CHICAGO — One of the most talked about moments Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention was the son of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz openly crying as he clapped for his fatherand shouted, “That’s my father!”
The parents of 17-year-old Gus Walz recently told the media that he has a nonverbal learning disability, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder. They called his condition “his secret power.” And that power gives a few others the chance to understand his condition.
Unlike learning disabilities that make it difficult for a child to learn to read, a nonverbal learning disorder affects other types of learning, including the ability to recognize patterns and learn concepts, according to the Child Mind Institute.
According to Amanda Timmerman, a speech-language pathologist at CST Academy in Chicago, a neurodivergent person is a person with autism or someone whose brain processes information in a way that is not typical for most people.
“Neurodiversity in general is the unique way that individuals learn about and experience the world around them,” Timmerman said. “It depends on the child and it depends on the individual. Some individuals can’t speak. But they have other communication modalities that we really provide and strive to support.”
Occupational therapist Samantha Duff wants people to know that there’s nothing wrong with being neurodivergent.
“I think sometimes there’s a stigma. We see families come to us and children have been diagnosed with autism or ADHD and there’s been situations where maybe they’ve been told that something needs to be fixed for their child,” Duff said. “Their children are perfect the way they are, and we’re here to support them as a family with whatever it is that’s important to them.”
