My ASD son is 14 and in year 10. When he started secondary in yr 7 he made friends with a wonderful group of kids. All had special needs most autistic; one with ADHD and one with GDD. He had a great few years with them but all are pretty vulnerable and all have EHCPs and all are unable to do things sdue to their vulnerability without an adult.
He is alot more independent than these friends and very healthy and safety conscious and he found these friends were holding him back - he was alway the organiser and as he matured and began to grow up because of their SN they didn't so he now has a new group of friends and all except one are NT he is much happier as he doesn't feel held back and he is thriving but tonight he was invited to a Halloween party at a girls house 30 plus kids which he would not be able to cope with, loud music again would be too much for him and worst of all to his shock and horror (and mine a little bit) there was going to be lots of alcohol. He has been a bit off all week and he told me today its because he has been worried about going to this party. He says he loves the freedom of being able to be himself and not an 11 yr old with these new friends but he will not be forced into drinking and vaping. He would happily do cinema and a McDonald's but would not be happy staying out in the dark. Now he is scared that he will he dumped by his new friends because he hasn't gone to the party. He is finding it hard as he's outgrown his other friends but he isn't yet ready for parties and alcohol.
So parents with children with high functioning autism how does your child socialise and who with. All his main friends are girls, although there are a couple of boys in his new friendship group, i know girls can be very fickle and bitchy at this age. He hates football and gaming so finds it hard to gel with boys. He seems very popular in this new group because he is very quirky and has a fab sense of humour so he is great fun to be around but it is going to be very hard for him to fit in.