Nonverbal learning disorder

Nonverbal learning disorder, often shortened to NVLD or NLD, is a proposed neurodevelopmental disorder marked by core deficits in nonverbal skills, above all visual-spatial processing. People described with it are said to have normal or advanced verbal intelligence alongside significantly lower nonverbal intelligence. Proposed additional criteria include deficits in visuoconstruction, speech prosody, fine motor coordination, mathematical reasoning, visuospatial memory and social skills, although a review of the literature found that the proposed diagnostic criteria are inconsistent between authors. NVLD is not recognised by the DSM-5. Its symptoms can overlap with those of autism, bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and for that reason some clinicians argue that an NVLD diagnosis fits a subset of those cases better. It is best read as a disputed category rather than a settled diagnosis.