Poem - I am your autistic child

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I thought this poem might be of interest to the parents on here.

I am Your Autistic Child
By: Adelheide Johanna Schmetterling

I am your autistic child
Please love me as I am.
Help me to navigate
A world not quite suited to me.
Have patience when I can cope no more
And need a break.
Let me observe you and learn
The scripts of the world.
“Please” “Thank You”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
Give me space when I need it, but
Remember to hold me close sometimes, too.
Forgive my faux pas and
Show me a new strategy.
Teach me how to fly, but,
Let me decide when I’m ready to soar.
Have pride in who you have helped me to become
And, always reassure me of your love.

Thank you, sums it up very well.

You said it well! Thank you!

I resist these terms relentlessly
The scripts of the world.
“Please” “Thank You”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
and I still resent having to use them
please don't hold it against me.
I was just born that way . . .


Merle

Great poem, and I also like what sinsboldly added. I felt much that way for many years. I've improved a lot, but I haven't forgotten those feelings.

I really like that poem and Merle's addition as well as I can relate to both.

Good poem. I think it should be applied to all children, not just autistic/AS children. It is appalling how many kids with nothing wrong with them are just plain rude. Saying "Please" and "Thank you" are plain good manners. I do have trouble saying and replying appropriately to "How are you?" Sometimes I don't feel all that great, but I tell people I'm fine regardless. Even an "okay" rather than a "good" or "great" sometimes leads to "Only okay?" I then change the subject because I don't want to make the other person feel bad.

Uggh, I hate those. Why say please or thank you when someone is doing something that they should be expected to do. Or ask how someone is when they are standing right in front of you and you can see how they are, and might have just seen them yesterday.



My mom always says how I never wanted to be held, even as an infant. In reality I longed to be hugged



I like this poem. It sums everything up nicely

This is a beautiful poem!

Mum and dad always taught my siblings and me to say "please" and "thank you" but where I struggle is when I ask for something in a shop or somewhere and the person says "we don't have it" in an unhelpful tone.

For instance, this afternoon I was in the supermarket and waiting at the deli section while the staff fiddled around and completely ignored me. Eventually, one girl said "what do you want" and I said "could I have a whole chicken please" (the cooked chickens were in bags)

She said "we don't sell whole chickens here". I was flabbergasted for a moment then said "whatever", turned my back and walked away. Then I heard her say "you have a nice day, too".

Well, why should I have had to thank her for being rude and ignorant? But if somebody in a shop looked around for something and then said "sorry we don't have it" in a polite tone, I would say "thank you".

Awesome Poem
Easier said than done...yet worth all the time it takes to do it
Even amid our frustrations, there is Love that gives us hope.