#special educators for ADHD

[homeshikshatutorassist]

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[vivianseda]

Thank you to Our Sensory Life

“I spent to many years thinking it was normal to be trapped like this and I was just 'lazy'.

If you relate to this, please hear me, you're not lazy. I know how bad it feels.”

Photo credit: Dani Donovan

[its-murderous-business]

An Introduction to Nonverbal Learning Disorder

Happy disability pride month! I am celebrating by trying to educate people about my learning disorder, because it is one of the least known learning disabilities and deserves more recognition.

What is Nonverbal Learning Disorder?

Nonverbal Learning Disorder (also called Non-Verbal Learning Disability and other variations on the same name), often shortened to NLD or NVLD, is not a new concept, but the idea of it as its own diagnosis is relatively recent. A common misconception upon hearing the name is that people with NVLD are non-verbal, but this is not the case. The name essentially refers to the fact that people with this disability are affected in almost every area except verbal and language skills, where they often excel.

What areas can NVLD effect?

NVLD can take a lot of forms, and not everyone with it will be affected in every area, and other areas are also able to be affected this is just a general list:

- exceptional skills in the areas of comprehension (understanding) and production (ability to utilize) of verbal language. Basically, we are really good at reading, writing, speech, spelling, and have large vocabularies.

- difficulties with visual spatial processing skills. Fun fact, NVLD was briefly called Visual Spatial Processing Disorder! Visual spatial processing is a term that describes the process of seeing things and then understanding how they relate to one another in space.

- difficulties with understanding non-verbal forms of communication such as tone, facial expressions, gestures, metaphors and exaggerations, and (sometimes) context.

- difficulties with math, including arithmetic, fractions, geometry, telling time, pattern recognition, and much more. This can be very similar to dyscalculia.

- difficulties socializing (often presents similar to the social difficulties faced by autistic people)

- other miscellaneous neurodivergent traits such as hyperfixations, difficulty regulating emotions, distress when faced with change, sensory overload, motor skill and coordination deficits, attention deficits, and executive dysfunction

How does that affect people with NVLD on the day to day?

Let’s use me as the example. I love to talk to people but I often run into issues because I take things very literally, struggle to read social cues, and can have trouble connecting with others. Growing up I was always in advanced English and literature classes, but was in special education for math due to my extreme difficulties with it. I have a lot of trouble dealing with last minute changes in my plans and loud noises bother me A Lot.

I struggle greatly with visual spatial processing skills, specifically for me that can manifest as not knowing where my body is in space (causing me to bump into things a lot), difficulty navigating maps, struggles with knowing left from right, a complete inability to use the knowledge of how an object looks from one angle to visualize how it would look from another angle, and many other things.

NVLD can present in a number of different ways and affect different parts of peoples lives. I have multiple neurodivergent comorbidities which can make it difficult to tease the exact symptoms apart from one another, but there are plenty of articles online where people discuss their own experiences if you look for them.

Is NVLD in the DSM/an official diagnosis?

ehhhhh it’s complicated. NVLD is not currently it’s own differentiated diagnosis within the DSM-5, however it can be diagnosed (as it is with me) under the DSM-5 as Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Mathematics which serves as a sort of catch all for any learning disability that affects math or areas other than reading/writing.

NVLD as its own diagnosis is a relatively new idea, as historically it’s been lumped within other diagnoses (typically autism, adhd, or specific learning disability). However over the last 15 years and especially the last 5 years, there has been a significant increase in academic literature and acknowledgement of NVLD as its own distinct diagnosis. Columbia University has been conducting research on the disorder alongside the NVLD Project, which is the only organization that exclusively does advocacy, education, and research around NVLD. These groups are doing a lot of work to attempt to get NVLD classified as its own diagnosis in future editions of the DSM.

How common is NVLD? What causes it?

NVLD is uncommonly diagnosed due to lack of official DSM recognition, misidentification as other neurodiverse conditions, and lack of awareness of NVLD from neuropsych evaluators. However one study from earlier this year estimated that between 1-8% of children have NVLD depending on what diagnostic criteria is used.

There has been some early evidence that NVLD is the result of dysfunction in the right hemisphere of the brain or more specifically the inability of the right hemisphere of the brain to effectively communicate to the left hemisphere.

