i, who have AS, was summer mom to my fiancee's NT daughter when she was 5, 6, and 7. it was a complete joy. sara was a warm child and her love meant the world to me. we played card games and with play dough. i taught her songs. i taught her to swim. her father could be capricious, even mean. she and i stood together against that capriciousness. at times, strangers would notice that i was probably not her actual mom. if i would have stayed with her father until she was a teen-ager, we might have had difficulty then. i have never been trendy.