A nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is a disability that makes it difficult to use and understand nonverbal communication. Problems with connections on the right side of the brain are thought to cause NLD. A child with NLD is both symptomatically and behaviorally similar to a person who has sustained a severe head injury to the right cerebral hemisphere, which results in disorganized and oppositional behavior and a difficult time following a change in routine. Some researchers group NLD with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified and Asperger’s syndrome while other researchers view NLD as an entirely distinct disability.

Nonverbal learning disability is typically identified by a review of a student’s intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores. Students with NLD often score much higher on the verbal sections of a test than on the performance sections, which measure visual/spatial skills through the use of puzzles, mazes, graphs, mathematics, and/or understanding written instructions. Normally, the difference in the scores is used as a threshold for diagnosis of NLD and is around 15 points lower or as much as 40 points lower on the performance section than the verbal section. A higher difference indicates a more severe form of NLD.

Although IQ test scores may offer proof of NLD, it is often not diagnosed until pre-adolescence. This is generally due to the fact that children with NLD often have excellent language skills, which makes the learning disability less identifiable. Nonverbal learning disability becomes more apparent when school work becomes more difficult. Students with NLD often have difficulties with reading comprehension, understanding literary devices and mathematics, and thinking creatively.

Nonverbal learning disability is a rare learning disability. While 10% of the people of the general population have learning disabilities, only 1% to 10% of those with learning disabilities have NLD. This fact combined with the difficulty of identifying NLD often leads to the mistreatment of students with NLD by educators. Students with NLD are often viewed as too talkative by classroom teachers and as too clumsy by physical education teachers. Educators should learn about the effects of NLD as well as the identifying features of the disability in order to prevent a student with NLD from developing anxiety and low self-esteem as a result of mistreatment.

There are many negative effects associated with NLD. Nonverbal learning disabilities make it difficult for students to participate in nonverbal reasoning and to comprehend nonverbal communication. Students with NLD have a decreased capacity to understand nonverbal communications like gestures, body language, and facial expressions. In addition, students with NLD have trouble using nonverbal communications themselves. As a result, a student with NLD may not comply with social rules regarding personal space, eye contact, and the use of nonverbal communication to express feelings or comprehension. Finally, NLD makes it difficult for students to respond to information presented to them in a nonverbal manner. As a result, students with NLD may have to convert nonverbal information into a verbal form in order to understand or remember the information. To illustrate, a student with NLD taking geometry must talk a problem into a tape recorder and play it back, whereas most students write down the problem and use graphics to see it visually.

In addition to the above-mentioned difficulties that a student with NLD may have, students with NLD often have difficulties with their motor skills, may appear to be clumsy, and have difficulties with ordinary tasks like using scissors or tying shoes.

Finally, students with NLD may exhibit difficulties with tasks involving visual, spatial, and organizational skills. As a result, students with NLD may become lost easily, have difficulties in identifying causal relationships, or have troubles with nonverbal abstract reasoning.