So, my now (today!!) 8 year old son is Autistic. He has a significant communication delay and has difficulty with verbal interaction. He has had early intervention since he was 2, has been in ABA preschool from 3-5, and special education classrooms from 5 years old onward. He has a PCA (an adult with him at all times in school to keep him safe, and focused on his work). Specifically he's what's called "Hyperlexic" which means he's been able to read since he was 2, but he has difficulty with spontaneous verbal communication. He's been obsessed with letters and numbers from a very, very early age.

He is a lot of work, but I also feel quite lucky. I know everybody says something like that, but I'm not trying to be all rainbows and sunshine. He is quite affectionate and sweet. His heart breaks when kids get upset nearby him - he can't tolerate tears or sadness. He's gentle with animals and smart as a whip. He's enthusiastic about playing and fun, and absolutely loves music (he has Hamilton memorized). There are moments, even days or weeks, when it is difficult to connect with him... but for the most part, that's easy.

When I make gifts for him, I try especially hard to make sure it's going to be something that really makes him light up.

Here's the pattern I used for this one: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/babys-abcs-afghan

It worked great! He was finally able to literally wrap himself up in the alphabet, and roll around on top of it. He traced those letters all day and gave me a big hug for this one. This was a total success!!