[Non-verbal learning disorders: a clinical study and pharmacological treatment]

Non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD) is the name given to a complex group of difficulties with a well-defined biological substrate. Their clinical manifestations affect the motor area, visuospatial organisation and the social competencies.

To analyse the semiology that differentially identifies NVLD by means of a model of interpretation based on the experience gained in a non-verbal learning disorder service (NVLDS) and in the neuropaediatric unit of a hospital.

The study included 65 cases: 22 from a NVLDS (20 boys/2 girls), 17 between 6-11 years old and 5 between 12-16 years of age; and 43 cases from a hospital unit, with a mean age of 9.7 years (range: 8-16 years), of whom 59 were males (91%) and 6 were females (9%). The phenotype analysis was designed using a clinical inventory divided into four blocks (social, graphomotor, perceptive and attentional). Hospital sample: deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP) (58%), graphomotor (18%), attentional (16%) and social (8%). NVLDS sample: graphomotor (35.8%), DAMP (29.8%), social (21%) and attentional (12%).

Clinical experience in NVLD is scarce. The early findings of this research encourage us to defend this 'NVLD continuum' model, in which the therapeutic response to psychopharmaceuticals is very similar to that of other processes, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, although it does possess its own particularities especially with regard to distractibility and a misinterpreted paradoxical effect of methylphenidate.