[Colonel Flagg]

I can't think of any better place to discuss this, so here goes.

My elementary grade level son was invited to a birthday party recently. This party was held in the evening, as some birthday parties are these days (I guess). The thing is, my son is special needs - autism spectrum with some delays - and I was concerned (go ahead, call me overprotective, I dare you!) about what the other kids could do. Let's face it, we've all been there, and children can be cruel. His school has a zero tolerance policy for teasing and bullying, but I know how (in)effective that can be.

So this explains my presence at this party for preteens. I figure that he will stay for about an hour and then get tired and ask to go home. This is what happened, and I must say, he had a great time. He socialized, interacted very well and appropriately (he had one minor gaffe, but hey, so have I at parties much more formal than this, so no big whoop). However, there was one incident that stuck out in my mind.

Apparently there was one child there who came in to the party area, and just stood there, not even bothering to take off their coat. Plus, the child looked quite distressed. I happened to take a closer look while following my son around, since he walked right up to the individual and said "Hi G*****! I'm glad you came. Isn't this a great party?" To which he received no response, so he kept moving looking for someone else to talk to. While I was there, I couldn't help but notice but this child was crying.

Things did not improve from there. I kept half an eye on the situation and a party parent, and 3 kids atempted to draw this individual into the party without any success. As far as I know this child was alone (their parent(s) apparently not there).

My question: What would you do? I already know what I did, and I'd like to hear your views without prejudice.