Students with Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD) make friends easily and work well in group activities.

Myth
It can be very difficult for someone with NLD to work in group settings, as they tend to not pick up quickly on nonverbal social cues, such as body language and facial expressions. Students with NLD will often prefer to work independently.

Students with NLD prefer smaller campuses.

Myth
Although it is true that students with NLD may initially have difficulty navigating a larger city or campus, students have attended small, medium and large university and college campuses. Having a pre-orientation of the campus and tour of the town can go a long way to help ease the anxiety.

Students with NLD should only take language-based courses.

Myth
Many students with NLD prefer language-based courses; however, those who take courses which are more visual-spatial have developed strategies to compensate for challenges. As opposed to using visual cues to work, these students will use verbal cues.

Students with NLD cannot talk or express themselves very poorly.

Myth
In fact, the opposite is true. The disability is called nonverbal as the area of deficit is in the nonverbal domain, such as visual-spatial processing and nonverbal problem solving. They tend to have above average verbal skills with strengths in verbal expression; however, the vocabulary used may be limited and lacking content.