What is neurodivergence? Gus Walz brings condition into spotlight after viral Chicago DNC moment

CHICAGO - Seventeen-year-old Gus Walz captured our hearts this summer as he cheered on his dad when he spoke during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. His father is Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.

When Gus stood up to support his dad, he also put the spotlight on another issue. In a Fox 32 special report, Tia Ewing finds out what it means to be neurodivergent.

Gus Walz became a social media sensation for the emotional support he showed his dad at the Democratic National Convention earlier this year. But that's not the only reason he caught our attention. His parents recently shared he has a nonverbal learning disorder and is neurodivergent. We asked a team of experts from Rush University Medical Center, Lurie Children's Hospital, and Easterseals DuPage to break down what these terms mean.

Currently, neither one is listed as an official mental health diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association's manual on mental health disorders.

"Neurodivergent is exactly what the word says. It's that you don’t present as perhaps a typical child or adult might present," said Dr. Louis Kraus, the head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center.

Our experts say that applies to both little and big differences in the way your brain functions, which means more of us are considered neurodivergent than you think.

"When some people hear the term, I think they often think about how individuals may be impacted by neurodivergence to a greater degree. There’s a lot of people who almost have invisible disabilities, that have neurodivergence that you may not know when you meet them, day to day, but have other kinds of struggles they are working on with therapists or support they might need in school," said Rachel Follmer, attending physician in Developmental Pediatrics at Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Autism and ADHD are among some of the bigger reasons why someone is considered neurodivergent. A nonverbal learning disorder, or NVLD, is another one, and don’t let the name fool you.

"The tricky part about that is when people hear nonverbal, they often think someone isn’t talking and the opposite is actually true with that," Follmer said.

"Nonverbal learning disability, or NVLD, is a condition where an individual’s verbal skills are significantly higher than their nonverbal skills," said Dr. Citlaly Gonzalez, clinical psychologist at Easterseals DuPage.

"The areas they typically struggle in are going to be perceptual, reasoning and how they perceive things," Dr. Kraus added. That includes social communication and the patterns that go with it.

Since the two are often confused, our experts also point out a nonverbal learning disorder is different than autism.

"With NVLD, we have difficulty with social skills, that social communication but not difficulties with language," said Dr. Gonzalez. "NVLD does not include those repetitive behaviors that autism has."

Gonzalez also points out that a nonverbal learning disorder is not a sign of ADHD or any other kind of learning disability, but it can be hard to spot.

"This is something that early on is often difficult to see in younger children. It tends to become more apparent as kids get older because these patterns become more important and more nuanced in your ability to take that early learning skills and apply them as you get into the middle school age range," Follmer said.

If you think your child may be neurodivergent, our panel says the first step is to talk with your pediatrician to get qualified referrals to mental health professionals. If your child needs to do neuro-psych testing and you don’t have access to it, they say ask your school to test your child in the areas where they are struggling to see what support they can offer.