My daughter needs friends! :(

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. I'm a mother to two children with high functioning autism. My

oldest is 13 and she's been having such a hard time lately. She has no friends.

She had two friends in our neighborhood. One was her friend then decided to go

on a campaign to make other kids not want to play with my daughter because she

was -quote " wierd and dorky " . So my daughter became friends with her little

sister. Now her sister is starting to do the same thing. My daughter is so

lonely and desperate for a friend that she'll take whatever abuse this girl

dishes out. I have no idea how to help her. Sports where we live are super

competitive...obviously a kid with motor skill problems and coordination

problems and muscle weakness isn't going to make the team. She tries out for

everything though We've started bringing her to our churches middle school

group in the hopes that she'll find a buddy. So far not too much luck. How do I

find a friend for her? I've tried to get her to ask a friend home from school or

get a group to go bowling. The problem is she has no way of recognizing

potential friends. She asks the most popular kids , and at least they are kind

to her, but they do reject her. She's an akward kind of nerdy kid. I know there

are tons of akward nerdy kids in middle school...how do I get her to invite them

home instead? I'm sure she's not the only kid who's lonely or lacking friends. I

looked into a social skills group, but it's over an hour away and $400 a week.

What do I do? Where can I find a friend for my daughter?