Why are you telling me all of this?

The majority of people do not know that NVLD exists, and as such those of us with this condition often get left out of neurodivergent and disability communities. I would like to be included in advocacy and understood by the community since we all face very similar challenges! I really encourage y’all to learn more about Non-Verbal Learning Disability

Here are some links to learn more!

From the Child Mind Institute

Psychology Today article

From ADDitude Magazine

Article from Very Well Mind

Medical News Today article

Learning Disorder Association of America article

From Learning Disability Association of Ontario

And of course the aforementioned NVLD Project website!

[eddies-disability-swag-blog]

Hello! Autistic (art) teacher of Autistic+ADHD kid here!

So I have an AuDHD 6th grader (so like 9-10 years old) and his classmates infantilize him a fucking lot. His current monitor is also really annoying, she stops him from doing vocal stimming and chewing things, which are extremely fucking harmless. Like, I’m grateful that she stops him from taking things from other people, that she reminds him to continue with work and that she keeps him from running away, but I would be even more greatful if she only did those things.

My student is definitely HSN, with limited speech (speaking in short concise statements, normally single word statements), a fixation with use of his iPad (probably bc ADHD, I do that too to a lesser extent), and, as I mentioned, a tendency to take things that don’t belong to him and to run away. He also is literate, he writes quite a bit.

Anyways, how do I get his classmates to stop infantilizing, condescending, dehumanizing and barking condescending orders to him?

Would I even be able to make it so the monitor lets him be autistic in peace?

Should I stop worrying about it?

Like, I’m his art teacher, I see him two days a week for an hour each. What the fuck am I gonna achieve?

I don’t know what to do. And I know that if I research this or ask questions to other teachers I’m gonna get advice on how to “deal with” the autistic kid, because that’s what they always do because deep down they know they hate us and only see us as an issue to fix rather than fully fledged human beings that deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and not talked to like a fucking dog.

Am I projecting?

I might be projecting.

I just don’t want him to go through a worse version of what I went though. Like, I could at least talk and my stims were small and I didn’t run away as much and I still got infantilized a lot by my peers and teachers. I can’t imagine what he goes through in the daily.

Bloody hell.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

I’ll never forget my counselor’s face when I said I used to secretly be really into aliens because I was worried that I was one. I thought I must not be from earth. But I must have known how weird that was because I never wanted anyone to find out. I would pull up the wikipedia page for dogs or trees or something, just to have a decoy tab to click to really fast so I wouldn’t risk anyone noticing what I was actually reading about or asking me why.

Anyway I’ve never attempted clinical diagnosis but if a professional ever tries to tell me I’m allistic I will laugh at them so hard and mock their career choice.

Go ahead tell me I don’t seem autistic I dare you

[articwolfclawartist]

Bit of a shame that OCD gets categorized as the “neat freak” disorder when the stronger cases are basically a (slightly) less intense version of schizophrenia

Or how ADHD seems to be treated as the “hyper focused” and “unable to sit still” disorder when its rather about repetitive memory loss and the feeling that your insides are constantly exploding

I feel most people these days understand autism a lot better but its siblings get heavily misunderstood. Did you know OCD is an anxiety disorder? Did you know ADHD can cause severe meltdowns? You should.

[homo-taylorsversion]

I hate hearing about people's "amazing highschool (extra curricular) experience". Like, what experience?!

Literally in highschool, I wasn't allowed to do any of those fun classes. I only got to do art and that was because it was REQUIRED. Don't get me wrong, I loved my art teacher. But seriously?! No choir, no band, no home/cooking class, no theater, no shop class in any kind (just to name the main known ones). No matter how much I begged. I literally had to FIGHT THE SCHOOL AND MY PARENTS TO BE IN ONE FUCKING PLAY! in my senior year.

Why? Because putting me in special needs/extra math classes was apparently more important than letting me enjoy highschool. I fucking HATED school and couldn't stand 95% of my classes. I was jealous of my friends talking "theater this" and "choir that" while I'm over here like: "... I learned fractions again...?"

I dunno... Maybe letting me do classes I would have been excited to do And actually wanted might have improved my overall school EVERYTHING?! I might have actually passed more classes? Cared more? Not wanting to slam my head against the desk everyday?

