ADD, NLD and BPD (Alphabet soup!)

[Guest guest]

Although I'm not a professional in this area, between my mother and

son I've had an immersion in both learning disabilities and BPD. For

those of you who find the ADD connection helpful in understanding

your BPD family members (and yourself and others-- learning

disabilities are so genetic), I would really encourage you to do some

reading about Asperger Syndrome and Non-verbal learning disorders

(NLD). NLD-- especially-- is often mis-diagnosed as ADD, to the

detriment of the kid, since its really a different disorder.

Kids with social cognition deficits and sensory integration problems

often manifest a lack of focus that resembles ADD-- may even fall

within the diagnostic parameters of ADD-- but their fundamental

problem is NOT lack of focus. It is a sensory system in overload.

Plus, their school behavior may be bad-- again, resembling ADD--

because of poor social cognition. However, conventional ADD therapies

don't work all that well for these kids, because their underlying

issues are different.

So even if they get a diagnosis, accomodations and therapies, if the

issue is autism-spectrum misdiagnosed as ADD, these kids-- often very

smart kids-- continue to fail and/or start developing destructive

personality patterns to cope.

For any of you who may be seeing OCD coupled with ADD in your family,

I'd encourage you to look into NLD and its related issues. It'll give

you a more comprehensive picture of the problem than ADD.

julia

In ModOasis , " tlblack2006 " <tlblack2006@y...> wrote:

>

> OH MY GOD!!!! I will be looking into that for sure! I've always

wondered why my mom was

> so against the idea that anyone of us kids could have a learning

dissability--she would not

> let my brother be in special ed or even be tested and always

freaked out about it in a weird

> way when it was mentioned. Thank you for that insight! And I

think your right that people

> don't have to be BPD because they have a learning dissability, but

that having it handled

> poorly can be very traumatizing indeed.

>

> I will think about this and probably post again! Again, WOW!

>

> Trish

>

>

>

> >

> > Picking up on this thread again, I am convinced there is a

neurological

> > component to BPD because of the genetic tendencies I see in my

family. My mother

> > is a BPD queen-- were' now NC and I've been through the same

questions and

> > doubts I've seen on the list lately-- but I really need distance

from her to

> > protect my family because my younger son has a non-verbal

learning disability

> > (NLD).

> >

> > NLD isn't in the DSM yet, but you can find plenty of information

online and

> > when you read the profile, I suspect many of you will see the

connections.

> > Sometimes called " high functioning Asperger Syndrome, " NLD is

characterized by

> > social cognition deficits, poor spatial reasoning (eg maps are

difficult, as

> > is geometry), executive function deficit (disorganization) and

often sensory

> > integration challenges. In summary, my son is a kid who finds

much of the

> > world literally painful, has trouble playing by the rules in

school (hence risks

> > internalizing a sense of social failure), and doesn't really

understand the

> > impact of his behavior on others.

> >

> > Sound familiar? I often feel like I am raising my BPD mother.

> >

> > My son will always have to deal with the neurological challenges

of NLD, but

> > my passion right now is to make sure that his way of coping

doesn't become a

> > personality disorder. Eg just because his inner world is chaotic

and

> > painful, he doesn't have to inflict his pain on others. He can

learn ways to soothe

> > himself instead. As a family and school community, we can

create spaces

> > where he can feel safe saying " this is really hard... this really

hurts " Which is

> > something my BPD mother never had. So in an odd way, getting

inside of

> > 's head helps me to empathize with my BPD mother, even

though I won't deal

> > with her crap.

> >

> > Did any of you ever pick up on the case Peck describes

in " People of

> > the Lie " ( a book about BPD IMHO) of an apparently manipulative

young woman

> > whom he finally concludes is autistic? I believe there is a

strong correlation

> > between autism-spectrum disorders (of which NLD is a cousin) and

BPD. But for

> > the sake of my son, I have to believe that autism-spectrum

disorders and BPD

> > are not comorbid. However, I think BPD may be the result if

autism-spectrum

> > kids don't have a chance to develop successful methods for

coping with their

> > very real pain.

> >

> > Sound familiar to anyone?

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >