“I figured the boy was scared and didn’t want to go out in front of all those people on a stage.”
Just the opposite, probably. The kid was making quite the spectacle in the audience, standing up and yelling, “That’s my dad!” Not shy.
Was he really? I didn’t know that! I don’t know exactly what the nature of this kid’s disability is, but I have seen some that used to come in to where I worked with their parents and the kids would sometimes throw fits almost to the point of puking when being made to do something. They couldn’t help it though.