Teens praised for teaching boy with autism how to skateboard on his birthday: 'It brought me to tears'
A mother from South Brunswick, N.J. shared an emotional note on her community’s Facebook page after a recent experience with her son, 5-year-old Carter, at a skatepark.
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Kristen Braconi took Carter, who is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD, and his behavioral therapist to the park to celebrate his fifth birthday, where a group of older kids noticed him playing on his scooter. The teens took it upon themselves to teach Carter how to skateboard.
“They were absolutely amazing with him and included him and were so beyond kind it brought me to tears,” the mother shared on Facebook, including a few videos from the day. “I caught a video of them singing [“Happy Birthday”] to my son and one of the kids gave him a mini skateboard and taught him how to use it. I can’t even begin to thank these kids for being so kind and showing him how wonderful people can be to complete strangers.”
“I wanted to recognize the kids and their parents because when you can show their parents how kind and respectful they are when [their parents] aren’t around you know you have done a great job!” Braconi told CNN. “They did so much more than they knew.”
Braconi told the outlet that the young teens didn’t know that Carter has autism and that their kindness and inclusion boosted the 5-year-old’s confidence.
Braconi and Carter left the park and returned with ice cream for the teenagers, but the video inspired the South Brunswick Police Department to try to track down the “superheroes” as well.
LOOKING TO FIND SOME SUPERHEROES – On Tuesday some older kids turned into superheroes right behind police headquarters.
Here is the story – A mom took her son to the South Brunswick Skate Park for his 5th birthday. He has high functioning autism and ADHD. pic.twitter.com/DLITBsQz9m
— So Brunswick PD (@SoBrunswickPD) March 28, 2019
The young people were quickly identified and the police plan to throw them a pizza party.
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