Hidden Disabilities

Students with disabilities are choosing post-secondary educational options at increasing rates. While students with learning disabilities are endeavoring to earn degrees, many have typically struggled to meet the academic requirements. Research findings suggest that appropriate academic support tailored to individual needs and provided throughout the course of study can be effective in assisting students to attain a bachelor's degree. Effective supports for college students with learning disabilities include strategies that allow for multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression. This chapter will explore the college journey of a young man with nonverbal learning disabilities. The characteristics of NVLD and how those characteristics were expressed in his life will be reviewed. The student and a professor from the university discuss specific supports that lessened the effects of deficient executive function and information processing. The author also shares how the ongoing supports provided in college facilitated the student's attainment of a bachelor's degree.

Understanding Nonverbal Learning Disabilities in Postsecondary Students with Spina Bifida

Transitioning to life after high school can be challenging for most young adults, even more so for individuals with a nonverbal learning disability (NLD). However, careful planning can lead to success. Friends, family members, employers, college instructors, therapists, and other service providers need information and methods to support individuals with NLD, particularly those with spina bifida (SB). A review of NLD characteristics, effects on student learning, non-awareness and misconceptions of NLD, and effective supports for individuals with NLD (e.g., accommodations, agendas and checklists, assistive technology) will be illustrated via the example of one young college student with NLD and SB. MAP (Making Action Plans) and PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope)—research-based strategies and tools for transition planning and progress monitoring of teens and young adults with NLD and SB—as well as methods to self-advocate to obtain assistance from others academically, physically, socially, and emotionally will be demonstrated.