#5 - A Childhood Pain, Years Later
So, my brother, sister and I were diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when we were around 3 years old. Our mom was worried because not only were we not speaking in coherent words, but we had somehow managed to create our own gibberish language to communicate with each other in. So she brought us all in to the doctor one day, and we got our official diagnosis. Fast-forward to about 4-5 years later. The three of us had by then been a part of this “inclusion program” for students with special needs, which was offered in the public elementary school we attended. We each had an aide who would work with us during regular classes, and in between classes we would have extra time for things like speech lessons and sensory development exercises/games. But one thing I remember in particular was this: this one year, I was told by my aide and teacher that I could pick one of my classmates to sit next to for lunch. Every day, the entire class would be stopped by the teacher before lunch so th