diff --git a/nwb_linkml/src/nwb_linkml/types/ndarray.py b/nwb_linkml/src/nwb_linkml/types/ndarray.py
index 825b354..612b5d3 100644
--- a/nwb_linkml/src/nwb_linkml/types/ndarray.py
+++ b/nwb_linkml/src/nwb_linkml/types/ndarray.py
@@ -68,14 +68,9 @@ class NDArray(NPTypingType, metaclass=NDArrayMeta):
 
             assert value.dtype == dtype or value.dtype.name in allowed_precisions[dtype.__name__], f"Invalid dtype! expected {dtype}, got {value.dtype}"
             return value
-        def validate_array(value: Any) -> np.ndarray:
-            # not using instancecheck because nwb doesnt actually validate precision
-            # this step is now just validating shape
-            # if isinstance(value, np.ndarray):
-            #     assert cls.__instancecheck__(value), f'Invalid shape! expected shape {shape.prepared_args}, got shape {value.shape}'
-            # elif isinstance(value, DaskArray):
+            
+        def validate_shape(value: Any) -> np.ndarray:
             assert shape is Any or check_shape(value.shape, shape), f'Invalid shape! expected shape {shape.prepared_args}, got shape {value.shape}'
-
             return value
 
         def coerce_list(value: Any) -> np.ndarray:
@@ -161,7 +156,7 @@ class NDArray(NPTypingType, metaclass=NDArrayMeta):
                         core_schema.is_instance_schema(cls=NDArrayProxy)
                         ]),
                     core_schema.no_info_plain_validator_function(validate_dtype),
-                    core_schema.no_info_plain_validator_function(validate_array)
+                    core_schema.no_info_plain_validator_function(validate_shape)
                 ]
             ),
             serialization=core_schema.plain_serializer_function_ser_schema(