The case for non verbal learning disorder (1) Considerably higher verbal than non verbal/spatial intelligence (2)social interaction difficulties(poor social skills) (3) executive functioning deficits, especially organising and planning and difficulty with multi step tasks (4) poor at craft/constructional/manual/ so called practical tasks (5) poor sense of direction (6) poor coordination (7)difficulty with change
A holistic and more intelligent psychiatry would have picked up on these comorbid problems. There was a chance when I panicked after being told I was going to make dolls’ houses during my first admission. Questions could and should have been asked. Instead a psychiatrist called me an awkward and troublesome teenager. There was another chance decades later when my then care coordinator arranged an appointment with the psychiatrist to discuss such matters. It was a total disaster. I was asked a few totally irrelevant questions before the pdoc dismissed the subject.
Yes I know it is not strictly a mental health issue but the failure to acknowledge it has resulted in impaired functioning and poorer mental health.
What you wrote describes me perfectly. I think I would have higher mathematical skills if I hadn’t just blown math off in high school. I took some of those classes in college and aced them.
I tried raising the issue at the depot clinic by saying,a little while ago, I was doing not bad but could have done better if my aspergic/non verbal learning disorder had been helped . It drew a blank. They weren’t even interested enough to ask what it is(many/most UK mental health professionals have never heard of it) If they had I would have told them.
It’s par for the course to be asked a question and then for them to gloss over your reply. It’s as though it’s procedure to ask questions but they are less than interested in the replies.
It’s hard to know how much at a nurse practitioner/pdoc level there is recognition of a problem. On a few occasions I’ve had the autism word bandied about in relation to things that I’ve said, but as for talking about exploring that avenue more,then no.
Last time I saw my nurse practitioner she bought up the A word in relation to things I said but quickly said " not that there’s much that we can do".
Given that it’s something I should have had help with 40 years and more ago, and I’m now nearly 60, it’s probably true. A lot of damage has been done through neglect that can’t be repaired.
It still demoralising though to hear the words .
I do think if I was seeing someone on a regular one to one basis like a cpn or personal support worker( there is one at the depot clinic but she doesn’t see me on a one to one basis at home) then I would be able to weave it in the topic of conversation.
The trouble is as someone who is not acutely ill and not a danger to self or others,not an alcoholic or drug addict there’s zero chance of my getting such support.
I am also not regarded as being a ‘complex’ case which is a passport nowadays to being on the CPA and with it the increased likelihood of such support.
The mixture of mental health and learning/social difficulties doesn’t exactly make me a straight forward case but only if services are intelligent enough to recognise the full range of my problems.