Another characteristic of persons with Asperger's Syndrome falls under the category of social interaction. They tend to be insensitive and lack tact. That's putting it mildly. Aaron also lacks discernment concerning what questions are appropriate to ask someone, as well as what questions are inappropriate. For instance, he might think it's wrong to ask you how you broke your arm but think it's all right to ask you how much money you have in the bank.
While trying to help Aaron understand some areas that are personal and shouldn't be delved into with people, we drilled into him that he should never ask anyone how much they weigh. He tends to describe others by some physical characteristic, such as saying that so-and-so has a big nose or is fat. Therefore, we went over the weight issue many times with Aaron, saying, "Aaron, never ask anyone how much they weigh. Especially NEVER ask a girl what she weighs." "How come?" he asked. And again we'd explain that this issue is very personal, especially for a girl. Do NOT ask a girl what she weighs! Never! Period!
Aaron has a friend named Tiffany at his day group, Paradigm. They tease each other a lot. One day Aaron came home and told me that Tiffany was sitting on the couch. "Mom, I tried to lift the couch and I couldn't. Man, it was heavy!" I gave him "that" look and he knew exactly what I was thinking, so he quickly said, "I didn't ask her how much she weighs..................I asked her how much she EATS!"
Gary and I add lots of amendments to Aaron's rules.
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