Michelle Sagara

I need to second this. This is the beginnings of a book. But what I'd like to suggest is that you team up with another parent/child combination with Asperger's. Someone else who puzzled out his/her child's behavior AND FOUND A DIFFERENT ANSWER than you did. Help parents of these children figure out HOW to figure out what their child is thinking. The book would not only tell the separate stories, and include the children's insights, but I would also love to see you discuss the kinds of things you observed that led you to the conclusion you made about how his mind worked. What other explanations did you consider? One of the things I've learned, being in the social sciences, is that most people do *not* come equipped with the set of mental tools you need to figure these things out. Your family was uniquely blessed in that you both had at least some component of that systematic, orderly, let's-pick-it-apart-and-put-it-back-together-again way of thinking. It's part of what the Myers-Brigg tests call the "scientist" profile (INTJ, I think) - introspective, inquisitive, systematic - and it occurs in less than 1% of the population (and is heavily skewed toward men). A LOT of parents could benefit from this layman's guide to how to make sense of your (special needs or not) children. Most of us simply are not equipped with the tools we need to DO this kind of systematic analysis and make sense of the stuff we observe. Show us how you inductively figured this out.

In short, I think you're selling yourself short. The lack of credentials may actually work in your favor if you spin it right.