It’s Not Just The Carols Which Move Me To Tears In The School Auditorium

At Motherhood Metamorphosis, Pop Tart wrote about her daughter with Aspergers:

As the parent of a special needs kid, your whole take on plays, pageants, concerts and other school productions or events is if not completely opposite of every other parent’s, pretty darn close to it. While parents of “normal kids” hope their child excels and stands out from the rest, we cringe in horror, hoping our kids blend in. Every single day.

As a mom with several special needs kids (including two on the Autism spectrum), I read that and knew the pain of it.

As she pointed out, we do appreciate our children for their uniqueness & hope others will also value their gifts too — just like we do with our “normal” kids. But we know that a large part of the success & safety of our different children depends upon how well they can blend in… seem more ‘alike’ than ‘odd’.

Seeing your special needs child standing with what school & society calls their “peers” does put a special heartbreaking stamp on the holidays.