From Autism Speaks Blog - “I Am Michael”

This post appeared on the Autism Speaks Official Blog today. Very important reading.

This weekend, we received the following e-mail (and accompanying poem) from Gary Herrmann, a member of our community who is the father of a nine-year-old named Michael, who has Asperger Syndrome.

Like a lot of kids with Asperger Syndrome, my son has difficulty in social settings. He has one good friend. At the time he wrote this poem, both families had been very busy for a couple months, and he hadn’t been able to see his friend Billy very often. That, combined with some of the difficulties he had been experiencing in school lately, probably contributed to the feelings he expresses in the poem below.

The assignment was to type the poem. He was given some direction as to how each line should begin and word to use in each.

I was overwhelmed by the poignancy expressed in his poem. As you will see, my son’s name is Michael, and he has a heart the size of our planet … Maybe my son’s poem will strike a chord with parents and families and remind them that even if they have difficulty expressing them, our children experience all of the same emotions we do.

I        am    Michael.

I     wonder    if    I   am   human?

I   hear  ringing    all  the    time.

I   see    molecules ……I   think.

I    want    more   friends .

I   am    lonely.

I   pretend      I   have    more       friends  .

I feel       left  out.

I  have   the   record   of        the             least     friends    in    the     school .

I     worry    if  I   have   no   purpose.

I say  jokes  to   be   funny.

I  hope   people   now   understand.

I   am  Michael.