She's Not Outgrowing This After All

For years we've struggled with our daughter's odd social behavior, odd tones, odd mannerisms. She says and does things that come across as immature, rude, and obnoxious. My husband had often commented to me over the years that something must be wrong with her but I always dismissed it. I was frightfully shy as a child but I "got over it". I kept telling him she would outgrow this and we didn't need to worry.

But I was shy. I was not oblivious to what others thought of me. I would cower and not speak. She is the first to volunteer to be on stage at children's shows, completely unaware how she comes across. She makes odd noises, doesn't know what to do with her hands or how to carry herself, has repetitive speech, has no sense of another's personal space, and desires friends but is avoided by her peers.

A friend had once told me a little about Asperger's. My daughter's latest meltdown led me to google the term. This started the whirlwind I've been in the past few weeks. Once I began researching Asperger's, we saw that almost all of the symptoms perfectly described our daughter. Our response was sheer RELIEF! We were just so relieved to finally understand there may be something neurological causing her to act the way she does. We have tried so hard for so long to get her to change her odd behaviors and nothing has ever seemed to work. We can learn how to help her now! We don't know what's ahead on this journey of life for our child with Asperger's, but we are looking forward to finding out all that we can.