Dad invites 19 kids to his autistic son’s birthday party but is left heartbroken after only one came

A father was left heartbroken when only one child showed up to his autistic son’s sixth birthday party. 

David Chen, from Vancouver, planned a fun day at a huge indoor playground for his son Max and invited 19 children from his class at school. 

Leading up the the event the little boy was incredibly excited but on the day Mr Chen was devastated.  

‘My autism spectrum disorder kid is the different kid in the class. We invited all his classmates to his birthday party today and only one showed up,’ Mr Chen wrote on Twitter and posted a photo of an empty indoor playground. 

‘Difficult to explain to my kid and that kid’s mum that only one classmate came. Not making assumptions but still an empty feeling day.’ 

In the comments of the tweet Mr Chen said he had ‘no RSVP’s, just crickets’.  

‘I couldn’t back out and disappoint my kid and the one classmate who came,’ he said. 

‘Unfortunately, we got one person that said yes, two people that said no and 16 that didn’t say anything.’ 

Two weeks prior 16 of the 19 children invited attended another child’s birthday party, and so too did Max, making the situation more heartbreaking. 

Mr Chen’s tweet touched the heart of thousands so much so that Max was invited to soccer games, birthday parties and to ride in a police car with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police. Mr Chen also told Global News Canada some of the parents from Max’s class reached out to him claiming the email invite had been sent to the spam inbox and wasn’t seen (pictured: Max)

Mr Chen’s tweet touched the heart of thousands, so much so that Max was invited to soccer games, birthday parties and to ride in a police car with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police. 

The tweet received more than 7,000 likes and hundreds of comments from kind strangers. 

‘Brutal! That’s tough. Some people though, it’s like they never learn. As an autistic adult, I get it. I had kids in my class who never showed up when I was younger. Tell your kiddo he is cool and always,’ one person wrote. 

Another said: ‘Happy birthday to your child. For those of us who are different in any way, we cherish the friends who show up. He’s lucky to have you advocating for him.’ 

Mr Chen also told Global News Canada some of the parents from Max’s class reached out to him claiming the email invite had been sent to the spam inbox and wasn’t seen, which he said is ‘a fantastic start…We can learn from this.’ 

He also advocated for schools to have a fund for private class parties. 

‘Every child needs to be celebrated at least once by their daily peers. School is where friendships start and this rite of passage can hurt,’ he said.