Tag Archives: NVLD
NVLD Expert Linda Karanzalis, MS, BCCS, Sheds Light on This Invisible Disability in Her New Book; Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood
The Price of Business Digital Network has a new series of outstanding commentaries from thought leaders. This is one in that series.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive specialist, talks about the new book she published on NVLD, a little-known disorder Chris Rock recently revealed he was diagnosed with. Linda has worked with children, teens, and adults with NVLD and neurodiversity for more than 25 years. As an author, podcaster, lecturer, an ambassador of the NVLD Project, and a person with NVLD, she provides validation, awareness, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with this disorder. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com
NVLD Expert Linda Karanzalis, MS, BCCS
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LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE:
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Could You or Your Child Have NVLD? Demystifying This Little-Known Learning Disorder
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, welcomed NVLD and Neurodivergent Expert Linda Karanzalis, MS, BCCS to provide another commentary in a series.
The Linda Karanzalis Commentaries
Millions of articulate people, from children to seniors, are struggling with a little-known invisible neurodevelopmental communication disorder called nonverbal learning disorder, or NVLD. Smart and career-oriented adults, or the parents of kids with an average to high IQ who struggle to make friends and understand classroom lessons.
NVLD is a misnamed, misunderstood, and frequently misdiagnosed disorder. Diagnosis is imperative to help these individuals reach their full potential.
Learning more about NVLD and its symptoms will help you help yourself, your children, your partner, your patients, your students, or your employees. Listen to this commentary for more information and insight.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
For more great health and lifestyle content see here.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE:
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
NVLD and Invisible Learning Disorders
People who think, learn, and do things differently from the majority of the population (neurotypicals, or NTs) because of neurological differences are known as neurodivergent (ND). Those with NVLD are therefore categorized as ND. Since their appearance doesn’t indicate the discrepancy between their exceptional verbal and poor nonverbal communication (body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice) and performance difficulties, people assume they are neurotypical. NVLD may be the most overlooked, misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and misnamed learning disability. According to “Estimated Prevalence of Nonverbal Learning Disability among North American Children and Adolescents,” published in the April 2020 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), between 2.2 and 2.9 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States and Canada may have NVLD.
Moreover, as many as 50 percent of them have received no diagnosis. Overlapping symptoms and co-occurring disorders may cause those with NVLD to be misdiagnosed as having ADHD or autism level 1 (a variant of autism formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome) and, therefore, NVLD to be underdiagnosed. Marcia Rubinstein, an education specialist in West Hartford, Connecticut, once said that almost every child she saw with NVLD had first been diagnosed with ADHD. Despite the overlapping symptoms in all of these disorders, the causes stem from differences in brain pathology that distinguish one disorder from another.
A nonverbal learning disability is believed to be caused by damage, disorder, or destruction of neuronal white matter in the brain’s right hemisphere. In an article published in the March 1, 1994, Journal of Learning Disabilities, Michael C. S. Harnadek and Bryan P. Rourke wrote that brain scans have identified that children with NVLD have smaller splenia than those with high-functioning autism and ADHD. The splenium is a part of the corpus callosum that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and is vital for visual-spatial functioning. NVLD typically shows up as a right-hemisphere weakness. Adding to the confusion is disagreement among professionals within the psychological and educational communities. Since NVLD is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it isn’t recognized as an official disorder. The DSM is the bible of mental disorders, used by professionals as a reference for descriptions, symptoms, and criteria to make an official diagnosis required for insurance reimbursement and approval of special education services. But not all children and adults fit into the same pattern. In other words, NVLD is not a cookie-cutter diagnosis. The saying “When you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person” also applies to those with NVLD. NVLD is distinguished by both visual-spatial and nonverbal communication skills deficits, according to experts at the National Center for Learning Disabilities. A defining criterion for the condition is the presence of a discrepancy between perceptual reasoning (formerly performance IQ) and verbal comprehension (formerly verbal IQ), as measured in diagnostic testing and evaluations.
