Paul Scholes quit his commentating job earlier this year to maintain a consistent routine for his autistic son. The Manchester United icon is a father of three children in their 20s: Aaron, Alicia and Aiden.
Diagnosed with autism in childhood, Aiden is nonverbal and requires structured daily care, which has had a major impact on Scholes’ professional endeavors. Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, he said, “I made a decision this year because of Aiden, as some of you may know, obviously because of his special needs. He has a pretty strict routine every day, so all the work I’m doing right now is just around his routine. So I decided that everything I’m going to do is going to be centered around Aiden.”
The former midfielder continued: “Since I’m not with Claire anymore, I leave him for three nights at a time and Claire’s mother leaves him on Friday nights. He doesn’t know the day of the week or the time, so we always do the same thing with him.”
“But he knows what day it is by what we do. Every Tuesday I pick him up from daycare and we go swimming. He loves swimming and we eat pizza on the way home.”
“On Thursday I pick him up, we go get something to eat and we go home. On Sunday I pick him up at Clare’s house and we go to Tesco where he buys a trolley full of chocolates. So he doesn’t know what day it is or what time it is, but he knows what day it is from what we do. He’ll be 21 in December.”
Mr Scholes spoke about the severity of his son’s condition and revealed that Aiden communicates through sounds that only those closest to him can understand. He also opened up about how his child’s condition affected him throughout his playing career.
He said: “He would just get irritated and bite or scratch your arm because he didn’t understand things and couldn’t tell you how he felt. I wouldn’t walk away from that even when we were playing.”
“It was very painful at the time. It seems like years ago. I don’t think they (doctors) diagnosed them until they were two and a half years old. But they knew something was wrong early on and then they diagnosed them. I had never heard of that.”
“Then all of a sudden you start seeing everything. I don’t know if it’s consciously happening, I don’t know. I remember the first time I didn’t want to be there after playing away in Derby.”
“I actually remember my manager fired me a week later, but I didn’t tell anyone[about the diagnosis]. I ended up telling them a few weeks later. I think it was very difficult.”
Scholes recently revealed that his entire life revolves around his son’s needs, admitting that he gave up his commentary job because the change in routine became painful for Aiden. He explained: “Everything I’m going to do is just going to work around him, I’m doing some studio work as well, but it’s all built around his day.
“Last season it was a Thursday night and I was playing Man Utd’s Europa League and that was the night I usually had him so he was really excited and was biting and scratching. He knew that pattern wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.”
“And I’ve been doing that for years. I always thought I’ve got to stop doing this at some point. Then I had an opportunity to do a podcast and I thought it was a better fit for me. Well, not me, Aiden.”
