Thank you very much for your thoughts. We just got back from a three day vacation to dig for crystals in Arkansas with some of my husband's family, including his sister who is a geology professor. We thought it might be fun as well as educational.

There was plenty of time to talk on the four hour drive, so my husband and I both used the "we have more life experience" and "you will just have to trust us because we only want the best for you."

The vacation didn't go quite as well as I expected because my geology professor sister-in-law with her numerous degrees, who sat across from us at dinner, seemed to be annoyed by the way my son eats--particulary his problems in using a knife. She just didn't seem to get it when we explained that he had motor dyspraxia and sensory integration issues and that this difficulty was typical for a child with dyspraxia. We also told her that he was in occupational therapy. The next day she again asked about the problem with using a knife when I cut up my son's meat hoping to avoid embarrassing her. She asked if the OT was working with him on this and I told her that we chose to work on the things that were most important to him first. Learning dances faster for the musical theater group that he and all of his friends are in is the most important to my son and I agree with him.

My son's 21-year-old cousin and the cousin's girlfriend rode with us to another restaurant and the girlfriend talked to my son. One of the things my son told her about himself was that "people think I'm weird." He had heard his aunt's comments. I know I shouldn't say this but I think some people are just over-educated idiots.