Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and Asperger Syndrome in Young Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore data-driven hypotheses concerning linguistic similarities and differences in adults with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The focus of the chapter is on profiling linguistic, cognitive, and neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses seen in both clinical groups. A research sample of adults from 19 to 44 years of age is described. Findings include strengths in the breadth of vocabulary and weaknesses in semantic precision and integration. A secondary finding, in which responses to adult autism screening surveys distinguish both clinical groups from controls, and the clinical groups from one another, is presented. Patterns and trends in this data point to difficulties with verbal and nonverbal gestalt formation that are amenable to intervention. Clinical examples of interventions suggested by the data are provided, as they apply to post-secondary students of the same age as the sample.

Breadth over depth in the semantic representations of adults with nonverbal learning disabilities

“…Children with NLD in Myklebust's (1975) case studies struggled with estimating time, distance, weight, and other quantities (see also Gross-Tsur et al, 1995;Semrud-Clikeman & Hynd, 1990), suggesting difficulty with expressing physical experiences in words. A study of word knowledge in adults with NLD (Stothers & Oram Cardy, 2016) found that participants named shapes incorrectly, and were sometimes unable to articulate their understanding of affordances. Errors for word definitions that involved quantity and direction were also observed.…”

“…As this list suggests, NLD is most easily understood as a disorder of perceptual organization, cognitive processes that are usually measured without also measuring language. Verbal abilities in both children and adults are stronger in comparison, either intra-individually, or as compared to the population in general (Rourke & Tsatsanis, 1996;Stothers & Oram Cardy, 2016). In children with NLD, early facility with word learning and oral expression may be so exceptional as to mask the presence of a learning disorder (Stein, Klin, & Miller, 2004;Yalof, 2006).…”

“…The term CPS has been applied to children with NLD, but its use has been neither supported nor discounted by experimental research. Observations in a recent study (Stothers & Oram Cardy, 2016) included responses by participants with a diagnosis of NLD that typify CPS, including a way to calculate objects; to enjoy our leisurely time; and the plutonic family dream. The same individuals also correctly used words that occur less frequently in everyday conversation.…”

“…The creation of semantic representations is constructive, or integrative, regardless of the modality in which the input to be combined is encountered (Booth, Burman, Meyer, Gitelman, Parrish, & Mesulam, 2002;Coulson, 2006;Fauconnier & Turner, 1998). Cognitive processes used to make sense of information through integration, binding, or blending (Coulson, 2006;Dien, 2009;Fauconnier & Turner, 1998; van der Helm, 2012) appear to be impaired in NLD (Denckla, 1983;Grodzinsky, Forbes, & Holmes Bernstein, 2010;Gross-Tsur et al, 1995;Humphries et al, 2004;Rourke, 1989;Semrud-Clikeman & Hynd, 1990;Stothers & Klein, 2010;Stothers & Oram Cardy, 2016;Weintraub & Mesulam, 1983). In our study of adults with NLD, scores for tests of perceptual organization better predicted reading comprehension results than did breadth of vocabulary or tests of phonology (Stothers & Klein, 2010).…”

“…Labels may simply be definitions that are limited in scope, or they may be c o l l o c at i o n s, a type of formulaic language consisting of pre-learned, predictable combinations of words that are retrieved as wholes from long-term memory (Molinaro & Carreiras, 2010). Adult post-secondary students diagnosed as having NLD have been found to use slightly altered formulaic expressions such as freedom for expression or without impunity (Stothers & Oram Cardy, 2016). Imprecise uses of collocations also suggest a reliance on memorization over comprehension.…”