Parents' Guide to Atypical

Viewers are likely to fall in love with Sam in the first few moments of this heartfelt show and sympathize with his relatable plight: We all want love and to pursue our dreams, but it isn't always easy to make it happen. In Atypical, Sam's autism just adds another complication. He can't always immediately read social cues, and he can get overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells of the world he doesn't easily fit into. "People on the spectrum date," says his sympathetic (if a bit clueless) therapist Julia (Amy Okuda). "You just have to put yourself out there." "Out where?" wonders the literal Sam, who returns home and immediately starts writing an online dating profile, with the help of his sister, Casey.

Casey becomes a more prominent character as the series goes on, working through her own internal and social struggles. And Sam's mother Elsa has a supporting storyline that moves between her needy, helicopter mom behavior and the unwise places she finds release from her responsibilities and resentments. What the series shows is that everyone is struggling in their own way, and all family members have to make adjustments for one another, whether it's relinquishing control, reserving judgement, or showing faith. At its heart, the show is about acceptance, not necessarily from other people, but in individuals coming to terms with their limitations while also stepping into their own power.