Let alone NVLD; the majority of learning disabilities are invisible, causing these individuals to “mask” as neurotypical for acceptance in our society. When we see someone in a wheelchair, we don’t hold that person accountable for things they struggle with or cannot do. Most of us understand they may need assistance and alter our expectations accordingly. But, there is no such sign or visible evidence, like a wheelchair, to account for those with invisible difficulties and socially awkward behaviors.
The good news is our society is becoming rapidly aware of the neurodiverse population, the importance of inclusion, and realizing that being different is not better or worse, just different. You can learn more about how those with NVLD and other invisible learning disabilities can thrive and live their best lives in my new book Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Is It ADHD or NVLD?
NVLD (nonverbal learning disorder) is possibly the most misunderstood disorder that can be tricky to diagnose. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and NVLD are neurological disorders that, despite having some of the same symptoms, are from biological brain-based differences. So how can you tell the difference, and more importantly, how can you ensure that you or your child gets the proper diagnosis and treatment?
Let’s take a closer look at these two disorders to understand them better. ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorders. It’s estimated that between 5 and 8 percent of school-age children have ADHD. NVLD, on the other hand, is much less common. Some estimates suggest that it affects less than 1 percent of the population. Those with NVLD and ADHD of all ages often struggle with paying attention, following directions, memory, and executive functioning skills. These difficulties can lead to problems with organization, time management, academic performance, social interactions, and daily life.
However, there are some critical differences between these two disorders. Symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulse control characterize ADHD. Difficulties with nonverbal communication and visual-spatial skills characterize NVLD. Poor visual-spatial skills can cause problems with math, coordination, balance, riding a bike, swimming, playing sports, cutting with scissors, handwriting, and other tasks. Difficulties in processing nonverbal communication are reading and understanding body language, facial expressions, gestures, sarcasm, tone of voice, and jokes. Individuals with NVLD must rely heavily on the words spoken by others to compensate for their inability to understand nonverbal communication. Therefore, they interpret language literally and are often misperceived by others as rigid or inflexible in their viewpoints and behaviors.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Because NVLD is not recognized in the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it’s often mistaken and misdiagnosed as ADHD. Suppose you or your child is exhibiting signs of ADHD and /or NVLD. In that case, it’s imperative to reach out to a neuropsychologist familiar with NVLD to get an accurate diagnosis so that proper treatments can be implemented. There is no one-size-fits-all profile or treatment for NVLD. While some of the interventions for ADHD help those with NVLD, they are incomprehensive. Behavior therapy and medication are treatments for ADHD. Interventions for NVLD include but are not limited to educational, occupational, speech-language, and psychological therapy. They can learn to face challenges, manage their symptoms, improve their functioning to lead productive and happier lives.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Masking To Fit in a Neurotypical World
“Neurotypical” describes an individual with normal neurological development.
“Neurodivergent” describes people with brain-based conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning disabilities, and mental health problems that can make it hard for them to understand what neurotypicals are communicating.
Since most neurotypicals have little to no understanding, awareness, or experience interacting with those who are neurodivergent, they often ‘chalk up’ their communication styles and behaviors as rudeness or defects in character. Some of these behaviors include but are not limited to:
- poor eye contact
- Interrupting
- inappropriate laughter
- speaking too loudly
- literal interpretation of words
- repetitive questions
- invasion of personal space
- blunt comments
- tactless jokes
- rigid thoughts or behaviors
- repetitive questions
Many times the blame is placed on the parents for failing to teach manners and spoiling their children in their younger years.
If you’re a neurotypical reading this, chances you’ve experienced the frustration of communicating with a neurodivergent person unknowingly, as there are no outward visible signs to indicate otherwise. Had you known, you most likely would have sought to understand the individual better and attempted to communicate in a manner that was more accommodating.
