Paul Scholes has been inundated with support after sharing a touching video of him teaching his son. Scholes disclosed last month that he had quit live TV work to accommodate the routine of his autistic son, Aiden. The 50-year-old clarified that he could not disrupt a routine that he and his ex-wife Claire share, where they each separately care for Aiden, 20, three nights a week, with Claire’s mother taking over on the remaining night.
“Everything I’m going to do now just works around him,” he stated during an appearance on the Stick to Football podcast. “I do studio work, but everything is built around his day. Last season on Thursday nights I’d do the Europa League for Manchester United.
“That’s the night I’d usually have him, so he was getting all agitated, biting and scratching. He knows the pattern’s not there straight away.”
Scholes initially kept his son’s diagnosis under wraps during his playing career, but confessed earlier this month how surprised he has been by the response to his announcement.
“I was blown away by the reaction, really, and I don’t know how it happened, really,” he said. “I was just going there, and I thought it was just to talk about football, and we ended up talking about Aiden for 20 or 30 minutes.
“When the episode came out, I’d even forgot what I was really talking about, but the reaction to it was incredible.”
And now Scholes has garnered further backing after sharing an Instagram video of himself engaging with Aiden, in which he encourages him to identify various animals and colours.
The former United midfielder wrote alongside the clip: “Always learning my clever boy.”
In response, Paddy McGuinness commented: “Beautiful to see”, whilst a fan wrote: “How amazing by opening up about this part of your life brings hope, creates awareness and shows our children can live a full quality life whatever that looks like for them thank you.”
Another response said: “Yes Aidan! ! ! You don’t know how much these videos help people. You are amazing Paul.”
Meanwhile, a touching message stated: “Thank you Paul for what you’re doing and sharing this journey. Just starting my journey with my non verbal son and you will never understand how much it’s helping us all.”
Scholes hung up his boots in 2013 and his daughter, Alicia, penned her own moving tribute to her father following his Stick to Football appearance.
Writing on Instagram, she said: “God knows how hard that episode must’ve been! ! ! ! ! We love you so much.
“I’ve never known anyone hate talking about themself more than you and can only imagine how hard it was speaking about Aidie and the reality of a very, very hard situation.
“My whole life your priority has always been being my dad and growing up realising how hard you had to work everyday alongside that is something I can’t even comprehend.
“To achieve all you did takes so much sacrifice and somehow I still had you to take me to school every morning and there at the end of each day, so present in every aspect of my life!”