TPP 296: A Conversation with Dr. Marcia Eckerd on Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD)
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
39 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 13 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is Non‑Verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD) and how is it defined?
Because when you hear a nonverbal learning disability, you make the assumption that the child is nonverbal and has a learning disability. And in fact, the child is very verbal and doesn't have necessarily a learning disability. So it's not and it's not a clinical diagnosis. It's a pattern of strengths and weaknesses on neuropsych testing.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Reber, and I'm excited to be bringing a new topic to the podcast today, nonverbal learning disorder, also known as NLD or NVLD. And I brought on a wonderful expert to talk about it with us, Dr. Marsha Eckert. I learned so much from this conversation, including what NVLD actually is, how it might show up in kids. It's not necessarily what you might think of when you hear that term nonverbal learning disorder. And Marsha also talks about why it's important to recognize if your child has NLD instead of presuming their behavior is the result of some other neurological difference like ADHD or social anxiety.
Marsha also shared how she works with families and really focuses on the child's self-esteem and not making them feel that they are less than others because they process things differently. So because this is a condition that is not well understood, oftentimes these kids' behavior and the way that they're showing up to their schoolwork, to their social relationships, to their lives can be perplexing and also not understood. So Marsha is going to break that all down for us. And a little bit more about Marsha before we get started. Marsha Eckert, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with over 30 years experience as a therapist and provider of neuropsychological evaluations, identifying and working with many children with NVLD.
Marcia also writes the Everyday Neurodiversity blog on psychology today, as well as articles for multiple websites and magazines on NVLD, autism, evaluations, and executive functions. She has spoken extensively on NVLD and autism in national conferences for educators, clinical professionals, and parents. And one thing I wanted to mention, Marsha wrote an article that went viral a few years ago on Psychology Today about how many autistic children are being traumatized in their school environments. And so I'm going to include a link to that in the show notes and definitely check that out. So this is just such a rich conversation in which Marsha shares her wisdom and insights from decades of working to understand our complex, wonderful kids.
I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello, Marsha. Welcome to the podcast. Well, thank you so much for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
I am happy that I learned of your work actually through someone in the TILT community who said you have to have this woman on the show specifically to talk about nonverbal learning disorder, which is what we're going to get into today. But before we get into that, I would love to just know a little bit more about you, if you could give us your own introduction to what you do in the world and the lens through which you approach that work. That's a good question.
I started out over 30 years ago being trained what was traditionally then, which was analytic kind of approach. But I then started doing neuropsych testing. And doing neuropsych testing, first of all, I became aware that different people process differently. And so that put a different slant on the way I was thinking about people. And I found a subset of kids who kind of all had similar challenges. They had social challenges. They had problems sort of spatially in terms of, again, what I was getting on neuropsych testing. They had certain patterns in terms of what their parents complained about. And they'd say, well, you really get my kid. Would you work with my kids? So I started working with this population and realizing that, you know, the reading about nonverbal learning disabilities.
And over time, more and more of my kids and then adults were typical of this.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Non‑Verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD) and how is it defined?
0:00–6:16
2
How does Dr. Marcia Eckerd describe her role as a “translator” for kids with NVLD?
6:16–10:27
3
What are the typical strengths and weaknesses seen in children with NVLD?
10:27–15:45
4
Why is it important to differentiate NVLD from ADHD, autism, or social anxiety?
15:45–19:30
5
How do social and academic challenges change for NVLD kids in middle school?
19:30–23:02
6
What specific executive‑function and visual‑spatial supports help children with NVLD?
23:02–27:58
7
How can parents advocate for accommodations and therapy for a child with NVLD?
27:58–32:49
8
Where can listeners find additional resources and connect with Dr. Eckerd?
32:49–39:01
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids