Jeremy Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his great sense of humor — everybody, that is, except his six-year-old daughter, Jenny. Recently, one of Jeremy’s closest friends asked him to make a speech at a wedding reception. This is the sort of thing that Jeremy loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the wedding with Jenny. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course, it was a great success. But as soon as he had finished, Jenny said to him, “Daddy, I don’t want to stay here any longer, even one more minute! Daddy, let’s go home.” Jeremy was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked.

On the way home, there was a long silence between them.

Yours,

Li Hua

“Catch it!” My husband and I shouted, but saw the ball hit the grass near our four-year-old’s feet while he continued kicking at the dirt. It was mid-season, yet he showed no interest in the ball game. We called his name and told him to pick up the ball, but he just stared blankly before going back to kicking the dirt.

As the games went on, it was clear that the coach didn’t want our son to play. We practiced with him, showing him how to hold the bat and throw the ball, but he never understood running the bases or other things we tried to teach.

At the end of the season, our son once again received the “Most Improved” medal, which he had received in other sports before. My husband and I looked at each other and I said, “Well, at least he’s improving,” though it reminded me of other sympathetic gestures from coaches or teachers. I was used to the feeling of our son being different and unable to fit into ball games. The same year, his preschool teacher told me, “He’s not paying attention.” This was not what any parent wanted to hear, but I knew it was true. As a stay-at-home mom, I was tired of having to repeat instructions to him. Initially, I wasn’t sure how much of it was normal, as he was our first child. We decided to have him assessed, but it was a guessing game until he turned six, when a professional evaluation determined that he had Asperger syndrome (幼儿孤独症). My husband always believes our son will be a good boy. Fortunately, he is blessed with good looks, intelligence, and an ability to face the future. There are no obvious signs that he has Asperger’s, apart from frequent lack of eye contact.

A friend invited our son to her son’s birthday party after his diagnosis (诊断), but I turned it down because it was a dirt-bike party and our six-year-old couldn’t ride a regular bike.

We didn’t go to the party, but at least it inspired us to get our son to try cycling.

The attempt was not a success, so we decided to expose him to swimming lessons.