Social language and theory of mind in children with nonverbal learning disability

Despite a significant increase in interest regarding Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD) amongst clinicians, standard diagnostic criteria do not currently exist. NLD strengths have been noted in verbal reasoning abilities, while weaknesses have been observed in visuospatial processing, mathematics, written expression, novel concept formation, and social and adaptive functioning. In contrast to their intact verbal intellectual functioning, children with NLD have also been described as having poor pragmatic language abilities. Yet these skills have not been previously studied using a standardized battery. This study examined the social language and theory of mind abilities of children with NLD. It was proposed that these abilities are important prerequisites for adequate social and adaptive functioning. Nineteen children diagnosed with NLD and 19 normally developing children who were matched for age, gender, and verbal intelligence took part in this study. Participants completed a standardized test of meta-linguistic abilities and measures that assessed the comprehension of theory of mind and faux pas. In addition, parents completed a standardized rating scale of clinical and adaptive functioning. Results strongly supported the majority of the study hypotheses. Children with NLD performed significantly worse than normally developing children with similar verbal intelligence on all of the study measures. These findings suggest that deficits in social language and theory of mind are important areas in defining NLD. Results are interpreted as adding support to the idea that social cognitive weaknesses are primary contributors to the poor social and adaptive outcomes associated with NLD.