I wonder if the child actually has autism is just a budding sociopath.
You are a fool. Autism ranges from odd to dangerous. Not all dangerous are sociopaths.
Sociopaths do not have a conscience. Autistics have impulsivity and often mental retardation.
Even an autistic person knows how to avoid getting hurt. They can learn to associate hitting a baby with an azz kicking.
The problem is they get coddled and indulged too much. The parents want to mainstream them while hiding behind “He’s handicapped” when the kid messes up too much. The WORST thing you can do for an autistic child is let them get immersed in rapid brain technology and every autistic kid I know has an iPad to keep them “quiet”. It just feeds all the bad traits(anti-social, obsessive, improper brain transition)
I an Aspie and my saving grace was that I was obsessed with reading.