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?"

Thanks for letting me know.

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

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

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).

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.

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.

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

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?"

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

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?