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Abstract
The normal development of humor in children has been well documented with a predictable course that is tied to social, cognitive, and linguistic development in children. This study explored humor comprehension in children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). Children with NVLD were compared with children with reading disabilities and a comparison group of children with no learning disabilities to assess their comprehension of humor. The humor test was composed of a joke and cartoon section. No group differences in humor comprehension were found when me NVLD group was defined as having visual-spatial and visual reasoning deficits. However, when the NVLD group was divided into children with and without social perceptual difficulties as defined by a direct measure of social comprehension, significant group differences were found in the levels of humor comprehension. These results support the association of humor comprehension with social perception and lend tentative support to the hypothesis that children with NVLD may not be a homogenous group. Future study directions include further exploration into the nature of the association between humor comprehension and social perception as well as closer examination of the heterogeneity of NVLD.
Keywords Humor * Nonverbal learning disability * Reading disability * Visual-spatial
Introduction
"Laughing, clowning children are... children vigorously moving out to involve themselves communally in their world." (Bainum, Loundsbury, & Pollio, 1984, p. 1956)
Johnson and Myklebust first described children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD) as having problems in social perception (Myklebust, 1975). Specifically, Myklebust asserted that a child with NVLD seemed relatively unable to understand "his social environment, especially in terms of his own behavior" (p. 86). Although there is mounting evidence that NVLD is at least as debilitating as verbal learning disabilities such as dyslexia, the deficits associated with NVLD are much harder to assess and, therefore, to treat at this point (Badian, 1992; Harnadek & Rourke, 1994; Johnson, 1987; Myklebust, 1975; Rourke, 1995; Rourke & Fuerst, 1991; Semrud-Clikeman & Hynd, 1990). The research to date has primarily focused on identifying the characteristics of NVLD with very little research on assessment of this learning disability.
There is extensive debate about what characteristics are associated witìi NVLD, and clearly defined diagnostic criteria have yet to be established (Little, 1993; Semrud-Clikeman & Hynd, 1990). Criteria used...