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On what basis all the comments about the 16 year old having Asperger's or whatever? This is what we know about her, from the LW's quite probably biased perspective:
1. She was abandoned by her mother in a foreign land at "around" age 10.
2. She has never gone for a haircut on her own. (FWIW neither had I at that age; my mother always took me, and often got her hair cut at the same time.)
3. She does not know how to boil water. Neither did my husband, the product of a stereotypical "Jewish mother," when we met. Sounds more likely the product of never having to do it herself than being too mentally impaired to master the technicalities of the act.
4. Nor does she know how to "do a bed." Does this mean she leaves her covers in a jumble each morning? This describes 90% of the 16 year olds in the USA. Ok...
5. She doesn't "dress herself appropriately." Oh, as in "you're not leaving the house wearing THAT, young lady!"? Sounds pretty normal for the age to me.
6. Needs to be reminded to brush her teeth and wash her hair. There's a wide range of variation on this one and while the stereotype is the teen girl who takes an hour in the bathroom, I've heard of many other teens who needed some monitoring on this front, none of whom were mentally impaired.
7. She lives with her "head in the clouds" and a book in her hand. This is not, contrary to what the drug pushers may now be telling you, a symptom of any disease.
8. She dropped a mug and broke it due to inattention and clumsiness. OMG! This is hardly on par with serial car wrecks, what a weird example of "troubled."
9. She didn't immediately change a towel with blood on it. Could it be possible she expected that the "help" would do this for her since that's how she was raised? Seems likely to me.
10. "Proclaimed to be an expert in something and failed because she merely imagined herself to be one." Um, this sounds like adolescence in a nutshell, no? What a weird sentence, anyway.
11. Her studies are failing now that she no longer has the full time tutors she's accustomed to.
12. She doesn't know what her interests, strengths, or weaknesses are.
13. Apparently she's ugly.
Talk to me like I'm really, really stupid, guys...how does this add up to a mental health diagnosis, exactly?
