Kids sharing diagnoses with you: how to respond?

[Anonymous]

From time to time, my children’s friends or even a spontaneous playmate at a park will share that they have ADHD, dyslexia, a lisp, etc. I never know quite how to respond to this and I want to model the appropriate response for my own kids. This happened the other day at the pool and once again I just stammered trying to think of the right thing to say.

Can anyone share the right response / reaction?

[Anonymous]

What’s the context of the conversation?
You can always go with, “thank you for sharing that with me.”

[Anonymous]

I say "Oh" in an interested tone and then wait to see what they say. If they don't say anything, I say something very neutral like "Do you like this playground?"

[Anonymous]

You should respond to this no differently than if they pointed out their eye color. “Ok” is a perfect response.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend with a very sweet kid who was super excited about being newly diagnosed with autism.

I just said "That's great, it's cool to know more about how your brain works!" and then moved on.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend with a very sweet kid who was super excited about being newly diagnosed with autism.

I just said "That's great, it's cool to know more about how your brain works!" and then moved on.

As a parent of a child with ADHD and dyslexia, I think that is a GREAT response. My DC went to a specialized school for dyslexia and one of the big positives to come out of it was self-awareness and self-advocacy about her learning challenges.

[Anonymous]

Those kids probably have good parents, who have not made them ashamed of their learning difference.

I hope that does not change as they age (but suspect it will).

[Anonymous]

I thought this was going to be about your kids sharing the coparent’s dx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those kids probably have good parents, who have not made them ashamed of their learning difference.

I hope that does not change as they age (but suspect it will).

+1

[Anonymous]

Thanks for letting me know.

[Anonymous]

In the context of blurting out "I have a lisp! And I get to go to speech therapy where they give me stickers!" I would just say "Cool! I love stickers" and high five them.

If they come over and they tell me "I have autism so can you not let any of my snack foods touch each other?" I would just say "Sure thing, do you want this plate with compartments or these three bowls all next to each other?"