In an ideal world, both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals would be able to coexist in a way that respects and accommodates their differences. In reality, our society expects neurodiverse individuals to alter their behaviors to conform to the norm. The stress of trying to fit into a socially acceptable mold and hiding neurodiverse traits can be so overwhelming that many resort to ‘masking.’
At its best, masking is a coping mechanism used to ‘pass’ as neurotypical to navigate social situations better and avoid negative social consequences like rejection and bullying. Masking can involve a range of behaviors, such as consciously imitating the behaviors and mannerisms of neurotypicals, suppressing stimming (repetitive movements or sounds that can be calming or self-soothing for some neurodivergent individuals), or hiding one’s sensory sensitivities or difficulties.
However, masking can backfire on neurodiverse individuals who don’t understand the meaning of the words, behaviors, and feelings they are mimicking to fit in. It‘s so mentally exhausting that it increases feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety.
While neurodivergent individuals typically struggle in environments that are traditionally designed for neurotypicals, it’s important to recognize that neurodiversity is not a problem that needs to be fixed. Rather, it’s accepting and respecting natural brain variations that are to be celebrated and accommodated.
To communicate effectively, there needs to be a middle ground. Both groups need to be willing to make changes to understand each other better. The following are some strategies that can be used to bridge the gap between neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals.
- Use straightforward language: Avoid metaphors, idioms, and sarcasm. Be mindful that not everyone understands nonverbal communication (body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures).
- Be patient: Give more time as some need than others to process information.
- Communication styles vary per person: Listening, taking notes, moving while talking, or looking at visual aids (graphs, flowcharts) are different ways of understanding.
- Avoid sensory overload: Stimuli, such as bright lights, loud noises, or strong smells, can overwhelm some who need to communicate in a calm and quiet environment.
- Be respectful and open-minded: Avoid making assumptions or judgments about the person’s behavior or communication style.
- Check-in: Frequently check with the person to ensure they understand what you are saying by asking them for clarification.
- Feedback: Ask how you can improve communication.
More awareness is needed so that we can be understanding and empathetic toward those facing challenges. We can create a more harmonious and inclusive world that supports and values everyone, regardless of neurological differences. A good place to start is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, March 13-19, 2023. NCW was founded in 2018 by Siena Castellon, who was a teenager at the time. Sienna is autistic and has ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. Her experience has been that people often focus on the challenges of neurological diversity. NCW is about changing the narrative by creating a balanced view that focuses equally on the talents and strengths of those in the neurodiverse community.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Neurodiversity: Join the Movement!
Neurodiversity is a concept that celebrates neurological differences as natural variations in the human population. Literally, neurodiversity means “differently wired.” The term reflects the brain-based differences that make neurodiverse people think, learn, behave, and work differently than the majority of the population, who are referred to as “neurotypicals.”
What are the differences between neurotypicals and neurodiverse people? They include an autism spectrum diagnosis as well as ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, nonverbal learning disorder(NVLD), language processing disorder, and auditory processing disorder. Neurodiverse people may also struggle with executive functioning challenges, socialization, communication, and visual /spatial processing. They may also struggle with epilepsy, Tourette’s syndrome, and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
Yet neurotypical individuals often have a set of expectations regarding how people should behave and function, and individuals who don’t fulfill those expectations may be labeled as lazy or unmotivated, leading to misunderstandings and discrimination. For example, an autistic person may have difficulty making eye contact or understanding social cues, which may be interpreted as rude or disinterested.
Judith Singer, an Australian sociologist with autism, coined the term “neurodiversity” in a thesis paper she published in 1998. Singer believed that — in the same way people in power have historically used language to oppress women, LGBTQ people, and nonwhite ethnic minorities — neurotypicals have categorized, minimized, and even eliminated the rights of neurodiverse people. This paradigm shift — from the nonacceptance of those who are in the minority to the embrace of every individual’s unique attributes – launched the movement for neurodiversity acceptance that aims to allow each and every one of us access the same opportunities without prejudice.
Helen Taylor, the Research Director of the Human Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde (STRATH CLYDE), expanded Singer’s work by studying complementary cognition, the idea that human brains have collectively developed a variety of skills to provide a community approach to problem-solving. In other words, as individuals, we have different strengths that, when combined with the strengths of others in a collaborative problem-solving approach, provide better solutions than we do as individuals. Taylor’s hypothesis is supported by research on cognitive psychology, neuroscience, evolution, and paleo-environmental evidence.
Recognizing neurodiversity increases understanding, thus reducing the stigma, rejection, isolation, and discrimination experienced by many neurodiverse people. As their wellbeing is enhanced, neurodiverse people experience decreasing levels of anxiety, shame, and low self-esteem. Embracing neurodiversity means viewing brain differences as normal rather than abnormal and acknowledging that neurodivergent individuals can be just as intelligent as neurotypical individuals.
Many neurodiverse people have been misunderstood and subsequently excluded from classrooms, sports, and jobs. Yet their different abilities that spur out-of-the-box thinking and fuel innovation can contribute to improved outcomes in all of those arenas. For example, people with autism may have exceptional attention to detail, visual thinking abilities, and logical reasoning skills that make them well-suited for work in science, technology, and the arts inventors, scientists, and artists believed to have been neurodiverse include Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, and Emily Dickinson.
Changes to education and employment law have recognized neurodivergent differences, paving the way for accommodations — tools that allow neurodivergent individuals to access the same opportunities as everyone rather than special privileges that give them a competitive edge. Cultural change is reflected in the increasing number of books, films, and television shows that now routinely feature neurodiverse characters.
Yet there is still so much more to do for neurodiverse people and for our society as a whole. As stewards of our children’s futures, we must teach children to work as a team, offering each child the opportunity to contribute to a better outcome for all of them, so they can successfully live, play, work, and communicate with others in our neurodiverse world.
A great place to start is Neurodiversity Week, March 13th through 19th. This year there are 24 separate events, including panel discussions and webinars, on everything from language and culture to design tech and justice-related issues.
For more information on neurodiversity, check out my new book, Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood.
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
What You Can’t See Can Hurt
Since an NVLDer’s (nonverbal learning disorder) appearance doesn’t reveal the discrepancy between their exceptional verbal communication and their poor nonverbal communication (body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice), neurotypical people assume NVLDers are neurotypical. This assumption lays the foundation for misunderstandings in every setting in which humans communicate and can lead to mental health challenges, job stress, and poor physical health for the NVLDer as well as workplace setbacks that will impact NDs in significant ways too.
Moreover, the term “nonverbal” implies that people with NVLD don’t speak. In fact, most NVLDers have exceptional vocabularies, expressive language, and auditory memory as well as an impressive range of knowledge in many different areas. It can seem inconceivable to others that NVLDers have significant difficulties functioning day to day.
Many NVLDers out there are the “walking wounded.” Parents are desperate to help their children, both young and adult, who have slipped through the cracks and are experiencing pain and rejection, despite their best efforts. These parents also often suffer from stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges when they are unable to help their kids. Many of these children will continue to live at home, struggling well into adulthood, and will need ongoing support.
Adult NVLDers who are working through challenges on their own, with or without support from their parents or professionals, watch as their peers pass them by. Their classmates, team members, and neighbors progress from grade school to high school, from college to careers, from living with their parents to living on their own, from dating to marriage to parenting, from making acquaintances to building lasting friendships, from professional advancement to financial gains, and from renting to owning their homes
NVLD may be the most overlooked, misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and misnamed learning disability. According to “Estimated Prevalence of Nonverbal Learning Disability among North American Children and Adolescents,” published in the April 2020 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), between 2.2 and 2.9 million children under the age of eighteen in the United States and Canada may have NVLD.
