Last night was not a great one for Joey.  I brought him home at about 1630 and Chris was coming up the road.  He asked Joey if he wanted to accompany him to Jacks to play and off Joey went, quite happily.

When I went to pick him up at Jack's house an hour later, he was not happy.  Didn't really say goodbye or thanks properly and then ran home upset.  Got there before me and then slammed the door as he went in, which made Anne shout at him.  He stormed upstairs crying.  Seems that the other kids were 'mean' to him and he was miserable because he had no friends and he hated this country and wanted to go back to England.

Not sure what happened.  Chris and Jack are nice kids but they have been mates for a long time and it is quite possible that they exclude Joey from tome to time.  It is also possible that they don't always want to do what Joey wants to do sometimes, or that they occasionally tease Joey and Joey still hasn't figured out a way of dealing with properly and without getting upset.  He is sensitive and his social skills need working on.

Part of the problem also is that he goes to a school where the kids have some form of learning difficulty - extending to mild autism - and this don't all have great social skills either.  And they are very spread out over a wide catchment area, so even if he got really friendly with a kid there, chances are that the kid would live miles away.

Joey has made so much progress, and is such a good kid in many ways.  very upsetting to see him upset.