Many people with NVLD have trouble with math. I don’t have much trouble with math (I’m a statistician) but I learn math differently from most people. Most people prefer to learn math visually. This occurs from the most basic math to the most advanced. I, however, prefer to learn math nonvisually. This is so unusual that we don’t even have a good word for it – the word varies depending on the math, but it could be called numerically or algebraically or symbolically. Visualization never helped me much.

I urge you to use the comments to say ways that you (or your child or spouse or whoever) does things well but differently. Maybe this will help parents, teachers and even we LDers ourselves to not fix what isn’t broken.

Take a human trait. Almost any human trait. Some of that trait is almost certainly caused by nature – by one’s genes. Some of that trait is almost certainly caused by nurture – by one’s environment.

Nature vs. nurture with a well understood trait

Let’s take a trait that we understand well: Phenylketonuria. It’s 100% environmental AND 100% genetic. How’s that again? Well, for details, see the link. But for those who don’t want details, it’s a disorder that is caused by a defect in a chromosome that leads to an absence of a certain enzyme. As a result, the body can’t metabolize a certain amino acid and there are dire consequences, including early death.

OK…..it’s all nature. If you have this defect, you have the disease.

But….if you avoid the amino acid that your body can’t process, there are no symptoms. So, it’s 100% environment.

The reason for such nonsensical statements being nonetheless true is that, in PKU, as in many traits, genes and environment interact in a statistical sense. I’ll explain.

Suppose you have one variable – we’ll call it DV – (here, dying from PKU) that is affected by two other variables – we’ll call them IVs – (here, having the faulty chromosome and eating the amino acid). An interaction occurs when the effect of one IV on the DV is different at different levels of the other IV. Here, if you don’t have the gene, the food doesn’t matter, and if you don’t have the food, the gene doesn’t matter.

Interactions make nature vs. nurture meaningless

In statistics, when you are studying interactions, one of the first things you learn is that when there is an interaction, the main effects (here, the effect of the chromosome and the effect of eating the amino acid) are meaningless on their own. What’s the effect of the food on dying? Impossible to say. It depends on the gene. What’s the effect of the gene on dying? Impossible to say, it depends on the food.

Nature vs. nurture and less understood traits

OK, now let’s take another trait, one we understand less well. Let’s take a personality trait like being a bully. I haven’t done any research on bullying, but I’d bet that there are genetic causes. And I’d bet that there are environmental ones. And I’d bet they interact. Level of adrenaline is probably related to bullying behavior, and that is, in turn, partly caused by genetic factors. But I’d be stunned if parenting didn’t affect bullying, and I’d be stunned if other environmental factors didn’t also affect it. How might an interaction work?

Well, the effect of parenting on bullying probably depends on the personality of the child. If the parent and the child ‘match’ in some sense, all may be well. But the same parenting style with a different child might be terrible. A father who is, say, a former marine who is into football and Nascar might be a great match for a child who likes similar things, but might have trouble with a child who is interested in art and poetry and hates physical activity. That could lead to bullying.

When the trait is something even more complex, like a learning disability, the issues are compounded. But, as long as there is any genetic effect and any environmental effect and an interaction between them, nature nurture is nonsense. One example would be dyslexia. Here, the environmental cause is the fact that, in our society, reading is essential. The genetic causes are …. well, whatever they are. There is an interaction much like the one in PKU.

That’s a  first reason nature nurture is nonsense.

There are more.

Measurement issues and nature vs. nurture

To determine how much of something is something, we need to be able to measure the things. If we talk about genetic and environmental effects on height, we know how to measure height. And we have a good idea how to measure the environment (we can measure calorie intake and intake of various nutrients). And we know how to measure the environment (take the average height of parents).

But we don’t really know how to measure bullying  very well; nor do we know how to measure most learning disabilities well at all. And, for these complex traits, we don’t know how to measure environment well. And we don’t really know how to measure the genes because, for complex traits like learning disabilities, we don’t know which genes are involved.

So we are saying that there is a relationship between X, Y and Z, when we don’t know how to measure X or Y or Z. Hmmmmm…… we might be able to say that there IS a relationship. But determining the relative importance of X and Y on Z is not possible.

Twin studies and nature vs. nurture

There’s yet another reason why it’s nonsense. Take the studies of twins reared apart. Then you can say (for identical twins) that there is NO genetic difference. So, any difference in the trait MUST be due to environment. But….well, sorry, it’s more problematic. First, identical twins reared TOGETHER aren’t the same (damn humans messing up these nice theories). Second, we don’t know how to tell how different the different environments are. When children are raised by people other than their biological parents, it if often by people who are similar in various ways to their parents. But how do we tell how different two homes are? We don’t know what to measure!

