Insights

Insights are wonderful. This book has brought me so many. There are times I am reading that I am certain the author has been observing Madeline and wrote the book about her. It helps me know that this is definitely the right diagnosis. There are so many things that make me say "Yep, that's Madeline". Here are some--

-"Children with NLD generally don't recognize or interpret one or more of the following areas of nonverbal communication: facial expressions, postures, gestures, the meaning of tone, intensity, and loudness of voice, the appropriate distance between people, the rhythm and timing of conversation, or appropriate grooming and hygiene. Social interactions usually depend on these subtle elements of nonverbal communication."
-"Children with NLD typically lack the ability to use past experiences to understand new or unique information. They are usually unable to generalize from one situation to another. Even if they know the social rule for one situation, they may not realize it applies to another situation. They may know not to eat with their fingers at home, but not realize this also applies at Grandma's house."
-"Children with NLD tend to be lethargic, tire easily, and require frequent breaks when studying. Because their sensory integration impairment and social incompetence typically means they live with constant stress, they are subject to frequent stress-related illnesses such as upper-respiratory infections." (In Madeline's case it is headaches.)
-"Children with NLD have some degree of tactile imperceptions (finger agnosia), meaning they do not receive adequate information from the tactile sensory system. They lack the ability to understand or profit from information gathered through the sense of touch."
-"The problems with motor skills associated with NLD appears to result from a decreased awareness of the body. Children with NLD don't receive adequate information from the sensory system to respond quickly to being off-center, or they fail to anticipate the consequences of an action; therefor, they frequently lose their balance. They tend to have delayed responses to movement because their bodies don't experience that they've moved for an interval after the movement happens. Because their bodies don't properly register where they are in space, children with NLD tend to bump into people or objects, especially on their left side, and frequently fall out of chairs, usually falling to the left."

These are just a few things that have jumped out at me. There are many many more that I will share along the way. Thanks for reading.