Asperger syndrome (AS) and nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) are developmental disorders in which linguistic ability is reported to be stronger than in disorders from which they must be distinguished for diagnosis. Children and adults with AS and NLD share pragmatic weaknesses, atypical social behaviours, and some cognitive features. To date,…

Previously researchers have noted a high level of occurrence of the IQ profile associated with nonverbal learning disability (NLD) in Asperger syndrome (ASP) but not in high functioning autism (HFA). We examined the IQ profile scores of a large sample of children (n=69) and adults (n=77) with HFA, stringently diagnosed according to ADOS, ADI-R,…

Studies into interactions between explicit and implicit motor sequence learning have yielded mixed results. Some of these discrepancies have been attributed to difficulties in isolating implicit learning. In the present study, the effect of explicit knowledge on implicit learning was investigated using a modified version of the Alternating Serial…

Olfactory perceptual learning is a relatively long-term, learned increase in perceptual acuity, and has been described in both humans and animals. Data from recent electrophysiological studies have indicated that olfactory perceptual learning may be correlated with changes in odorant receptive fields of neurons in the olfactory bulb and piriform…

There is some consensus in the literature regarding the cognitive profile of people with Asperger syndrome (AS). Findings to date suggest that a proportion of people with AS have higher verbal than performance IQ, a non-verbal learning disability (NVLD) and impairments in some aspects of executive function (EF). However, there are few published…

Eleven tests of reading comprehension, language skills, and cognitive processes were administered to 20 high school readers with learning disabilities and 20 controls. The variance on nonverbal tests was greater for the group with LD than for the controls; some individuals with learning disabilities performed as well as the controls. (Author/DB)

The follow-up study of 16 nonretarded autistic children as adults found that, though most were functioning poorly in terms of occupational-social outcome and psychiatric symptoms, four had essentially recovered. Severity of early autistic behavior was a poor predictor of outcome, but neuropsychologic measures of nonverbal problem solving were…

The profile of spatial ability is of interest across autism spectrum disorders (ASD) because of reported spatial strengths in ASD and due to the recent association of Asperger's syndrome with Nonverbal Learning Disability. Spatial functions were examined in relation to two cognitive theories in autism: the central coherence and executive function…

"Picture Exchange Communication System" (PECS) training was implemented with 5 nonspeaking adults with mental retardation who were not currently using any type of functional communication system. A modified ABAB, single-subject design was used to assess the effectiveness of PECS in enhancing the functional communication skills of these…

Maternal stress was assessed in mothers of children ages 8 to 11 years with learning disorders (LD). Age-, gender-, and IQ-matched children with reading disorders (RD; n = 31), children with nonverbal learning disorders (NVLD; n = 21), and typically developing control participants (n = 23) participated. Mothers of children with LD reported higher…

This study explores the meanings that learners of English as a foreign language give to teachers' gestures. It is a qualitative, descriptive study of the perceived functions that gestures perform in the EFL classroom, viewed mainly from the language learners' perspective. The data for the study was collected through interviews with twenty-two…

Illustrates how nonverbal elements, either inherent in the text or incorporated into the reading lesson, can be used to facilitate students' foreign language reading comprehension. Suggestions for using visual information strategies for prediction, overall comprehension, main points comprehension, and intensive comprehension help students to…

Correspondence training involves modification of nonverbal behavior via changes in verbal behavior. The procedure has a long history of effectiveness with a wide range of learners, but its potential for use with young children with disabilities remains largely unrealized. In an effort to identify the most appropriate applications of correspondence…

Do our memories remain static during sleep, or do they change? We argue here that memory change is not only a natural result of sleep cognition, but further, that such change constitutes a fundamental characteristic of declarative memories. In general, declarative memories change due to retrieval events at various times after initial learning and…

Discusses research on cognitive styles and strategies. Groups labels into two principle styles. Describes the wholist-analytic style, examining whether an individual tends to process information in wholes or parts, and the verbalizer-imager style considering whether an individual is inclined to represent information during thinking verbally or in…