Raising a Son With Asperger's - First Post

     Today was like any other day.  Kyle woke up and got ready for school.  Today they were celebrating Halloween at school.  Kyle was excited!  He was going to wear his army gear.  The same army gear he wears every day after school.  Ever since a young age he has been obsessed with the military.  To me, this day was a relief.  I knew that at least for this one occasion he wouldn't get looked at as dressing weird.  He could be himself and blend in with all of the other children wearing costumes.  He was very happy that he could be himself at school.
     After raising a child like Kyle, even before the definitive diagnosis, you learn ways to help your child and to help yourself in the process.  Grocery shopping is bound to include at least three meltdowns.  I have learned that allowing Kyle to wear his army clothes, especially when he is accompanying us to places like the dreaded grocery store, he has fewer meltdowns and seems to be a happier little boy.  This allows us to accomplish the basic needs in life a lot easier.  The only thing that I am left to deal with is the looks that people give me or my child while I am out in public.  They look at him, then look at my husband and I, and then our other children (who are neurotypical) and see that the rest of us appear to be "normal" and don't know what to think.  It bothers me because they don't know what is going on and what they would potentially be witnessing had he been forced to dress "normal".  I guess the one blessing I have is that he is oblivious to these stares.  I would love to buy this shirt I saw on Cafe' Press.  It said "maybe your staring will cure my son's Autism", loved it.  I didn't buy the shirt even though it was incredibly hilarious for two reasons.  The first reason was because I didn't feel that I should have to broadcast it to everyone especially when not every moment is a meltdown, and the second is that I don't want a cure.  He is perfectly fine the way he is.  He has a lot of struggles and many aspects of life are going to be a little harder for him, but there are so many things that he is great at.  I can not even begin to tell you how intelligent he is.  He also knows that he has a very strong support group behind him all the way.
     So, in a nutshell, the purpose of this blog is to invite you to join our journey in raising a child with Asperger's or other similar situations (I don't like it being labeled a disability) and to learn from each other to raise these children with every ounce of knowledge that we can obtain.