My 9 YEAR OLD HAS HIS FIRST EVER PLAY DATE!

[BLUESEAPARADISE]

AIBU to shout this from the roof tops?!

My 9 year old has been invited to go on his FIRST ever play date today and I am so pleased for him!!

My DS has autism and a whole range of other health issues and doesn't really have any " friends" and because of this he has never ever had a play date .. until today!

He has been invited to go around someone's house today for a play and tea ... he went off today with his supplies ( very very fussy so packed him off with his usual custard and salt and vinegar crisps!) and he is so excited and proud of himself 🙈

I am over the moon for him and so happy he finally has a friend and is going on a play date!

Hopefully this is just the start of some amazing things to come ... !!!!!!

Please try and keep in mind next time you have a birthday party / arranging a play date think of the quiet children in your DS/DD class ... my son is 9 and is non verbal and has only just been invited on his first ever play date and has still NEVER been invited to a birthday party ... ( even though we always invite children around here )

So proud of my little man!

Aw that’s brilliant!
One of my DD6’s good friends has ASD. He has a helper in class but gets to pick friends to join in with his activities. My daughter is beyond happy when he picks her and he is coming to her birthday party soon :)

Imagine this is a plate of celebration custard for your DS !

The other mum sounds great too, very thoughtful and able to reassure him.

I'm so happy for him and hope he has the best time. Also well done to him for going.

He is now home and had a good time!:D he did spend all the time with his feet pressed up against the washing machine so much so when the washing machine finished his friends Mum had to put another Load of washing on for him!

Overall even though he spent all of his time with his feet on the washing machine he had a great time and we are now planning for his friend to come here!:)

@BLUESEAPARADISE I’m so happy for you both! That’s brilliant news.

So happy for you and your son OP!

Ah bless him. Delightedit went well.

That's the most lovely thing I've read anywhere in months. Thankyou Blue and congrats to you and your son. x

This has made my heart happy. My sister has Autism and struggled throughout school, no way would we ever leave any child out especially one with special care needs!
Hope there’s many more play dates in the future!

Aw this made me well up a bit op. Well done to your boy, that must have been a big step for him too.
Hopefully he has more play dates and parties to come.

Hopefully this is the beginning.

DS got some invites in infants but mainly because I was friends with the parents. Year 3 and 4 he didn’t get a single play date or party invite. He’s now in Year 6 and gets a few and has some lovely friends, one friends went to the rugby for his Hirth day but knew DS wouldn’t enojoy that so arranged a different birthday treat with him.
So within a couple of years e went from invisible to being so important to someone they thought of him and went out of thier way for him.

So, so lovely to read 😊

Love this thread so much!

That’s brilliant! It sounds like the Mum was really great too.
Ds doesn’t really get invited to play dates very much as I work full time. He misses out a bit.

that's so lovely. We used to go to the laundrette as a treat when ds was small.

I relate to that, BrieAndChilli. My DD1 had a few invitations in KS1, though only one in year 1. Since then, she's had only one in year 3 and none so far in year 4. It's been really sad, and she's found it particularly hard because DD2 has been invited to lots of parties.

It's so hard to see them struggling with friendships, isn't it? DD1 is very friendly at school, and she doesn't have her meltdowns there unlike at home, but she has difficulty reading social cues, which holds her back when it comes to joining in games in the playground, and she has tended to hang out with DD2. The school are being proactive in helping her, though, which is encouraging.

How lovely OP! It must be making you smile! My DS (8) hasn't had a party invite or play date offer since her was 5yrs. He is much more aware now and asks if I can help him make friends 😐

Oh this is fantastic! Actually cheered when I read your OP. So glad it went well- the mum sounds really lovely for doing her best to make ds feel at home!

This is the best post today :)

Lovely!

Fantastic. What a lovely thread.

What lovely news for your boy! My daughter has SEN but is only 3 & just starting out in her school life.

Aww so happy for you both, made me a little bit emotional too reading this x x

I love this thread!

This thread has made my day!

I work in a mainstream school with a fair few children with asd and I've seen a lot of them be ignored sadly. However this year a little girl has taken a little boy with asd under her wing and they really are best friends, she's just given out her party invitations and insisted to her dad that the little boy was top of the list!