What is the comorbidity of NLD and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?
Persons with NLD very often exhibit problems in maintaining attention to tactile and visual stimuli. These difficulties are apparent from early childhood. Because of this, children with NLD are frequently classified as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), with or without Hyperactivity. This diagnosis is made in spite of the very obvious attentional deployment assets in the auditory modality that children with NLD exhibit. It is clearly possible to have NLD and ADD, each arising from different etiologies. That said, however, it is also the case that most children with NLD who are diagnosed with ADD are, in fact, not suffering from both sets of difficulties. The diagnosis of ADD in children with NLD is usually based on inattentiveness to visual and tactile stimuli in the very early school years. Because much of the “teaching” that goes on in the earliest school years is visually mediated and requires “hands on” exercises (two areas wherein children with NLD have enormous difficulties
Persons with NLD very often exhibit problems in maintaining attention to tactile and visual stimuli. These difficulties are apparent from early childhood. Because of this, children with NLD are frequently classified as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), with or without Hyperactivity. This diagnosis is made in spite of the very obvious attentional deployment assets in the auditory modality that children with NLD exhibit. It is clearly possible to have NLD and ADD, each arising from different etiologies. That said, however, it is also the case that most children with NLD who are diagnosed with ADD are, in fact, not suffering from both sets of difficulties. The diagnosis of ADD in children with NLD is usually based on inattentiveness to visual and tactile stimuli in the very early school years. Because much of the “teaching” that goes on in the earliest school years is visually mediated and requires “hands on” exercises (two areas wherein children with NLD have enormous difficulties
