A very Special party

My 5-y-o DS's birthday party last weekend went well. A handful of kids from his preschool classroom came with their parents. Most of the other kids were children of friends of mine from the neighborhood. I realized that there were a lot of children with special needs in attendance, including the birthday boy's older brother, a neighborhood boy with Sjogren's Syndrome, a neighborhood girl with XXX trisomy, a friend's boy with autism, and neighborhood girl with profound deafness. Everyone got along great. I was particularly impressed by my friend's son with autism (age 4). Up to 6 months ago he was unable to attend gatherings without screaming at the top of his lungs for about 75% of the time. This time he was able to move among the other children, use the bouncer, and find his mother without becoming overly anxious. I told her that I was surprised that he progressed so far so fast. She told me that she really appreciated the comment because she is with him so much she doesn't always see the progress. But thinking back to prior parties that yes, he had made a lot of progress. Mostly what helped was his receptive language. She is now able to talk to him in advance about planning to go to a party, so he can anticipate it and isn't blind-sided by the change of routine.