Nature is important
Nurture is important

The rest is nonsense

Of course, some other cities are grids. I’ve visited Chicago many times, and it is mostly a grid. They have a different numbering system there, though, and it’s one that works well for me and my NLD. There is one central spot that is 0. From there, each block north or south adds 100. So, even though the streets are named, not numbered, you can find the distance east or west and the distance north or south and there you go.

But many cities are not grids, and non-urban areas are not grids at all. London, for example, is a big city that is not remotely like a grid. We visited there last year. We got lost, a lot. After a few days our younger son (he was 10 at the time) started helping us out by finding landmarks, but I never did.

In most places, maps help me a lot (for some reason, the maps of London didn’t seem to agree with each other or the actual London). But, if I am using a map, I have to rotate the map so that it is oriented the way I am oriented. I find it much easier to read text that is upside down or otherwise angled than to rotate directions in my head.

This is a good example of a strategy I call “going around the mountain” – that is, instead of trying harder or trying longer, try differently.

Each of these will be right for different children, or even for the same child at different ages. Here are my thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Small schools are probably what comes first to mind when considering a placement. The advantages are fairly clear: Your child may receive more individual attention; a higher proportion of the staff will know your child well; any problems that arise may be identified more quickly.  The disadvantages may be less obvious, at least to people who are not themselves LD or not expert in LD: That individual attention may also come from other children (and in not so welcome ways). In addition, especially in a small mainstream school, your child may become ‘the weird one’. There may be few (or no) other kids with similar issues. NLD children (and other children in the autism ballpark) often have unusual interests – in a small school, it will be less likely that other children share those interests.

Large schools have almost opposite advantages and disadvantages. If the school is not very well run (and, given the student-staff ratios at many schools, it is hard to run a school well) your child may fall between the cracks and be ignored. On the other hand, in a large student body there will be more children who are comparable to your child, both in terms of disabilities and interests.

Then there’s home school. I know relatively about this, but it seems to me to offer some unique advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantages would be knowledge of your child and flexibility of program. The disadvantages (in addition to practical issues of cost and finding materials and instructors and so on) would, I think, be around finding friends.

None of these advantages and disadvantages are set in stone. There are good big schools that manage to track every child well; there are small schools that make huge efforts to find a cohort for each child; and homeschooling can work very well, as well.

How does this play out for choosing a place for your child?

I think that (again, in general) younger children (perhaps up to 4th or 5th grade or so) do better in smaller schools and the older your child gets, the more the advantages of larger places come up.

If your child’s issues are primarily social, a larger school (or home school) might be better. If they are primarily academic, a smaller school might be.  If your child is good at self-advocating then some of the disadvantages of large schools will become less severe; similarly, if your child fits well into a well-known diagnosis, some of the problems of large schools are less. If your child has multiple issues, is twice exceptional, has very unusual interests, then a small school or home school might be best.

But, again, your mileage may vary. You know your child, I don’t.

1. When you’re going somewhere, you usually don’t get lost. Come on! Getting lost can be an adventure! You never know what you’ll find!  And getting lost on purpose is almost contradictory.

2. When people talk to you, you understand what they mean, even when it isn’t what they say. Yeah. All those cues we miss, you pick up on. So, when your best friend says “Wow! You’ve lost weight!” you somehow know that she really means “That diet failed for sure!”  Since people rarely actually say “you might want to skip dessert for a while”, we get to believe we’re thin. And good looking. And that we never age.

3. You’re usually on time, if you want to be. Me? I’m always early. So, I carry a book. That way, I get more reading done. And reading is interesting! Usually, it’s more interesting than whatever else I would have done with the time.

4. When you get fired or laid off, you usually know why. What fun is that? We can guess! Is it really a lay-off or is it really a firing? Did I do something wrong and if so, what? And so on. And guessing is fun! Hey! Look at all those game shows that involve guessing (oh, but we don’t have ANY chance of becoming millionaires from our guesses).

5. Number 5 is up to you! Fill in the comments!

(oh, and since we people with NVLD are supposed to not have a sense of humor, everything above is meant absolutely 100% totally completely seriously).

No it’s not.

Yahoo Groups:

NLD in Common: This group is for anyone connected with or interested in NLD: Not only people with NLD, but their parents, teachers and so on.

NLD Adults:  As the name suggests, this is only for adults with NLD.

Gifted NLD AS : This group is for those of us who are “2e” or twice exceptional. Most of the members are parents of 2e kids, but it is not exclusively them.

Informational websites

NLD on the web has pages of information on books, other resources, a glossary, schools, social skills and so on.

Another, similar website is NLD Line, however, it does not appear to have been updated recently

This one is regional, but has information that is generally applicable: NLD Ontario

Definitions and other similar material

Oasis

LDA America

About.com (this one is especially for parent to give to teachers and schools)

I hope that these are useful!  And, again, if you have other good sites, let me know in the comments.

