You’ve Heard of Autistic Social Deficits, Now Meet Autistic Social Influence

A photo of the author.

Occasionally as a kid, I would be curled up in a corner of my school or church, reading my book, when an adult would come up to me to tell me something very specific. This conversation happened more than once.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that you’re the reason my kid started reading,” they would say very warmly.

“Who is your kid?” I would ask.

They would give me a name, and it would be someone I didn’t know well or had never even spoken to.

“I don’t know them,” I would say, worried. I was always sure they’d gotten me mixed up with someone else.

The parent would explain.

“They saw you sitting with your book day after day, in recess, at lunch, and they finally picked up a book just to see what all the fuss was about. And now, every so often, they will pick up a book and read.”

I would continue staring at the parent, smiling politely but clearly not really getting it. They would elaborate.

“I tried everything to get them to read. Every program. Rewards for reading, reading just 10 pages at a time, any kind of book. Nothing was working. And then one day, they just got curious because of you, and now they read. I just wanted you to…