Is There an Increased Familial Prevalence of Psychopathology in Children With Nonverbal Learning Disorders?

Abstract

The cognitive and behavioral symptoms of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) have been described by previous investigators. Nevertheless, we know far less about the potential genetic contributions that may predispose a child to have NLD. An endophenotype model was investigated in 5 samples of children ages 9 to 15 years: NLD (n = 32); reading disorders (RD; n = 59); participants with a psychiatric diagnosis but without a learning disability (n = 55); typically developing controls (n = 31); and children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), a chromosomal deletion syndrome that has been proposed as being an exemplar of NLD (VCFS + NLD; n = 20). Based on a family genetic interview, the authors' data suggest that children with NLD, RD, or a psychiatric diagnosis have a higher prevalence rate of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance abuse/dependence. Psychiatric controls and children with NLD--but not children with RD-- showed higher prevalence rates of familial bipolar disorder.

Applicability of the Nonverbal Learning Disability Paradigm for Children With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

“…They described these deficits as leading to difficulties in problem solving, pragmatic language, arithmetic, and social learning, which in turn led to social skills deficits and internalized psychopathology. Antshel and Khan (2008) used these criteria to determine which children in their sample with 22q11DS also had NLD. Table 1 shows measures used to assess each criterion.…”

“…For the criteria to address our first research question, we chose characteristics described by Rourke et al (2002) and subsequently used by Antshel and Khan (2008) to estimate NLD prevalence in 22q11DS. These criteria were chosen to permit comparison of our results with Antshel and Khan’s conclusions about the same population.…”

“…Other researchers found no significant difference between VIQ and nonverbal IQ subtests (Campbell et al, 2009; Sobin, Kiley-Brabeck, Daniels, et al, 2005). Antshel and Khan (2008), investigating a comprehensive list of NLD diagnostic criteria in 100 children with 22q11DS, found that 20% met at least 8 of 10 criteria. These variable results suggest that NLD may more accurately describe a subset of children with 22q11DS than the entire population.…”

“…A complex academic achievement profile has been described, with relative strengths in reading, spelling, and verbal rote memory and deficits in reading comprehension and math (Antshel & Khan, 2008; Bearden et al, 2001; Lajiness-O’Neill et al, 2006; Lewandowski et al, 2007; Moss et al, 1999; van Amelsvoort et al, 2004; Woodin et al, 2001; Zinkstok & van Amelsvoort, 2005). Impairments in executive function, including cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibition of inappropriate responses have also been reported (Bearden et al, 2001; Lajiness-O’Neill et al, 2006; Lewandowski et al, 2007; Moss et al, 1999; Woodin et al, 2001).…”

Depression Is a Neurologic Disease!

“…At the same time, clinicians should be concerned about the implications for learning, because the nonverbal learning disabilities that follow from right cerebral hemisphere abnormalities are often extremely disabling. [32][33][34][35][36] In addition, it is possible that depressive illness with its associated right hemisphere disturbances in social-emotional processing could confound understanding of the autism/Asperger syndrome spectrum of problems. 37 Weinberg's original hypothesis was that depression was a significant underpinning of both epilepsy and migraine 4 : could it be that all 3 of these disorders are really just related cyclic conditions with periodicity varying from seconds to hours to months?…”