title: Definition of a visuospatial dimension as a step forward in the diagnostic puzzle of nonverbal learning disability.
abstract: Although clinically recognized for almost 50 years, the categorical distinction of specific learning disabilities due to an impairment of the nonverbal domain (nonverbal learning disability [NLD]) is still debated and controversial. Unsolved issues involve theoretical models, diagnostic criteria, rehabilitative interventions, and moderator factors. These issues are briefly overviewed to sustain the need for a shift toward dimensional approaches, as suggested by research domain criteria, as a step forward in the diagnostic puzzle of NLD. With this aim, a visuospatial dimension, or spectrum, is proposed, and then clinical conditions that may fit with its impaired side are systemized, while specifying in which conditions a visuospatial impairment may be considered an NLD.
authors.affiliation: a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addiction, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale , Reggio Emilia , Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poletti
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Neurodevelopmental disorders; nonverbal learning disability; research domain criteria; specific learning disabilities; visuospatial dimension