Yesterday was a wonderful day. This is going to sound like nothing much to people with an NT child I suspect, for for us it was huge.
DS (3, ASD) has never been able to walk down the road, or anywhere, without either being strapped into a pushchair or else running so fast, headlong, with no brakes and only one speed (and no sense of waiting for anyone) that he could not be unstrapped from the pushchair unless you were in a park or similar area, and were prepared to run after him, really really fast. Nowhere near a road, oh no.
Yesterday afternoon I got home from work and needed to walk to the high street nearby to do various bits. My (very wonderful) ABA tutor said she would walk with me and we would take DS. I started putting him in the pushchair and she said no, lets just actually walk with him, with him holding hands. I was sceptical and took the pushchair with us as well. Previously if expected to walk holding hands he would have either screamed a lot and sat down on the pavement (and very possibly banged his head repeatedly on said pavement) or continually tried to escape and run off (very possibly into the road).
We walked to the high street. We walked along it. We went past the sliding doors of two shops wthout playing with them or screaming. We went into two shops and bought some things. The tutor said bye, gave him a kiss, and got on her bus. Me and DS walked home, in the sunshine, with him trotting along at my pace, holding my hand, like any little boy. We stopped at crossings and waited and then we said "go" and continued. No-one stared. No-one looked.
It is hard to explain how amazing it felt.