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Mama1980 · 06/02/2014 22:13

Hi I don't usually post in this section so I hope I'm asking in the right place. My friend asked me to post this to see if anyone had any ideas as to how she/we should be dealing with this situation.
My son is 6 his best friend (P)who he has known literally since the day they were born has autism, P is a wonderful boy and they absolutely adore each, other, spend lots of time together. My son is often the only one to reach P when he is having a meltdown/sensory overload.
There is absolutely no question of them spending less time together as I said they adore each other.
Recently when out and about (home ed groups) P has become very possessive and has several times hit my son when he talks to other children.
Now my son ( who incidentally is no angel!) doesn't seem to care about this he does understand that P gets overwhelmed and panics sometimes and just goes off with P. Once my son has 'reassured' him there is no issue.
P's mum reprimands him says hitting is not ok, gives a warning, then gives time out, but she questions whether her approach is ok, as it doesn't seem to be working. Is there another approach she could be trying do you think? Should she avoid the group situation? Though my son would not want to go if he didn't.....
She is in touch with jigsaw and other help but wondered if anyone with direct experience would share how they would approach this please?
He doesn't hit hard but obviously cannot be allowed to hit at all and my son needs to be able to play with other children the only time she immediately took him away resulted in P totally melting down to the point of vomiting.
thanks

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AliceinWinterWonderland · 06/02/2014 22:24

Would it be helpful to perhaps, with constant encouragement to him, add one child to their group of two and let him get used to the new dynamic? Praising him whenever he is showing good sharing/playing friendly skills? Sort of a more controlled environment to start with, IYSWIM.

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Mama1980 · 07/02/2014 11:08

Thanks for replying, I will suggest this. The only problem is P doesn't really communicate my son understands him because they have known each other all their lives but other children don't generally and so they tend to get bored and not want to play so him. Might be worth persevering though.
Thanks for taking the time to reply