My child has feelings, too

I hesitated to blog about this, but then the more I thought about it, the more upset I became and decided I was doing no one any favors by ignoring it.

Those of you who know me know my son has autism. Technically, it's PDD-NOS, which is considered very high-functioning. Most people would never guess he has the diagnosis, because he doesn't have the severe characteristics that children who are further down the spectrum exhibit. But we face challenges with him daily, and they often are compounded by the unfeeling behavior of other people.

Yesterday, we went to the park. It was a nice day and we were sick of the rain. Connor gets very excited when he sees other kids because he has no siblings. Sometimes when he gets excited, he overreacts and will laugh uncontrollably or get overly-touchy feely with kids. Some kids don't care, others get upset. There were plenty of kids there yesterday, but most of them wanted nothing to do with Connor. He was behaving pretty well, too, so I couldn't understand it. And at age 3, he doesn't understand it, either. All he knows is the other kids won't play with him, and it makes him sad. At one point he told me he was very lonely. I could have burst into tears. Instead, I encouraged him. It appeared that two other boys were playing with him. They were older, probably 6. When I started playing really close attention, I realized they were making fun of Connor. Connor didn't get it. He didn't understand that they were trying to be cruel. It ended with one of the kids pushing Connor down the small slide. His mother never said a word. She just sat there and watched her kid bully mine. I had had enough. So I told him (in my sternest voice) that he doesn't push other kids and that he was to stay away from my son.

Finally, a litle girl came to play with Connor, and he had a blast for the last 20 minutes we were there. But the little girl was a rarity. Most kids are not that nice.

I just don't know what to do. It pains me to see my son being made fun of by kids that age. We are not born knowing how to act that way, it is a learned process. And that makes me even sadder. What is it like for kids who have more severe disabilities? Do people think they don't have feelings? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that my heart breaks for my son.