Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has received an outpouring of support after posting a touching video on Instagram showing him teaching his autistic son, Aiden. The clip, which captures Scholes encouraging Aiden to identify animals and colours, was captioned: 'Always learning my clever boy.'
Scholes, 50, revealed last month that he had stepped back from live television work to accommodate Aiden's routine. Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, he explained: 'Everything I'm going to do now just works around him. I do studio work, but everything is built around his day.' He added that Aiden, 20, would become agitated when his routine was disrupted, leading to behaviours such as biting and scratching.
The former England international initially kept his son's diagnosis private during his playing career but has been overwhelmed by the positive response to his openness. 'I was blown away by the reaction,' he said. 'I thought it was just to talk about football, and we ended up talking about Aiden for 20 or 30 minutes.'
Among those commenting on the video was comedian Paddy McGuinness, who wrote: 'Beautiful to see.' Fans also expressed gratitude, with one writing: '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.' Another said: 'You don't know how much these videos help people.'
Scholes's daughter, Alicia, also paid tribute to her father following his podcast appearance, praising his dedication as a parent alongside his football career. She wrote on Instagram: 'My whole life your priority has always been being my dad... To achieve all you did takes so much sacrifice and somehow I still had you to take me to school every morning.'
