Hi Angie and welcome.
It might help us if you tell us a bit more about him. Is he a bright kid or an average one? What sort of difficulties has he been having? When did you first notice he was a bit different to some of his peers?
You say "autism stage 1" is his diagnosis. If you mean autism 1 as defined by DSM 5 then it means he has either what used to be called Asperger's Syndrome or High Functioning Autism.
By definition it means he has a normal to high IQ and he is autistic. Autism is described as a "developmental disorder" which affects a person's sensory perception and social skills. It is not a learning disability though it often gets treated as one by less enlightened educators and psychologists.
Most of the membership here are either AS (Asperger's) or HFA (high functioning) so we should be able to help you with insight and to help make him feel less of an outsider
P.S. the video below of a talk by Tony Attwood, one of the leading clinical psychologists in this field may answer a lot of your questions. It's very informative and a good starting point. His book "The Complete. guide to Asperger's Syndrome" is a must-read too