I wanted to take a moment to spotlight my amazingly artistic Aspie teen, Haylie. She was an angelic baby who would sit for hours playing with toys as she classically lined everything in rows and being my first child along with my mother passing away suddenly when she was 2 1/2 months I truly felt she was my angel baby. She has always been mature for her age and scary smart! It wasn't until she started kindergarten that things started surfacing that made teachers take notice as well as myself. She even sat frog style in her seat till she was in 6th grade. Every year I would have to explain her meltdowns in the mornings difficulty concentrating etc. And every time I was told to be tougher on her, she's being stubborn or lazy etc. She also being a quiet unassuming kid that loved nature and bug life(especially caterpillars) was an easy target for a bus stop bully. And not communicating to me the situation I was truly clueless until a friend's child mentioned it to her and it was brought to my attention. I dealt with it swiftly but, people always thought Haylie was the odd ball in evety situation along with comments from teachers "Don't be so bad all the time and maybe they wn't be so mean!" Honestly she wasn't bad so much as off in another world and she didn't fit their mold of how an average child learned! Finally when middle school came into play and after they ignored my demand for her to be teated in 3rd grade because they qouted her IQ at 126 at only 7 yrs old. I took her to a neurologist and he immediately diagnosed her high functioning Asperger's syndrome. I wanted to kiss the doctor. He finally validated myself to teachers who had labeled her difficult etc. She now has her struggles but is thriving and has grown into her artistic abilities seamlessly! Even did a public service announcement on herself to stop people from bullying others. Maybe they have autism! Always a proud mom of her!

Colleen
Manahawkin, NJ