DD has mild social skills difficulties (ASD) and I thought she had been doing well being a good friend and being part of a small group of friends - DD plus three other girls. DD has invited these three girls to her birthday over the past couple of years and has had invites back (apart from one who never has a party, they have a family get together instead). Occasionally we have arranged play dates or done days out (swimming, movies, lunch) and the girls have always accepted the invitations and seemed happy to be here. DD has had invites back but always as a group rather than just DD on her own. All four girls put down each other's names as the girls they'd like to be in tutor group with for secondary school, they've just finished up Year 6 today, DD is with one of the girls, the other two girls are together in another tutor group. So far so good.
At the end of Year 6 the children create a leaves book page for themselves, they are then all put together into a published leavers book. On the page they talk about the highlights of year 6, they list their best friends, best teachers etc. They take photos at school of their friendship group and include the photos on their leavers page, together with any other photos available from their year at school. DD listed the three girls as her BFFs and included a photo of the four of them together, all smiling and looking happy. None of the other girls included DD in their friends photo, only one of the girls mentioned her name as a friend. The other two girls completely omitted her name, it was so obvious like a deliberate exclusion. I feel so sad for DD :(
What can I do to help her get past this and make new and genuine friends at Secondary school, any tips?