The mother of an autistic little boy has shared the incredible message she received from school staff, as she celebrated “the small wins.”
Ellie, 28, from Stockport, UK, is proud mom to four-year-old Felix, who is preparing to start elementary school this fall, after several years in pre-school, also known as nursery in the UK.
Ellie, who gave her first name only, told Newsweek Felix was diagnosed with autism in April, after “years of fighting” for his condition to be officially recognized. This, coupled with Felix being non-verbal, means he has had “a fair few challenges at nursery, especially when it comes to socialising and being around other children.”
“Usually he struggles with the noise so tends to avoid being around his peers, but they’re always so friendly and welcoming with him regardless of whether it’s reciprocated or not,” she said.
And on June 4, Ellie received an email from from the nursery worker, as she later shared the words that made her “heart absolutely burst.”
In a clip to her TikTok account @_ells444 she shared the message, explaining: “My son is autistic and very rarely interacts with other children at nursery, but today I received this message.”
It read simply: “Felix is baking with his friends,” along with a photo of the four-year-old cutting out cookies, with other small hands visible by his side.
“The SEN [special educational needs] parents will get it,” she wrote in the caption, adding: “Celebrating the small wins always.”
She told Newsweek: “I always worry that he’ll struggle to ‘fit in’, so when nursery sent that photo of him I was over the moon! Firstly, to see him so close to other children, and secondly, to see him actually engaging in the same tasks.
“He’s usually off in the other end of the room just playing by himself—that’s what he seems to prefer—so it really seemed like he’d pushed himself out of his comfort zone on that day and got involved with baking shortbread [cookies] with ‘his friends’ as the message stated.”
Children with autism may prefer to play alone or appear withdrawn or indifferent to other people, and may not initiate contact with others, according to the National Autistic Society. Parents may be able to help by reducing social stressors where possible, practicing new social skills in different places and with different people, and asking school staff where they have noticed their child struggling.
TikTok users were hugely moved, watching the video more than 190,000 times and awarding it close to 20,000 likes, as one person wrote: “I feel this. I burst into tears when I got photos of my SEN daughter learning to play on the slide holding another girls hand. It’ll genuinely be something I remember for the rest of my life.”
“All the photos from my daughter’s nursery she is always alone, every now and then she’s stood with someone I’ll bawl my eyes out over it,” another parent said.
“Felix you bring so much joy baking with your friends,” another wrote. “I remember the first time I heard my son say hi to another child. I walked away crying. Every moment is so big.”
Ellie told Newsweek she is “so proud of the progress he’s made at nursery, and how much the staff and the other children make him feel welcome.”
“He’ll be starting school in September so myself and Felix will be so sad to say goodbye to everyone that’s been there with him for the past three years, but that message and photo of him gave me so much joy—and a bit of hope that he’ll tackle his next journey at primary school with all his might!”
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