Autistic boy starts Pay it Forward Facebook page and learns empathy

THERESA Nguyen was struggling to teach her autistic son compassion and empathy. In two years he has transformed and it’s all thanks to social media.

Joshua Tran, 12, started the Pay it Forward Sydney Facebook page to learn empathy and compassion. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

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THERESA Nguyen was struggling to teach her autistic son compassion and empathy. In two years he has transformed and it’s all thanks to social media.

Ms Nguyen created a Facebook page to help explain how Joshua can be part of a community and help others.

Fast forward a couple of years and Pay it Forward Sydney now has close to 5000 members sharing unwanted and preloved goods to those who need them.

They even collect tinned food donations and create hampers when “times are good” for their family and give them to others less fortunate.

Joshua, who was 10 at the time, created the rules for the page to make it fair for everyone.

“Joshua is very black and white and doesn’t like rule breakers. He says “you break the rules, bye”,” Ms Nguyen said.

Don’t be greedy. The items are there to help those who need them. Take what you need. And, be honest.

“He was great with giving away his unwanted items but when people arrived to pick them up he was afraid.”

Joshua Tran, 12. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

The page started after the family visited Liverpool to help feed the homeless.

“Joshua kept asking why we were only feeding them once a fortnight and wondering what happened on the other days ... surely they would be hungry on the other days,” she said.

“He started telling them to come to our place for a meal.”

Since starting the page, the Liverpool mum said Joshua’s communication skills had improved and he now proudly tells people about the page he started.

“He’s now gone to the other extreme where he’s always going through his things wanting to give them away.

“It has been challenging teaching him that when you give you don’t always have to get something back. I’ve taught him that we don’t judge and if the person or family is genuinely in need, we should help them.”

Ms Nguyen naively thought the Facebook page would only be small. “It was his way of learning to give to the community and meet people. We had no expectations,” she said.

She said there was a small team of other single mums who help moderate the page and ensure those in most need receive the items.

“I’ve been there. I know how hard it is.”

Now 12, Joshua Pran, who goes to Ajuga School in Glenfield said he “feels fuzzy inside helping others”.