Mr. Churchill said..
So apparently one of the reasons I suck at the whole “being a normal, productive, person” thing is because I suffer from a nonverbal learning disability. Apparently my left brain is like the hulk on ‘roids, and my right brain is a deflated raisin, and so my visual memory is near null. Furthermore, it makes it very difficult for me to keep my thoughts organized, and worst of all, it stifles my creativity.
The diagnostician said that there’s nothing I can do about it, that it is just the way I am, and the way I will always be. My shrink, however, warned me not to let my diagnosis define me, and so, I’ve decided that I will not give up without a fight.
Indeed, I have declared war on the lazier hemisphere of my brain – I have sustained it for twenty-two years, and it is about time it returned the favor. I’ve started drawing, and trying to use my left hand for many everyday tasks, like brushing my teeth, and typing blog entries.
Brushing my teeth was very painful. My body decided that if I would not let it use my right hand, the toothbrush would stay still, and my head would do the moving. Upon realizing this I tensed my neck and forced my left arm to obey my commands. My gums are still bleeding a bit.
Drawing has never been one of my strengths, either. If I am going to win this battle, though, I need to learn to think like an artist does — since apparently, it is that ability which I most direly lack. The book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” is my guide, and though it caters to to left-brained people like myself, following the exercises makes banging my head against the wall seem a painless alternative. Sadly, though, banging my head against the wall will not help my brain work better.
I hope to make progress. It sure would be nice to have a whole brain, instead of just half of one. I’m not too optimistic, but I refuse to surrender, since my inability to remember faces, for example, upsets me greatly.
((((Apologies if this post was less than coherent. I was up late last night and then up early this morning, and I am very very tired.))))
Dawn said,
September 19, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I am so happy to hear that there are people out there like yourself for me to learn from. My son JUST got diagnosed this week of NVLD. I have been crying since Monday, not knowing what to do, if i should treat him differently and all of the times i got on his case and yelled at him for doing things that arent his fault.
Can you tell me what type of career you had? Do you have many friends? Do you feel lonely?
Thanks soooo much, i feel like i have someone to talk to.
Dawn
arumarnav said,
September 30, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hello Dawn. I’m no expert on any of this, so I can only speak from my own experiences.
First of all, do not treat your son differently because of a diagnosis. Changing the way you interact with him would be detrimental to the development of his coping skills. In a way, you would handicap him further by ways of the self-fulfilling prophesy. He is the same person as he was before the diagnosis. Do NOT let the diagnosis define him.
For the first weeks after my diagnosis, I was crushed. There were so many things I had struggled with, and the diagnosis confirmed my suspicions that I was predisposed to difficulty with such skills as drawing and socializing. I talked to a counselor at school about it, though, and she effectively told me that the neuropsychologist who told me “it isn’t even worth trying to learn those skills” was a jackass. Since then I have been taking a drawing class, and I’ll be taking on two more art classes in a few weeks. NVLD isn’t an insurmountable obstacle – it is just a challenge. Please remember that despite having differently built brains, those with NVLD are not handicapped; there is always a corresponding strength to match the areas of weakness, and the weaknesses can be overcome simply by exercising.
As for careers, I’m still an undergraduate student. I’m currently studying, and aiming to get involved with, civil engineering and architecture. It has taken a few years to figure out what it is that I want to do, but now that I know, I feel like it was worth the wait.
On the friends issue, I guess I’m rather lonely, but that is to be expected, as I’m currently commuting to school. I certainly have friends though. Not a lot of friends exactly, but enough friends – and the friendships I manage to maintain are steadfast. While I don’t always feel like I am surrounded with people who love me, I know that I am, and they are there for me when it counts. I’ve learned after many painful, lonesome years(namely high school and middle school), that friendships aren’t about quantity, but quality. It was a hard learned lesson, though.
I apologize for having taken so long to respond to your inquiry – I have been very busy with school, and have barely had time to sleep, let alone checking my blog. Now that I have readers to serve, though, I promise I’ll try to do a better job of keeping up with it!