I think its great you want to be this persons friend.
My son has PDD , the label is gone now. As he was so high functioning.
I wanted to say the ppl in his life who took the time to be his friend made a huge difference in his life.
I think more than anything if sometimes its not that they have a hard time making friends .Its that they are so afraid ppl will not except them for who they are.
Of course this is just coming from me whos child was and i am blessed ((he was high functioning)) but was not at the beginning.
There were I think 4 ppl who made a huge difference in his life. One when he was in kindergarden. Sounds silly., But this little girl understood almost every thing he said. No one knew how??? she spoke for him to the teacher . It was amazing..he still remembers her.
Next was a man i knew who owned a biz i dealt with. He would spend at least a hour every day with him. WHile i was working.He treated him like a normal child,. Even thou he never had a clue what my son was saying. P.S. he can talk now np
Next was my best friend . Who let him set up her dish displays with out worry. He did this every weeeked, over and over
I m rambeling Im sorry.

What im trying to say is yes,. Be a friend to this child and his Mom. Bless you for doing that. Sorry i went on.
I accepted it right away , thats just me. My mom his grandmother Never did .
good luck to you and this child
as i said sorry for going on