Can't tell you a lot about portage, but I can ramble on for hours about ASDs since I'm on the autistic spectrum.
Which 'him' are you trying to help? Son or hubby? Sounds like hubby needs a bit of help too, to me? "He won't have friends" is very unlikely. Last count, I had over 20. BUT as a young child, none. As a child at primary school, one. As a child at secondary school, one. As a person in my first job, none. All those early friendships were really me just following someone else round, not 'real' friendships. Friendships happened only when I was old enough and mature enough to work out the rules. These days they can teach the rules,if you can get the right help.
Top tips: We like routine. We like to know what's about to happen. We're not good a social stuff, eye contact, being touched unexpectedly. If you can find a way to explain what will happen the next day, and what will happen today, and when, then that really helps. If there's a change, expect us to run/hide/scream/go completely silent and shocked.
We can hear everything all at once, so the only way to stop the huge noise is to sometimes pretend we can't hear any of it.
We can see amazing detail, but not much of it at a time, so will miss the 'big picture'
We can smell things you can't, so perfumes and aftershaves are maybe like standing next to a choking smelly bonfire.
We can feel the slightest change in texture, so clothes can feel like sandpaper, labels in the clothes like a knife digging in.
We can sense the tiniest changes in the taste of something, or the texture of it, or the coldness or hotness of it, which means meals can be a battle.
We can keep going for hours, repeating ourselves for comfort and as a way of learning. Very irritating if it's at 2am, 3am, 4.30am, 6am....
We're bad at noticing what's wrong with us. We can be really ill and not notice, or injure ourselves and not notice. Or overreact to something tiny.
We're often very very good at something, but you may not realise what it is as you wouldn't see the world as we do.
Einstein was probably ASD. So probably was Leonardo da Vinci, and probably Mozart, and probably Bill Gates the multibillionaire owner of Microsoft. Some of us get to be that good. Not many, but some. Read up on Dr Temple Grandin if you can - she's a brilliant role model and a lovely lady, and is autistic.
So, to your hubby, do not despair. You may have a specialist, who may be a very happy person with the right help and support. See what the future holds for you all. Marvellous people on here to talk to, too.