How to politely decline a playdate request

My son just completed 3rd grade. He goes to a really great school with small class sizes there are about 54 kids total in his grade level and it is a close knit community. We got an email from another parent of a child that was in his class this last year asking if our son would like to come over and have a playdate with their son. Well, my son absolutely does not want to go on this playdate. He is not friends with the boy. The thing is this boy is severely autistic and requires classroom aides at all times. I do not want to be rude to this boy or his parents though and have no idea what to do.On one hand I think it would be a nice gesture for him to suck it up and just do one playdate, but that of course will probably lead to more. Plus, he is so adamantly against it I worry he will have a bad attitude. To be honest, I can put myself in my son's shoes and I wouldn't want to do the playdate either. Please help me to do the right thing here. I don't want to be rude or hurt anybody's feelings. How should I respond to the email? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2sS1QJc