Another mom and I were talking today and she said she prefers that her SN child's main friends have SN issues and those are they only ones she let's her child play with. It made me think and I realized that DS's friends I really like have SN issues, too. I just never thought about it too much and I have never seeked them out. It got me to wondering what other moms think. So what do you prefer or do you not care as long as your child is happy.

Hmmm. I know DS gravitates toward kids I find out later are special needs, but not always. His best friend is NT. I honestly think it can go both ways. If the NT kid is sensitive and accepts him as he is, no problem. He also has a neighbor friend who is a older and is SN. I don't mind him playing with him, and the kid is really nice, but socially challenged. The issues come up when DS, who is a sponge, starts acting like the SN kids he plays with. For that reason, I'm glad he has friends in the NTs, also, so he can model "norm" behavior.

Last week, we met up with a different SN kid from the neighborhood. The kid was loud, aggressive, but otherwise OK and kind. The problem came after the 2 hour mark. He turned inward and wanted nothing to do with my kids, and got downright mean. His caregiver was wise enough to see he was on overload and let him know it was time to leave.

So, I think it's good to have a balance of both, as long as the NT kids don't do things to hurt his feelings, and the SN kids don't have aggression/anger issues. I HAVE to shy away from them because DS does things that can easily tick someone off, like repetition of saying things.

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The Really Needy, Special, Networking and Talking Mod

I would love my son to meet a friend with mobility issues like he has. The problem is that he is able to interact fine socially with the "typical" kids but he can't really "play" with them because of his physical needs. So I don't really care if he has more friends with any old random SN (he has enough at school), but I would LOVE for him to find a friend with his same/similar issues that he could relate to and talk about stuff with.