Santa got down on the floor to play with Brayden’s toys (Picture: Autism Speaks)

Like all parents, Erin Deely wanted to take her son Brayden to see Santa at Christmas.

But, after Brayden, who’s now six years old, was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, Erin worried that it was a Christmas tradition she’d have to miss out on with her little boy.

‘I thought we would never get those holiday pictures with him because it’s something he can’t handle – the noise, and the pressure. He gets anxious if you ask him to smile, it’s all too much for him,’ she told People.

(Picture: Erin Deely/Facebook)

But then she discovered something called Caring Santa.




The Caring Santa initiative, which is sponsored by Autism Speaks, gives children with autism and special needs the chance to meet the big man in a more private and welcoming environment.

The program has partnered with 120 malls in the US to ensure no kid misses the opportunity to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.

So, last weekend, Brayden got to meet Father Christmas himself at the shopping mall near where he lives in North Carolina.

(Picture: Autism Speaks)

‘Brayden was shy and inched his way over slowly and then Santa just slowly gets out of his seat and gets on the ground and starts playing with the toys that my son brought,’ Erin says.

She not only got a picture of her son meeting Santa, she got photos of the two playing with toys together.

‘Oh my gosh, to be able to do something that other families do…normally a lot of things are harder for us as a family and we got to do the same tradition as everyone else, we just do it on the floor,’ she says.

Autism Speaks shared some of the photos of Brayden meeting Santa on its Facebook page earlier this week and they’ve now been shared over 50,000 times.

When it came time for the young man in the photo to meet Santa, his parents couldn't convince him to sit on Santa's lap. #GivingTuesday Posted by Autism Speaks on Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Erin’s a big fan of Santa these days. ‘I just want to hug this man. He’s so wonderful!’ she says.

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