My Son With Autism Doesn’t Like Most Places Outside of Home, but Loves Red Robin

Our son, Jaron, has autism. He doens't like most places with a lot of noise and strangers and things that are out of his personal realm. We discovered recently, though, that he loves Red Robin.

Most of the time we'll try to go out to eat and if he doesn't like it, he'll let you know about it by his actions. It's one of the reasons we get food to go. We thought we'd give Red Robin a shot and, as it turns out, he loved it!

He liked the cheeseburger seats when we came in while my daughters drew on the chalkboard. We didn't have to wait very long at all for them to find us a seat. The walls were visually stimulating enough that it gave him plenty to look at. He noticed a picture of a gumball machine and pointed that out and said, "gumball!"

He also liked the menu where he could see what all of the food options were. He was able to point and order his own meal. Of course, all he wanted was the milkshake, but we got him chicken strips and a small cup of tangerines that he enjoyed. Yes, we also got him the milkshake.

I thought I'd bring this up because my wife and I were amazed on how well he behaved. We'll be going back again sometime soon.