An 11-year-old boy from Texas named Shayden Walker has been struggling to make and keep friends. According to his mother, Krishna Patterson, Walker is also on the autism spectrum and has oppositional defiant disorder, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), all factors of which his doting mother says predisposed the poor boy to being severely bullied at school.
Patterson described what her son went through as a result of his disorders, which inhibit him from successfully socializing with other children, a dilemma that she said broke her heart. She explained that Walker stims (the repetition of body movements or actions) frequently, makes noises that many make fun of him for, and flaps his arms.
Due to his ongoing stims, Patterson heartbreakingly revealed that, at times, her son would force himself not to give in to his symptoms in an effort to stop getting made fun of. Walker gave an account of what he went through as a result of his conditions:
“What my life was like before was kids were manipulating me and telling me they would be my friend, but when they would ask me to do something horrible, I don’t feel like they’re actually my friend.”
The amount of cruelty Walker endured has been immense. At one point, his torment got so bad that his mom even divulged:
“My kid, he’s been hospitalized because the bullying was so bad, and he felt so isolated.”
One day last week, after struggling to find friends, a red-headed, “Jaws” t-shirt-wearing Walker decided to look around his residential area to see if he could find anybody willing to be his friend. On his quest, he went up to a house that belonged to a resident named Brennan Ray and asked for his help.
The good-natured boy approached Ray’s front door and started conversing with the man through the closed door. Footage from the neighbor’s doorbell camera showed Walker looking forlorn as he humbly asked Ray if he knew of any kids in his age group around the area that he could be friends with...CONTINUE READING