Helping Daughter Thrive with Asperger's

Abby and I were struggling through a long evening of fifth-grade math homework. After a particularly tense few minutes, she slammed down her pencil and exasperatedly explained why she was having so much trouble.
“I know why I can’t do this math,” she said. “It’s my severe autism!”
“Abby, you don’t have severe autism,” I said. “Who told you that?”
“No one,” she said, “but this math is so hard!”
“Abby, the math is hard because it’s hard,” I said. “And you don’t have severe autism. You have a tiny little bit of autism.”
“Oh, right,” she said, calming down. “Asperger’s. I forgot.”