This Poem From A 10-year-old Boy With Aspergers Will Break Your Heart

As our kids grow up, we expect that they will develop the necessary skills to express themselves. As parents, we are taught to encourage our children to identify their feelings and discuss them with us, rather than lash out in anger or frustration. We hope that will form the basis for any emotional difficulties they might face in the future and that they will continue to share with us through to their teenage years and beyond, so that we can help them to address any serious problems they may be experiencing in an informed manner. But what if you don't truly know what's going on inside the mind and heart of your gorgeous child and then they write the most beautiful and heart-achingly honest account of how they feel in a poem? That's what happened to these parents in the US when their 10 year-old son, Benjamin, who has Aspergers, completed a school assignment called 'I am'. Shared to the National Autism Association Facebook page his dad Sonny says that they posted it because they wanted to let their son know how much love and support there is for him in the world.

“We were both so proud, and yet so heartbroken, that this was how he felt,” he told The Huffington Post.

Benjamin's amazing poem reads; "I am odd, I am new I wonder if you are too I hear voices in the air I see you don't, and that's not fair I want to not feel blue, I am odd, I am new I pretend that you are too I feel like a boy in outerspace I touch the stars and feel out of place I worry what others might think I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink I am odd, I am new I understand now that so are you I say, I "feel like a castaway" I dream of a day that that's ok I try to fit in I hope that someday I do I am odd, I am new" Isn't that so beautifully written? It's no wonder it has gotten over 18k likes and over 11k shares on the post! There could be a serious career as a lyricist, poet or writer in Benjamins future - in fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he grows up to be an actual rock star. For further information on Aspergers and Autism, visit the Autism Ireland webpage