We did have Jesus to thank for getting Sara to talk. The day before she began her new school, Mrs. Whalen had announced to the class that Jesus was sending them a new student who had problems pronouncing words and would only talk to them if everyone was nice. The next day, twenty children welcomed Sara at the door as if she were a celebrity. Mrs. Whalen’s plan worked. Gradually, we found our way. I ferreted out schools and classes where my daughter could fit in, and I came to ask only that they do no harm. We consulted experts. Some were helpful; others like the diagnostician who tested Sara in high school and deemed her of low intelligence were not. When I pointed out that Sara was flourishing in an academically challenging program, this diagnostician remarked, “tests don’t lie.” The person who had the most to offer was Sara herself. Learning was slow and difficult for her, but she had an enormous capacity for work. I taught her how to zip her coat, read books and write stories. My husband showed her how to ride a bike. Her brother walked with her back and forth from the park until she knew how to get there herself. Eventually, I came to understand that her problems were not a baffling morass of unrelated difficulties, as it originally seemed, but an interconnected set of strengths and weaknesses. Sara went on to accomplish much more than I ever imagined. The girl who couldn’t zip her coat learned how to knit. The girl who couldn’t speak clearly delivered the Salutatorian’s address at her high school graduation. The girl who could never find the bathroom in her friend’s house spent a semester in Bolivia. The girl who needed to see a speech therapist for five years became one herself. When Sara was twenty-three, a neuropsychologist finally confirmed what I already knew. My daughter was bright, and he also attached a label to her difficulties: Nonverbal learning disabilities. It’s a rare condition that causes a disconnect between how a person processes visual and auditory stimuli. I imagine it’s like experiencing life as a movie where the sound and picture aren’t in synch. People with NLD pay attention to the dialogue, but they fail to take in much of the picture. As a result, they have trouble making sense of all they see with their eyes. NLD makes it hard for Sara to recognize familiar faces. Her sense of geography is sketchy at best so it’s difficult for her to find her way around. She’s poor at copying movements so she struggles with motor tasks like using a can opener or a corkscrew. Because she fails to notice nonverbal cues, social situations can be unsettling. Then there’s her tendency to be
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