That was just a SMALL EXAMPLE of my entire school life. I never understood them, and I still don't know why...

Stop. Excluding. Disabled. Kids.

[andresmounts2]

Instead of arguing about whether "gifted kids" or "special ed kids" struggled more, why don't we acknowledge the school system screwed us all over?

Schools screwed over neurotypical kids.

Schools screwed over neurodivergent kids.

Schools screwed over "gifted" kids.

Schools screwed over "special ed" kids.

Schools screwed over undiagnosed kids.

Schools screwed over "average" kids.

Schools screwed over "bad" kids.

Schools screwed us all over because the system wasn't made for ANY of us.

[yellow-dress-basil]

Writing this for myself right now in case I need it later -

I fucking LOVE my job!!!

I work with students with disabilities at the high school level and I love them all like they’re my own children.

I’m studying to get my special ed degree while working full time and I genuinely love (almost) every second of it.

I’m good at my job. I understand what its like to be disabled in school. I understand the depression. The anxiety. The SI and harmful cooing mechanisms and emotional moments and behavioral “issues” because that was me.

So I want to make sure NO ONE treats them like I was treated. I want to make sure they KNOW, 100% that they have a future. That they have someone in their corner.

And honestly, if you’re going into Special Education (I prefer the term Individualized Education personally) you better feel the exact same way I do about the job and your students. Cuz if you don’t you’re only going to do more harm.

[tolkpopfan]

Times are desperate. All of my friends in town are busy so I have resorted to asking my educational therapist if the client she once mentioned that likes kpop would be free. This kid is 14, but apparently she does stan OnlyOneOf so why not. I’m not gonna let this ticket go to waste. It’ll also probably be a good experience for me if I end up chaperoning a 14yr old and a great experience for her if she ends up getting to go to a concert with a young adult fellow fan instead of a parent or guardian.

Me, chaperoning a young teen at a concert???? Not something I ever thought I’d do but it may happen. For her sake, I hope it’s possible because I’m 100% sure she’ll have the time of her life.

[brightlotusmoon]

Mark Twain School: A Therapeutic Educational Environment for Emotionally Disturbed Students on JSTOR

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43153139

Husband was telling the story of him and twelve other boys who were all autistic and ADHD and were part of an experimental program in the early 90s. They were kept isolated from other students and taught life skills that were not taught in mainstream classes. These were kids who went against every rule they could think of, who were in danger of being profiled and discriminated against because they were considered emotionally compromised dangerous geniuses. Husband had made friends with a boy who went on to own a restaurant and then move to Australia for real estate. Another kid went into the family car salesman business and was extremely skilled at schmoozing.

Apparently, Mark Twain closed around 2009. We're now wondering what it would have been like in 2024.

[neuroticboyfriend]

i'm about to start using the phrase medium masking in combination with medium-high support needs, because while i do mask/function in certain areas enough for people to call me "high functioning"... well let's just say i was still very much a "has meltdowns in public" kid and... the last time i was called "high functioning" was right after i got out of the psych ward and was put into special education.

like i definitely am not low masking and i don't want to claim an experience that isn't mine. but i also see high masking people talk about their experiences and im like. we are. we are not the same. so yeah if any other neurodivergents wanna use the phrase medium masking here is your sign to do so.

[vivianseda]

Credit to Spectrum Sloth

Love this, had to share

[maverickcalf]

There are a lot of experiences on this website on undiagnosised disability/those who knew something was different but didn't know what.

But not a lot of those who were aware they disabled and had a name for it early in life/offical diagnosis.

And nothing is wrong with either. I just wish one got a bit more attention.

[maevedmab]

Me, an AuDHD teacher trying to give a lesson to an AuDHD student and neither one of us is processingwhat anyone is saying because there’s too many noises-

[skyblueartt]

Honest to god I genuinely think I need to get screened for ADHD. I feel like weirdly it's getting worse as I get older? Maybe that's just me idk. Everybody close to me (except my mom lmao) has told me that I should get screened, or were surprised when I told them that I'm not diagnosed. LMAOOO. idk how hard it would be to get diagnosed as a 22 year old woman but god damn bro i gotta do something about this i think