This Single Father Dresses Up As Spider-Man To Help Calm His Autistic Son

Screenshot from Caters Clips

When this father found out that he can help his son calm down just by dressing up as Spider-Man, he knew that there was one thing to do.

Back in 2016 Dale Grounds’ son Reece at age six, was diagnosed with autism and Dale struggled to deal with his son’s mood swings and meltdowns, that is until he found an unusual method of calming him down.

Whenever Reece felt out of control, Dale would put on the Spidey suit and help his son with his homework, play soccer with him or even read a book to him.

Here’s what Dale said according to VT:

“I first started dressing up as Spider-Man as a way to calm Reece down. He would have really bad meltdowns which resulted in non-stop crying.

“I’d tried everything to help him but nothing seemed to work. Then one day I walked into the living room and he was watching Spider-Man and he was so engrossed.

“I bought this costume for £25 ($33) and decided I was going to wear it when I went to pick Reece up from school.

“When I turned up in full costume, the reaction from all the kids was crazy. Reece didn’t realise it was me at first, but when he clicked, he couldn’t believe it.

“For a while, he didn’t really grasp the fact that I was his dad and Spider-Man as well, but now he does and he thinks what I do is amazing.

“There was a time when Reece came home from school and was really upset, he was crying a lot and took himself upstairs to bed and wouldn’t let me talk to him.

“When he’s in meltdown mode it can be really hard to get through to him; he enters his own world and you have to say and do all the right things to help or it just gets worse.

“So I got the Spider-Man suit on and made a super-appearance into the bedroom. It made him laugh but then he started crying again.

“I started doing some silly dances and asked him to join in and he found it really funny and decided to get his Stormtrooper outfit on and join me.

“Eventually I was able to persuade him to come downstairs and we switched on the PlayStation and spent a good hour doing some goofy dances together. He was so much happier afterwards.”

Dale has also set up his own company called “Spidey-Tastic,” where he entertains children at parties and events. “It’s been an awesome adventure so far and one that’s really starting to become incredible now,” he quipped.

Check out his interview below courtesy of Caters Clips: