So my 6 year old son has been playing with the neighborhood kids. I sit in my front yard and keep an eye on things. Depending on what they are playing and which kids it is he sometimes does ok. But most of the time he is overly agresive, doesn't follow the rules, and loves to tease and engages in behavior that looks like bullying, except he is the youngest and smallest one there. It doesn't rise to anything physical. To the credit of the other kids they seem to tolerate it somewhat and "play around it". I can see their irritation and I have seen them avoiding him at times. For example, they were hitting a baseball today and he started playing with them. But then he began running for the ball when anyone threw it to the pitcher. If he got it first he would run from the pitcher yelling " ha ha you can't get it" until the pitcher caught up and just took it from him. Most of them are older but there's two his age and they are all 10 and under. I try to let them work it out as much as possible but I do stop him from being really mean at times.
I am so worried about him. I don't know what to do as to most he just seems mean. I understand that he's not really understanding how the other kids are feeling and I try to explain it to him. I understand that it's related to his social deficits but of course the other kids don't. It breaks my heart when they avoid him, although I fully understand. He's made so much progress since being diagnosed as ASD level 2 and not really being verbal. Casual observers usually assume he is neurotypical. He's had extensive behavioral, speech and OT for 3 years and we have had training and our house revolves around it. For a while I was hoping that he would be able to go to just public school and have less and less therapy and end up a fully independent adult. Now I don't see that anymore and I'm worried that as he gets older he may get into serious trouble and/or be socially isolated, dependent upon us, and unable to hold down a job.