NVLDers have difficulties with visual-spatial processing, executive functioning (planning and prioritizing), recognizing and processing nonverbal social communication cues (facial expressions, body language, tone of voice), academics, motor skills, social-emotional learning, higher-order thinking (forming conclusions from facts), and mathematical concepts. Because of their significant difficulty processing nonverbal communication, which often changes the speaker’s spoken message, NVLDers frequently make inaccurate conclusions when communicating with others. This in turn impacts their ability to effectively respond and express emotions, opinions, intentions, and ideas within the context of a conversation.
Nonetheless, as many as 50 percent of them have received no diagnosis. Overlapping symptoms and co-occurring disorders may cause those with NVLD to be misdiagnosed as having ADHD or autism level 1 (a variant of autism formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome) and therefore, NVLD to be underdiagnosed. Marcia Rubinstein, an education specialist in West Hartford, Connecticut, once said that almost every child she saw with NVLD had first been diagnosed with ADHD.
Despite the overlapping symptoms in all of these disorders, the causes stem from differences in brain pathology that distinguish one disorder from another. A nonverbal learning disability is believed to be caused by damage, disorder, or destruction of neuronal white matter in the brain’s right hemisphere. Adding to the confusion is disagreement among professionals within the psychological and educational communities. Since NVLD is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it isn’t recognized as an official disorder. The DSM is the bible of mental disorders, used by professionals as a reference for descriptions, symptoms, and criteria to make an official diagnosis required for insurance reimbursement and approval of special education services. But not all children and adults fit into the same pattern.
When we see someone in a wheelchair, we don’t hold that person accountable for things they struggle with or cannot do. Most of us understand they may need assistance and alter our expectations accordingly. Wouldn’t it be crazy and cruel to blame and reject a person for being unable to walk, as if she is doing it on purpose? There is no such sign or visible evidence, like a wheelchair, to account for NVLDers’ difficulties and socially awkward behaviors. The depression, learned helplessness, broken friendships, countless jobs, rejections, crippling anxiety, and ongoing therapy with little to no results would wear down anyone. They begin to doubt and blame themselves and may question their sanity, wondering why they are underestimated and misconstrued.
This column is an excerpt from Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, my new book. If you believe you or a loved one may have a Nonverbal Learning Disorder to learn the secrets to my success, read more …
#nvld #nonverballearningdisorder #nonverballearningdisability #learningdisabilities #aspergers #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #neurodiversity #anxiety #inclusion #adhdawareness #specialneeds #adhdsupport #adhdwomen #adhdmom
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Leveling the Playing Field for the NeuroDiverse Community
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show,
welcomed NVLD and Neurodivergent Expert Linda Karanzalis, MS, BCCS to provide another commentary in a series.
The Linda Karanzalis Commentaries
Neurodiversity is a concept that recognizes neurological differences as natural variations in human beings rather than as deficits or disorders. This concept encompasses a range of neurological differences, such as autism, NVLD, ADHD, dyslexia, and Tourette syndrome, among others.
Discrimination against neurodivergent people occurs when individuals who display these differences are marginalized or excluded on the basis of their neurological characteristics. This can take many forms including negative stereotypes, unequal treatment, and a lack of understanding and support.
There are many examples of how neurodivergent individuals face discrimination in various aspects of life such as education, employment, and social interactions. For instance, neurodivergent individuals may struggle to fit into traditional classroom settings that are designed for neurotypical students, leading to lower academic achievement and a lack of appropriate educational accommodations.
In the workplace, individuals with neurological differences may face difficulty in finding and maintaining employment due to employers’ lack of understanding and support for their unique strengths and challenges. Social stigma surrounding neurodiversity can lead to isolation, and negative attitudes towards individuals who display such differences.
Recognizing neurodiversity as a natural aspect of the human experience and challenging discriminatory attitudes and behaviors can help create a more inclusive society that values and supports the contributions of all individuals regardless of their neurological characteristics.
#nvld #nonverballearningdisorder #nonverballearningdisability #learningdisabilities #aspergers #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #neurodiversity #anxiety #inclusion #adhdawareness #specialneeds #adhdsupport #adhdwomen #adhdmom
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
Could You or a Love One Have NVLD?
