One main reason I wrote my book, My Picture Perfect Family, was to bring much-needed public attention to the talents and challenges of children with autism. Despite myths to the contrary, individuals on the spectrum DO seek close friends and make intimate connections.
To this end “NY Metro Parents Magazine” featured my article “Twin with Autism Seeks Someone to Love.”
You can read an excerpt below:
When Samantha was 8, she threw a coin into a fountain. “I want to get married someday,” she wished. Risking her wrath, I asked why. “Why” questions are difficult for many young children on the autism spectrum. But my daughter replied without hesitation: “Because I want someone to love.” I was surprised and moved. Not only was Samantha answering a high level “why” question, but she was also expressing the active (and generous) wish to love, rather than be loved.
If ever there was a mother motivated to make her daughter’s wish come true, I was that mother. But how would Samantha learn to build an intimate relationship I worried, when she couldn’t even get along with her neurotypical twin brother?
Read the full article here.
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Originally Published on The Never-Empty Nest
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