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Students with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities
by Jean M. Foss,
This group of disabled learners have only
begun to receive the understanding and attention they require. To understand
the difficulties they face and to help them to make the best of their assets
while minimizing the effects of their weaknesses, we need to recognize the
syndrome and its implications.
There is potential for confusion in the term
"Nonverbal Learning Disability." This term refers to the fact that
these individuals do not process accurately information which is not
verbal/linguistic in nature - conversely, they rely almost exclusively on
their interpretation of the spoken or written word. This interpretation tends
to be concrete, often appears to be rigid and lacking in flexibility. We infer
that this lack of flexibility is a result of failure to incorporate
information of a nonverbal nature into their understanding. Such nonverbal
information includes tactile, kinesthetic, visual-spatial, affective,
experiential information which this learner does not perceive readily and,
therefore, does not associate nor integrate with language. These individuals
may speak volumes; their expressive language tends to be concrete and to
contain excessive detail; their conversation shows little or no evidence of
consideration of the interests or needs of the audience.
Statements like the following are often true of
individuals with a nonverbal learning disability:
They talk a lot but really say very little.
They see the "trees" not the
"forest."
They focus on details, do not apprehend the main
idea.
They do not "see the whole picture."
They do not "read" facial experessions,
gestures, nor other nonverbal aspects of communication; they miss the
subtleties, nuances.
They may be inappropriate in their social
interactions.
They have few friends; friendships tend to be with
older or younger persons rather than peers.
They tend to process information in a linear,
sequential fashion, not seeing multiple dimensions.
In spite of relative strength in sequencing or
recalling sequences, they may confuse abstract temporal concepts; they
have significant difficulty recognizing cause-effect relationships.
They frequently "shut down" when faced
with pressure to perform; such pressure might come from too many
simultaneous demands, from tasks which seem too complex, or from
expectations to perform at a rate which seems too rapid.
As adults they tend to be underemployed relative
to their educational experiences.
We aspire to help these young people to adapt and
to achieve fulfillment in their lives. At the outset, we accept that they
are eager to learn, to fit in, to succeed, and to do what they can to
accomplish their goals. We seek to understand how they learn, to engage
them in explicit and direct instruction to remediate their difficulties,
and to use their strengths most effectively.
We can be most effective if we do the following:
Provide verbal mediation for nonverbal
experiences, and in conjunction with their interactions with others,
whenever appropriate.
Teach them to use their own verbal analytic
strengths to mediate their own experiences.
Anticipate situations in which they might have
difficulty, and act as a buffer and support to facilitate the most
positive outcomes possible - help them to anticipate the kinds of
situations in which they might have difficulty, and to plan in advance
some alternative responses they might have to those situations.
Teach them to interpret facial expressions,
gestures and other nonverbal aspects of communication.
Teach them to watch for and interpret indications
from others that they are talking too much, or that the communication is
ineffective in some other way.
Monitor their understanding when communicating,
and teach them to self-monitor their understanding and ask clarifying
questions.
Be particularly careful to ensure their
understanding when spatial language is involved.
Take care to make cause-effect relationships
explicit, whenever possible.
Help this learner to anticipate cause and effect
relationships in order to avoid difficulties in many areas of life.
Teach and practice organizational skills.
Control as much as possible the demands for
performance to be sure they are manageable and not seemingly overwhelming.
Relying on verbal strengths, help this individual
practice and internalize the process of making decisions, setting goals,
making plans and taking action to achieve those goals, and reflecting and
evaluating the results. The outcome of the process must be to credit
oneself for one's own efforts and accomplishments.
Be confident and hopeful; interventions like those
above can effect a positive difference.
~~~~~~~~~~
© Jean M. Foss
This article is
posted on NLD on the Web! with
permission of the author, who retains the rights to
this article. Please contact the author for any use of it other than for
individual educational purposes.
About the author - Jean Foss, MEd, has been
Director of Clinical Teaching and
Research at Pine Ridge School,
in Williston, Vermont, since 1969. She trains remedial language
tutors and is involved in assessment and in designing remedial
interventions to improve language and communication skills. Jean is
a founder, Fellow, and Vice-President of the Academy of Orton-Gillingham
Practitioners and Educators (OGA). She was also involved in
organizing the International Multisensory Structured Language Education
Council (IMSLEC), and is immediate past president of the New England Branch of the Orton Dyslexia Society.
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