<snip Cindy Spicka's story of Bobby's amazing sense of geography>

This story, and some things people have told me privately about their
children and what they do when they are one-on-one with a parent who is
not exhausted, is making me think that our children could learn and do a
lot more than we imagine, but the energy required might be more than
mere mortals can affort to expend. It is *such* hard work to give a
child with AS the attention that makes him or her thrive--mostly because
they require so much attention just to stay out of trouble in the first
place. I know that if I could make myself devote an hour, or a
half-hour, to Sara and Sara alone every day, with a plan to follow, I
could help her learn. I have always felt (and my other child has
certainly always felt) that Sara gets more than her fair share of my
time and energy. But lately I've been thinking that the kind of time
and energy she gets from me is too often of the "stay away from that"
type.

Our children occasionally demonstrate these skills, like Bobby's knowing
which way to turn to get home, and it seems a shame not to build on
them. But how?

Martha (Sara 13UPD, John 15)