I've mentioned before that I love working with kids who have Asperger's Syndrome (I'll abbreviate to A.S. for the rest of the post) and I've mentioned that it's because we're 99.9% sure that my 16 yr. old daughter has Asperger's Syndrome. Those kids remind me of my daughter whom I love dearly and I find it to be very amusing when they say something that sounds just like something she would say. The things I hear from my daughter and from the A.S. kids I work with sound a little different because they think differently from others.
A.S. people don't read the emotion on a person's face in the same way as most people do either. My daughter K has pretty much always had a problem with the fact that I smile "too much". She doesn't understand why someone would smile most of the time. Then there's the girl I work with who calls me the Joy Fairy (and she means that I'm annoying to her that way). And then there's the boy I worked with a lot last year...
The boy I worked with last year is the one who led me to believe that my daughter has A.S. because the meltdowns he would have at school looked very similar to the ones that my daughter has at home. I got along with him better than most people at the school (probably because I've had years of experience dealing with someone like him). I know he likes me because he will make a point of coming to see me this year to let me know how he's doing.
The same boy walked up to me the other day and smiled. I asked him how he's doing this year and he's doing much better. It seems that he's doing well in all his classes. This made me smile and of course it was a big smile because I'm so proud of him. That's when he said something that didn't shock me at all considering I tend to understand the way A.S. kids think...
"That smile of yours....it's kinda creepy", he said. He pointed to his lips and told me how I show all my teeth when I smile. "Just creepy", he said. It was just a matter of fact to him. He didn't mean it in a rude way at all, I'm sure of that. All I could do was laugh.
Anyone there?
6 years ago
3 comments:
Creepy!! It's one beautiful smile. And he is noticing something different in you. That would be why he would point out your smile being different than others. I think that's great. So glad those kids have you.
-Sheryl
You are truly a godsend to these kids, and no doubt, to your daughter. Our dear friends have a teenage son with A.S., so I have a little bit of what you're talking about.
I'm glad the Lord placed you in the lives of these kids!
My son, who has some A.S. similarities "notices" physical attributes on folks. He has a wonderful counselor/therapist who he really enjoys. But I swear, she has to duck every time he comes into the room. So far, he's noticed her eyebrows ("Do you know those look like Spock eyebrows?"), her teeth--she has a gummy smile, so ("Are your teeth real? They look like false teeth..."), and her moles. "Yes, David! You're going to point out my moles. Look, I have one here, and here and here!" Initially I wanted to d.i.e. instantly when he did this, but she's so great with it, and it's part of how he thinks--he's truly not trying to be mean. In fact, now he prefaces his comments with, "I don't want to be rude, but..." We've since let him in on a little secret: if you have to say that little "I don't want to be rude" bit, you SHOULDN'T say the rest.
One of my other favorites is, when I ask his opinion on something, and he'll say, "I'm indifferent." What 12 year old says that?
Thanks for sharing your love for these kids.
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