Partly, of course, it’s what each of us is used to. Even neurotypical people are more comfortable with what they are used to! But there is more. If you want to know why he prefers Dorset to London, go read the article. As to why I love New York (and other big cities), read on:

1. I don’t drive. Not all cities have good mass transit (although both London and New York do) but rural areas almost never do.

2. In the part of New York City where I live the streets are laid on in a grid. Not only that, but the streets are numbered. 81, 82, 83 …. That I get! In rural areas, there are often a bewildering (to me) range of streets, avenues, ways, places, highways, routes and so on. And they all go higgledy-piggledy all over the place. And since nearly everyone is in a car, it’s hard to ask for directions.

3. Big cities usually have maps available, often quite detailed maps. I am good with maps (but lousy with directions). In a big city there are often people to ask for help.

4. Big cities tend to be less personal. For instance, if I get on a bus, I don’t have to remember if I know this bus driver (I don’t). I say “good morning” and put my metroCard in the slot. He says “good morning” or something and then I go into the bus. Even in NYC, I do run into people I know on the street, and I often don’t recognize them. This is embarrassing.

5. In big cities, nearly everything is available.

What do you prefer? Rural area, small town, suburbia or urban?

Those of you who  have tried to do this about NLD will know that it isn’t easy.  Describing some LDs is easier: Dyslexia involves trouble with reading; dyscalculia involves trouble with math. There are subtleties, but the general notion is clear. But what exactly does NLD cause trouble with?  Sometimes I say “space and time” but that’s not very specific.

One problem I have is visual memory. Or, rather, my problem is that I have very little visual memory. But most people don’t seem to really get it when I say that. Oh, they know the words….. but they don’t get it.

I pointed out that I don’t, offhand, remember what color my bedroom walls are. This struck her as remarkable. It turns out that she could easily remember the color of all the rooms in her apartment. She thought this was pretty usual; she didn’t think of herself as having an unusually good visual memory.

So, when I got home, I looked at my bedroom walls. They are yellow. The ceiling is white. I now remember that. But I remember it verbally “walls are yellow, ceiling is white” rather than visually.

Let me know in the comments if you are similar to me (if you have NLD) or to my friend (if you don’t have NLD). And let me know if this helps you understand NLD.

What does this mean when dealing with people who are learning disabled and, more specifically, when dealing with people who have NLD?

To me, it means recognizing the importance of  all three words in the phrase “Learning disabled person”. There are, then, two ways to fail to esteem and respect a person who is learning disabled: You can fail to recognize that we are people or you can fail to recognize that we are disabled. Often, people are so intent on avoiding the first error that they commit the second one. On another site, a teacher said that she didn’t think it should be called a learning disability. She made an analogy to blindess. She said that blind people could not see, but people with LD can learn. I certainly agree that LD people can learn and blind people can’t see. But blindness is not the only disability, even with regard to vision, and the disability of blindness is not just not being able to see, but not being able to get around the inability. Just as there are tools to help the blind (e.g. canes, seeing eye dogs, braille, etc). so there are tools to help people with LD. Yet this does not mean it is not a disability. Further, extreme nearsightedness is also a disability, even though such people can see.

When you deny that LD people have a disability, you disrespect us; you fail to treat us with dignity.There are things that most people can do with little difficulty that LD people can do only with difficulty or not at all. A blind person can learn to walk and avoid tripping or crashing, but cannot learn to drive in traffic.

One of the tricky parts of NLD is figuring out just what the person can do, cannot do at all, or can do only with difficulty. The person is, himself a good but not infallible guide to this.

Yet you must also not make the other error. LD people are people. Treating us or referring to them as if they were not is also failing to respect us.

This can be a difficult line to walk! But we didn’t make it hard for you on purpose.

There is an old saying that “in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king”. It is meant to say that someone with a little ability will have an advantage over people with less; but, in reality, if there really were a kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man would be disabled.

Everything in such a kingdom would be set up for blind people. Nothing would depend on vision; much would depend on the other senses. But the one eyed man would have the problem of seeing and therefore not relying on his other senses as much. He would be disabled.

John Varley wrote a beautiful short story along these lines; it is called “Persistence of Vision” – I highly recommend it. It is collected in an anthology of the same name. The basics of this story is that, in a post-apocalyptic United States, a man is hitchhiking across the country when he runs into a commune of deaf-blind people (survivors of the rubella epidemic). I won’t spoil it by saying more.

Back to the real world. How does impairment interact with the world? Before reading was common, dyslexia was not much of a disability.  If 95% of the people cannot read, then being unable to is not much of a problem, even if it is based on an impairment.

We cannot correct all impairments; but we can ameliorate many disabilities.