Telling friends' parents about Asperger's

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Telling friends' parents about Asperger's

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When my daughter was little, I used to let parents know that she had Asperger's Syndrome. Mainly because when they asked for a play date or we asked for a play date, they knew that she had a shadow in school. They were curious as to why she had a shadow. We explained that she had a shadow because the shadow helped her facilitate her relationships. Because Asperger's is, in a lot of ways, socially inhibiting. It makes it hard for her to talk to other kids, interact with other kids, and to play with other kids, in the same way that children without Asperger's do. I felt like it was important. Now that she is 11 years old, she's progressed so much through social skills classes, occupational therapy, and writing therapies. She's progressed so much that, it's almost like saying, "You should be aware my child laughs a lot or my child really likes pretzels." It's a non-issue. It's just a part of who she is. If someone were to ask me, I have no problem talking about it. It's not a deficiency of any kind. Now that she's older, it's not as big of an issue.

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Sarah Maizes

Mom & Blogger

Sarah Maizes is an author, freelance writer, comedian and founder of MommyLITEonline.com, a parenting humor site. She is the author of several humor books including, Got Milf? The Modern Mom’s Guide to Feeling Fabulous, Looking Great and Rocking a Minivan; and three books for children; On My Way To The Bath, On My Way to Bed and the third book in the series On My Way to School to be published in 2014.Her work has been featured in Los Angeles Magazine, Babytalk, on MSNBC.com, E! Television’s “Fashion Police,” and on DailyCandyKids.com.She is a regular contributor to TODAY.com, The Huffington Post, and CBS/LosAngeles.com’s “Best of LA.”  Her work has also been featured on Glamour.com, MarieClaire.com, ParentsConnect.com, Momtourage.com, TheWellMom.com and Autisable.com – a website for parents dealing with Autism.She has appeared on The Today Show, KTLA, CNN Headline News with Brad Pomerance, NPR's "What Would Rob Do?,"ABC News Now’s “Moms Get Real with Ju Ju Chang,” and is a regular contributor to NPR’s “Tell Me More with Michel Martin,” and “HuffingtonPostLIVE” - but  is most celebrated for her ability to scale tiny jungle gyms, pack a lunch in under a minute, and park her full-size minivan in a compact space.     

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Transcription: 
When my daughter was little, I used to let parents know that she had Asperger's Syndrome. Mainly because when they asked for a play date or we asked for a play date, they knew that she had a shadow in school. They were curious as to why she had a shadow. We explained that she had a shadow because the shadow helped her facilitate her relationships. Because Asperger's is, in a lot of ways, socially inhibiting. It makes it hard for her to talk to other kids, interact with other kids, and to play with other kids, in the same way that children without Asperger's do. I felt like it was important. Now that she is 11 years old, she's progressed so much through social skills classes, occupational therapy, and writing therapies. She's progressed so much that, it's almost like saying, "You should be aware my child laughs a lot or my child really likes pretzels." It's a non-issue. It's just a part of who she is. If someone were to ask me, I have no problem talking about it. It's not a deficiency of any kind. Now that she's older, it's not as big of an issue.