Bit of an awkward title, sorry
DS has a friend in his class that he has been great friends with since reception. However this year his friend has been harsh with him, making fun of him a lot, getting very competitive with him in sports, and DS isn't very thick skinned and is finding this hard. It seems to be "banter" taken a bit too far in the ways kids that age sometimes struggle to understand, but the result is DS doesn't really want spend as much time with this kid as he used to. And I am happy to facilitate him spending time with different kids and reducing how much he sees him (small school though so he will always have to deal with him). DS doesn't want this spoken about with the school.
But.... I also know this kid is being assessed for ASD, and I don't think there's any real malice in what he's doing, he's just not getting how hurtful he is being, and how this could impact his friendship. But the ASD assessment isn't something I can tell DS
I'm just a bit torn between helping DS distance himself from a kid who's not being very kind to him at the minute, and feeling that we could or should extend him some grace. But I'm not sure how to approach that either
Would love to hear from anyone who's had similar experiences from either side of this?