Shannon (father of 4 children, including 3 autistic children): Most kids seem to get along good with all our kids. Even though Alex stands to the side, other kids will try and involve him. And, because he’s always got toys with him, they’ll come up to him and talk about his toys that he’s got. They always try and interact and involve him in everything they do.

Joanne (mother of 2 children, including 1 autistic child): Kids do tend to radiate to them and I’ve found that Flynn always has children around him and always has children who want to play with him. He can’t always communicate with them exactly on their level but he’s getting better. And with Xalie, also, children do radiate towards her. Tthere’s always children who want to help her. She’s always the one that children want to help, because her communication skills aren’t as strong. But, once again, they do lose interest quickly because she’s not giving back what they’re giving to her with the communication. Which is one thing, but there are always children who want to be there with them. It’s just teaching them how to keep those children interested and wanting to play with them.

Rachel (mother of 4 children, including 3 autistic children): Dominic, for some reason, he’s always the most popular kid, wherever he goes. He’s such a, like, they’re all really cool characters. They’re all, umm, very likeable and that sort of thing. So he goes to school and you see all the boys and girls flock him like ‘Oh Dominic, oh Dominic’, and the boys make sure he knows what he’s doing and they really help him and that’s what actually made me more emotional when he started school is seeing all the other kids helping him. Cause I thought ‘Oh, cool they’re really, like, they’ve got all this empathy’ and they’re little boys. You’d think they’d just be like, ‘Want to go play or something’, but they’re like ‘Come on Dom, you have to do this’ and ‘Come with me’, and it was really good to see them take him under his wing and of course the little girls pack his bag for him. He can do it, he just doesn’t. He’s like ‘If you’re going to do it for me, go for it. Here’s my bag, lady’.

Shannon: I think they all take to him really well. They, umm, a lot of them sort of help him, take him under their arm. There’s a few kids that we’ve seen that really get in his face, so if he’s in a bit of a wandering mood, they’ll get right in his face and go ‘Oh no Dominic, you’ve got to come and do this’. And you know they are quite understanding.

Sharon (mother of 2 children, including 1 autistic child): He’s got a few really great mates that he hangs with, and he knows he can feel comfortable with and so he just becomes this different person. And like I say, it’s a shame that not everyone sees that. Umm, but like in terms of, you know sometimes when I drop him off at kinder and a kid will come up to him and say ‘Hey Peter’. And he may not turn around and sort of [ignore them]. My response to them is to say, ‘He can hear you. He’s just not tuned into you at the moment’. I say, ‘He’ll come around later’. And sort of, ‘Oh that’s fine’. So they don’t get too fussed about it.