Excerpt from the new book Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood; Recognizing and Coping with NVLD from Child hood through Adulthood
Throughout my childhood and early adult years, my parents, teachers, friends, and others would get mad at me for the things I did without knowing any better. Thankfully, before my diagnosis, I had figured out ways to not only cope but remediate some of my difficulties, which I’ll talk about later on in the book.
People were often puzzled by my responses and reactions, which seemed off base compared to what actually happened or to what was being communicated. This led them to think I was not listening. Much later, my parents understood and felt bad for not knowing I wasn’t intentionally misbehaving. The root cause was my inability to interpret and process nonverbal communication.
Just like you can’t read without learning the alphabet, you can’t understand what others are communicating without interpreting nonverbal cues. Reading nonverbal communication isn’t a subject taught in school. It’s assumed that most people learn nonverbal and social communication automatically and intuitively through visual observation and role-modeling of others, a process that begins in early childhood and continues throughout the school years.
One of the things I really struggled with was reading facial expressions that were neutral—also referred to as a “resting face”—and showed very little to no emotion. Unlike my peers, I wasn’t able to intuitively and effortlessly gauge a person’s mood, the setting, or the situation and adjust my behavioral responses accordingly. My mind was flooded with endless questions I couldn’t answer. Did I do something wrong? Are they mad at me? Why am I being ignored? Am I wanted here? Should I stay or leave? What happened? What did they mean when they said that? What should I have done instead?
When I couldn’t figure out what had happened or what was expected of me, I assumed I was responsible for the feelings of others and blamed myself. It was easier to withdraw socially than to be misunderstood. It’s like being told the color you see as red is blue. I lived with chronic anxiety, feeling as if the ground beneath my feet was unstable and shaky, as if I were walking on Jell-O.
Many times, when I asked my mother if she was mad at me, she would say, “No.” After some time passed and I still couldn’t figure out what was going on, I would ask again, “Are you sure you’re not mad at me?” This cycle would repeat itself. Each time, I would change the words, but, essentially, I was just asking the same thing over and over again in different ways. When she asked me, “Why do you think I’m mad?” I would give her a list of reasons: “You’re not talking to me; you sounded angry; you said this, or you didn’t say that…” I could be relentless and get on her last nerve until she was at her wit’s end! When she finally reached her breaking point, she would yell at me to stop asking her. Once I understood she was not upset about me or about a specific issue, I’d calm down.
To help yourself or your child, role-play a conversation where you prepare the person you will be talking to in advance by saying, “I process language differently so I may need to stop you when you are in the middle of speaking to be sure I comprehend what you’re saying or to clarify by asking you questions. You may feel as if I am not listening or am being rude. Be assured it’s none of these things. I just want to make sure we understand one another so I can respond appropriately.”
Reflective listening is another tool that can be used for neurodivergents (those think, learn, and do things differently) than neurotypicals (the majority of the population who communicate in the same way) to better understand each other.
Excerpt from my new book Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood; Recognizing and Coping with NVLD (nonverbal learning disorder) from Childhood through Adulthood. If you think you or a loved one may have NVLD or to learn more of my strategies for coping, read more …
#nvld #nonverballearningdisorder #nonverballearningdisability #learningdisabilities #aspergers #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #neurodiversity #anxiety #inclusion #adhdawareness #specialneeds #adhdsupport #adhdwomen #adhdmom
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
School Daze How I Graduated College With Honors
For students with brain-based learning challenges like ADHD and NVLD, excelling in school can be an enormous challenge. I want to share with you some of the tips and tricks I used to graduate with honors to become to get a master’s degree in brain-based education.
Find the Best Instructors for Your Learning Style
An instructor can make or break your success. First, try to determine if the instructor is open to students with learning disabilities and understands their needs for accommodations, such as additional time to take tests. Some professors who “don’t believe” in accommodations will shame students who ask for them in front of their classmates.
