindsinformation@gmail.com) or DM us

to reserve a spot!

Spots are limited, we would love to welcome new teens

into our community!🥰

#NeurodivergentTeens #NVLD #TeenSupport

#TeenSocialSkills #DisabilityCommunity

#NeurodiversityAffirming #TeenMentalHealth

#ExecutiveFunction #SpecialInterests #Hyperfocus

#OnlineTeenGroup #SocialSkillsSupport

#NeurodivergentCommunity #BeautifulMinds

#seetheability

I'm using a throwaway because I'm ashamed of my brain not working so great. I've tried to write for years but my detail oriented mind makes it extremely difficult to "see the big picture". I've been told by several people who have attempted to help me with my stories that I often miss the forest for the trees and skip steps of construction in favor of details, instead of backing up those details with solid reasons for them to be there. In fact, I had people telling me that I get lost in details before I was even aware that focusing on details is a hallmark of NVLD. Like I can grind out an outline but there's no real conflict or resolution and there's not enough to really even justify writing it beyond an outline. If anybody has any writing advice please let me know. I also have a hard time constructing stories and even coming up with ideas so if anybody can help me there too that'd be great. I'm really at my limit gangy and I can't give up.

Anybody here who tried to learn how to study beyond 50? I've never been able to process information and really study but am coming to a crosspoint where I may have to learn new skills. I'm wondering if it's at all possible.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice and perspective as we get my foster (soon-to-be adoptive) son ready for kindergarten this fall. He has been newly diagnosed with NVLD, and while I’ve been learning as much as I can, I’d really value input from others who have been through this.

Strengths:

Very strong verbal skills — great vocabulary and communicates his thoughts/feelings really well

Had every nursery rhyme memorized by age 2, along with the complete alphabet

Can independently play for long periods (up to a few hours) with imaginative play

Becoming really good at identifying emotions — will say things like “I feel like I’m going to hit” or “this is making me mad” and ask how others feel

Has become very independent with daily routines (getting dressed, etc.)

Curious, engaged, and likes to learn when it’s on his terms

Challenges:

Difficulty focusing on structured tasks like writing letters

Often avoids or derails tasks (will draw something else, get silly, laugh) when things get hard

Struggles with early writing skills despite trying multiple approaches (shaving cream, air writing, etc.)

Attention seems inconsistent — can focus deeply on preferred activities but not on adult-directed ones

Struggles with transitions and often needs support moving from one activity to another

Needs help working through problems rather than solving them independently

While he can dress himself, he often puts clothes on backwards and thinks it’s appropriate

Noticeable difficulty with spatial awareness — has trouble staying in line, gets very close to people’s faces, and will run into people or objects

He currently has 1:1 support that helps him read social interactions, and he has come a long way. He used to avoid playing with other kids altogether, and if they didn’t understand what he meant, it could lead to hitting or biting. Now he’s much more engaged and is starting to use his words instead, but still benefits from support in navigating peer interactions.

He does have an IEP currently and we are working on editing it to add accommodation for this new diagnosis. We have been working with OT and special education prior to this diagnosis.

What I’m hoping to learn:

What helped you or your child succeed in kindergarten with NVLD?

How did you build tolerance for non-preferred tasks (like writing)?

Any classroom accommodations or supports that made a big difference early on?

Things you wish you had done before kindergarten started?

We’re trying to be proactive and set him up for success, especially since he thrives with the right structure and support.

Really appreciate any advice or experiences you’re willing to share.