Why is it so hard for moms to take a break? What can fathers do to help?

First of all, struggling with taking a break from maternal responsibilities is normal. This is hard for the mothers of typical children—who presumably have a little less to be preoccupied about than mothers of children who have autism and other special needs.

So feeling overwhelmed by the enormous responsibilities of motherhood is normal, but when it goes on indefinitely, it’s not healthy for a mother or her family. And fathers tend to begin feeling left out and neglected. While I frequently write about fathers, I spend a good deal of my time as a psychologist listening to mothers. Almost invariably mothers seem to be relieved when they give voice to their struggles—particularly the guilt about not doing enough or missing something they should have done or thought about.

Read Mothers Day Hints for Men

I met Maja (and a lot of other cool aspies) while speaking in Aarhus, Denmark at the AspIT conference. This is her first column:

Hi, I'm Maja and I live in Copenhagen, Denmark and I'm a 25 year old woman diagnosed with Asperger's. I'm a singer/songwriter and a student.

I always knew I was different and started learning social skills before I was even diagnosed. When I was 12, I realized that I wanted to be a part of the world and started to mimic and learn social skills from others. Most of my social skills, however, come from character based roleplaying.

Many other aspies say that I bend to the will of NT society, by acting as if I am an NT. I, of course, don't think so because I only act NT when the situation calls for it. But let's start at the beginning. . . .

Read: Aspie or NT? The Pros and Cons of Acting Neurotypical