Treatment of non-verbal learning disorders

Post date: Jan 4, 2018 7:40:10 AM

Children with non-verbal learning disorders may often experience difficulty in understanding and interpreting cues of a non-verbal nature such as body language, hand gestures, or even facial expressions. Children with non-verbal learning disorders may also have problems with coordination. Many of their problems are rooted in the significant gap between high verbal skills and low motor, visual-spatial, and social skills.

Image source: rd.com

Aside from problems recognizing non-verbal cues and overall clumsiness or awkwardness of movement, children with non-verbal learning disorders also have problems with their fine motor skills (ex. tying shoes), adjusting to changes to things they’ve grown used to, and following instruction, among other things.

Thankfully, therapists and therapy centers have come up with effective strategies for treating children with non-verbal learning disorders. Parents are often instructed to have their children rehearse and retrace their steps from going from place to place until it becomes second nature to them. Verbal cues are more often given to these children, and whenever they have a question, therapists avoid giving non-verbal cues as much as possible.

While many of the strategies help, therapists are also quick to mention that parents should be careful as to not overload their children, although ample and thorough preparation time should be allotted if their child will be going on a field trip or an unfamiliar place without his guardians. Obviously, scheduling plays a big part in the treatment.

Image source: mountaineermontessori.org

Dr. Curtis Cripe is the director of research and development at the NTL Group, a company that specializes in neuroengineering programs to diagnose and treat a wide array of neurological dysfunctions. Learn more about neuroengineering on this page.