Young children rush to hug John* as he walks in to school, as they do with all their other friends.But the six-year-old does not always react in the same way as his peers and often steps away as he is approached.

The boy has autism and therefore hugging is not always something he enjoys, a reaction that comes as a shock to other children unaware of his condition and eager to play with their friend.

His parents, Rafael and Thaís, want to change all this by spearheading an awareness campaign aimed at teaching young children what it means to be on the autism spectrum.

“It has to use a language that the kids understand. I think educational campaigns need to be wider and specifically targeted at young children,” Rafael told The Sunday Times of Malta.

His wife points out that young children are very “mouldable” and so teaching them to be tolerant and sensitive to others’ struggles should not be difficult.

The parents, who have been living in Malta for the past two years, decided to come forward with their story after their young boy was bullied while attending summer school.

His mother described how, despite being high-functioning, her son was not always able to properly describe certain situations in the same way a child without autism would, and so she only realised something was wrong when John went home with scratches on his face.

“He doesn’t know how to tell stories. So when I asked him about the scratches he wouldn’t say anything,” Thaís said.

When John gets to school, we see the other children trying to hug him but they don’t understand why he won’t hug them back

While he initially did not say much, her son later told her it had been two boys from a different class that had hurt him. John is “a happy, high-functioning boy” who, despite having certain limitations with communicating, still speaks and expresses himself.

The parents went to the school as well as to the authorities, who said they would be looking into the matter and speak to the parents of the children involved.

But while trying to deal with the incident and making sure the bullying stops, the pair soon started to realise their son was not the only one bullied because of his disorder. Children with certain disabilities that are often considered ‘less visible’ were becoming “easy targets” because they sometimes acted differently, they found out.

The pair fear that while campaigns aimed at addressing taboos and educating society about autism have been useful, they often fail to reach young children even though they are the most likely to encounter those with the disorder.

Thaís even admits that before she had John, she knew “nothing” about autism and the struggles the disorder brings and it is only through her own experience that she has come to understand it better.

“When John gets to school, we see the other children trying to hug him but they don’t understand why he won’t hug them back. That is why he is more vulnerable to being targeted because he doesn’t realise when someone has an aggressive demeanour, for instance,” Rafael explained.

Rafael, a psychologist by profession, said that together with his wife, he hoped to raise awareness on the struggles certain children faced daily simply by speaking to others about their experience as parents and by sharing what they have learnt through raising John.

“We often get people telling us that our son doesn’t look like he has autism because it’s in the small details. He is a happy, high-functioning and super intelligent young boy and we don’t want him to lose all this because people don’t understand,” Rafael said.

The parents have already taken their idea to their son’s school, suggesting workshops or events during which they themselves could speak to other parents. The pair hope their suggestion, which they believe will not incur any additional costs to the school, is also taken on board on a national level.

*Not his real name