Aspergian Tales

“MOM! I can’t wear these!” This is a phrase I often hear as I’m trying to hurry my children out the door for school in the morning. This phrase is usually followed with an angry scowl and stomping feet and crying.

My younger daughter, PeaPie, has Asperger’s.

“Persons with AS show marked deficiencies in social skills, have difficulties with transitions or changes and prefer sameness. They often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see.”

My daughter’s sensory system is delicate. A tag on her shirt can drive her to distraction. A bumpy texture on a school chair can pull her focus from her work and a seam on a sock being “squished” against her toes with her shoes can result in a major situation. She’ll stop, sit down and not move until she takes those socks off. She will often just go without socks because she doesn’t like the way socks feel in her shoes.

Well, winter in Minnesota is not the best environment to go around sockless. So, when I saw SmartKnit Kids on Blog Friendly PR I was excited. They have these fantastic socks that are seamless! They link to incredibly helpful information on Sensory Processing Disorders. I immediately contacted their representative, Rose, and asked her if I might be able to review a pair of these seamless socks. She sent me three pairs in my daughter’s size.

My PeaPie was excited to get a new pair of “special” socks and immediately put them on. She then danced around my bedroom showing me how comfortable her new socks were. She wore them all day and to bed. She calls them her special socks. This morning, she was wearing them again. She told me she wants the other pairs of the special socks and she said that her older sister needs them too!




She’s had these socks for over a week now and they are the only socks I’ve seen her wear. She tells me they are very comfortable and they don’t hurt her feet when she wears her shoes.

I’m simply thrilled. When you have a child who has a sensitive sensory system, anything, at any time, can seem to send them into a fit. It’s a constant search and destroy mission to discover what is bothering them and try to figure out ways to keep it from bothering them.

Thankfully, SmartKnit Kids seamless socks, has taken care of one of my problems. If only all my problems could be solved with a good pair of socks!




SmartKnit was kind enough to send me three pairs of these socks. I gave one to my daughter and I’m going to share the other two pair with one of you. The size is XL Crew, you can see the shoe sizes this fits here.

I’m thinking that these socks will make some great stocking stuffers this Christmas and the cost for a pair is 6.95. Considering the troubles I have had with my daughter’s discomfort, this product is well worth the price in my opinion.

To enter my SmartKnit Kids Seamless Sock giveaway, go to my main blog Two Peas In A Pie and enter it there.

Deciding if I want to pursue breaking my Asperger's related posts into their own blog or not... I'll give it a day or two to decide.

“Advocates for Asperger's/gifted (AG) children are eager to have them appreciated as wonderful, special children. The presence of dual exceptionality always casts a shadow over this goal. So much of Asperger's Syndrome echoes the behaviors of healthy highly gifted children that some of the first discussions of AS in the gifted community are cautions not to mistake giftedness for Asperger's Syndrome.” From http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/fact/asperger.pdf

In the 3rd grade, my little Aspie struggled with school. “Needs Improvement” and failing grades were common. She would forget to bring home assignments, she’d forget to take them back, or forget to even take them out of her backpack. She’d work extremely hard, only to accomplish a third of what her classmates were completing in the same amount of time.

Can you imagine our surprise when we received a letter congratulating us on our bright child and welcoming her to the ACT Explore program’s equivalent for elementary grade children?

Truly, that was one of the major things that lead us to pursuing the proper testing and diagnosis of our daughter. How could she be so creative, so artistic, struggle so much in school and with common sense, but then score one of the highest scores in her grade for reading competencies?

The child bounces between reading Pokeman and Journey to the Center of the Earth, though, now she’s reading the Lightning Thief series.

Consistently, her teachers told us how bright she was. How quick she could be, but on paper, test after test, she would fail. It wasn’t until we started understanding how her mind works and discovering where she is so talented and where she struggles.

It took a qualified pediatric nueropsych professional to properly evaluate, test and then diagnose our daughter. I can’t tell you of the confusion, angst, and frustration we have experienced over the years before we properly understood her type of mental pattern.

“In addition to the clinical syndromes outlined by Dr. Webb, Asperger's Disorder is another that is becoming commonly mis-diagnosed in gifted youth. Although there can be similarities between a gifted child and a child with Asperger's Disorder, there are very clear differences. Thorough evaluation is necessary to distinguish gifted children's sometimes unusual and sometimes unique social interactions from Asperger's Disorder. In the same way, thorough evaluation is also necessary to distinguish Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) from behavioral problems and inattention that result from other causes such as anxiety, traumatic experiences (e.g., abuse), inappropriate curriculum, or even poor parenting.” From http://www.sengifted.org/articles_counseling/Amend_MisdiagnosisOfAspergersDisorder.shtml

She is a delight and a joy and our lives are much easier to manage now that we have the information we need. Luckily, our school system was very supportive and after running a whole slew of their own tests, they narrowed down the items that are most troubling to her in school. With our IEP plan in hand, we begin the 4th grade with a sense of excitement, anxiety, and hope.
Here is to a year where she will feel success and confidence!