It was crucial for me to have professors who were passionate about their subject and skilled in their delivery of course content and materials. I made it my business to talk to other students about the instructors they had in the classes I needed to take. I wanted to know about the instructor’s grading system: do they give pop quizzes? Base tests on class notes or textbooks? Expect frequent participation in class? Assign group projects?
Pace Yourself
Instead of taking five classes a semester, like most of my peers, I took four to reduce stress and to give me the extra time I needed to focus and determine my own pace. I also took one course each summer. When I had courses that were difficult for me, I took them along with less demanding electives to allow me to focus better on the more strenuous classes.
Grade Point Average (GPA) and the Pass/Fail Option
It was important to me to have a high GPA so I chose the pass/fail option for math classes whenever I could. Instead of getting a grade for the class, you pass the course with a grade of D or higher without affecting your GPA. However, if you don’t pass, your GPA will be affected by having a zero added to it.
Dropping Classes
The add/drop process allows you to withdraw after the class starts as long as you meet the cutoff date. This gave me enough time to see how I was doing in class. If I was heading toward failure, I would withdraw. It wouldn’t count toward my GPA and appeared as a W, for withdrawal, on my transcript.
Early-Morning Classes
I had a terrible time getting up, and I hated taking early-morning classes. People with ADHD often have interrupted sleep patterns, and it takes longer for their brains to wake up. NVLDers and NDs have a higher rate of depression, which also makes getting up and out of bed difficult.
To work around this, I enrolled in as few morning classes as possible, but there were classes I needed that were only offered in the early mornings. To get to 8:00 a.m. classes, I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. and immediately guzzled a bottle of caffeinated iced tea that I had put next to my bed the previous evening. I took my shower the night before and—get ready for this; it’s a doozy— I slept in the clothes I would wear the next day. I know, crazy, right? I wore a clean T-shirt and leggings to bed. In the morning, I’d put on my socks and sneakers and a head- band. Finally, I would grab my book bag and energy bar and head off to class looking like I had just come from the gym!
Note-Taking
I created blank outline forms to use during class lectures. Filling in the blanks helped me to structure and organize topics with supporting details. Otherwise, I’d try to write down everything the instructor said, and I’d wind up with a bunch of notes looking like “chicken scratch.”
Recording Class Lectures
Some instructors allowed me to record class lectures. Find out if there is a schoolwide policy about recording lectures or if it is up to the individual instructors.
There are, of course, dozens more strategies, tactics, software, and apps that can help students, and I will share some more of my own in another post.
This column is an excerpt from Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, my new book. If you want to learn more about the secrets to my college success, click here. Or check out my blog here.
#nvld #nonverballearningdisorder #nonverballearningdisability #learningdisabilities #aspergers #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #neurodiversity #anxiety #inclusion #adhdawareness #specialneeds #adhdsupport #adhdwomen #adhdmom
Linda Karanzalis, Board-Certified Cognitive Specialist is the author of Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood, a new book on Nonverbal Learning Disorder and other brain-based challenges.
Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist, world-renowned expert on ADHD, and the New York Times best-selling author of Driven to Distraction says, “Linda’s book is vivid, compelling, full of heart and fresh understanding. Karanzalis replaces suffering with clarity and triumph for the millions of people with NVLD.”
Linda, who has NVLD and ADHD, has worked for more than 25 years with individuals of all ages with NVLD, ADHD, learning disabilities, and those on the autistic spectrum. As an author, podcaster, presenter, learning specialist, and ambassador for the NVLD Project, she provides validation, awareness, solutions, strategies, and, most importantly, compassion to the millions who live with neurodiversity. Find out more about her story and book at www.lindakaranzalis.com.
Follow Linda Karanzalis through her social media accounts:
Join the NVLD and NeuroDivergent Facebook Support Group
Linda Karanzalis, MS
Linda Karanzalis, MS, is a former special education classroom teacher with over 25 years of experience in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, social-emotional learning, social skills training, and behavior management
