Autism in China 中國自閉症大全
| Who are we | News
| History | Government | NGO | Contact Us | 中文
|
|World Autism Awareness Day in China| 2012 WAAD Chinese|
Index
> Guangzhou
>
The Status of Autism Rehabilitation Training in
Guangzhou, China
http://www.autismaroundtheglobe.org/countries/China.asp
Article written by Sau-ying
Yu and translated into English by the NLM Family Foundation
Due to the scarcity of literature on autism
rehabilitation education and training in Mainland China, I must resort to my
limited personal experiences (from the years 2000 to 2011) to describe the
status of autism treatment in Guangzhou. Please note that inevitably there will
be errors and omissions. According to the Guangdong Autism Rehabilitation
Resource Guide published in March 2009 by the Guangzhou Organizing
Committee of World Autism Awareness Day, there are only about 100 institutions
in the Guangdong province that provide early training services for autism. As
far as I know, autism rehabilitation for adults is still relatively unchartered
territory in Guangzhou City and most of the institutions that provide early
rehabilitation services are private non-profit enterprises (
PNPE). Only one institution, the Kangna School
(previously known as Guangzhou Children's Autism Rehabilitation and Research
Center) is directly operated by the government.
PNPEs are all confronted with the following issues:
- Although the
government’s regulations for registering PNPEs are taking shape and
temporary guidance is being provided, there is still a lot of grey area.
For instance, it is not clear which governing body is in charge of PNPEs
for autism. Is it the Civil Service Department? Or the Education
Department? Or the Department of Health? Or the Disabled Persons’
Federation? Or the Department of Industry and Commerce? It remains
unclear. As a result, even now some autism PNPEs have
not been formally registered. Only a few have managed to obtain
acknowledgement of governance from the Civil Service or Disabled Persons’
Federation and become legally registered as PNPEs.
- In response to the
severe scarcity of early autism rehabilitation services, the PNPEs which
are not officially registered assume the task of community rehabilitation.
These PNPEs are mainly organized by parents of children with autism.
Because the districts are not able to meet the demands of these autistic
children, they are pleased to see the efforts of parents and seldom
interfere.
- The qualifications
of teachers vary tremendously. Because PNPE employees are not well-paid
and handle heavy workloads, PNPEs often fail to recruit instructors, early
childhood educators, therapists, and nurses with undergraduate degrees or
general normal education diplomas. Even organizations that manage to
recruit qualified employees find it difficult to retain them for extended
periods of time. Small or financially-strained PNPEs are only able to
employ those with no formal normal education or miscellaneous backgrounds.
These employees generally lack basic knowledge about autism prior to
employment. Once employed, they are not given adequate training and are
therefore unable to meet the rehabilitation and education needs of the
children with autism.
- Because some
frontline employees work with autistic children with severe issues (severe
behavior problems, physical disabilities, sensory integration dysfunction,
allergies, and malnutrition issues) over a long period of time, they are
often at their wits’ end. When it becomes obvious that their short-term
training has been insufficient and ineffective, these employees lose their
motivation. As a result, there is a high rate of attrition. Often these
employees leave and switch to another line of work or senior employees are
“poached” by better PNPEs.
- Many founders of
these PNPEs for autism are parents of autistic children and other
enthusiastic volunteers who lack knowledge of institutional operation and
scientific management. The leaders of these PNPEs usually lack knowledge
of the following critical areas: security design, nutrition, curriculum
design, employee training, recruitment
evaluation, quality of training, parent education, social integration, and
community outreach.
- Another problem for
PNPEs for children with autism is that their student population is
unstable which can lead to financial difficulty for the organization. This
is mainly because parents come into contact with different PNPEs at the
same time, compare the performance of the PNPEs, and later leave one PNPE
for a better-performing PNPE . Other families are
forced to move to other districts due to changes in parents’ work location
and sometimes financially-disadvantaged families become unable to afford
the exorbitant fees (fees range from 1,000 to 3,000 Chinese yuan). In addition, PNPEs have to cope with rising
costs, such as rent, employee salaries, social security, and other fixed
energy and tax fees in Guangzhou. This results in some PNPEs experiencing
constant financial struggle.
- As a result of the
aforementioned financial challenges of the PNPEs, their sites lack proper
maintenance and upgrading, and their employees, often in deflated spirits,
tend to be lured away by other PNPEs offering higher salaries. All of this
gives rise to undesirable phenomena such as unhealthy competition between
PNPEs and “poaching” of each other's students.
- The variety of
techniques currently offered here in the education and rehabilitation of
children with autism is inadequate. Currently PNPEs for autistic children
are still focused on applying structured teaching using the TEACCH Method.
Other intervention models and techniques have yet to be explored here.
Even if PNPEs wanted to apply different intervention and teaching models
(for example, ABA, sensory integration therapy, multisensory therapy,
music therapy, Floortime, sand play therapy, and
art therapy), they lack the qualified professionals to do so.
- The transitional
space for autistic children is not sufficient. Some children with autism
show remarkable improvements after early intervention and should attend
mainstream kindergarten or elementary education institutions.
Unfortunately, however, they do not because many have behavior
difficulties (interpersonal challenges, communication difficulties, or
other “weird” behaviors) and teachers in mainstream classrooms lack the
necessary knowledge and support to teach students with special learning
needs. Despite the integrated education policy for learning in regular
classes, autistic children are often refused by mainstream education
institutions. Only one school, the Kangna
School, is exclusively open to autistic children in Guangzhou. It accepts
merely twenty students every year (according to statistics from 2010), far
from enough to meet the demands.
- Home schooling, a
model for parents to educate autistic children at home, can play an
important role in the growth of autistic children. As home schooling is
still a relatively new concept in Guangzhou, there have only been a few
practices that have been successful in promoting home schooling. These
include Yilin in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Humiao School in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, and the
Louis Program in Hong Kong.
- The level of social
integration of individuals with autism and level of public awareness of
autism in Guangzhou are far from satisfactory. Outside of PNPEs and homes,
autistic children need understanding, support and tolerance from greater
society to achieve positive results in their education, rehabilitation,
and growth.
Sau-ying Yu
Founder/Chairman, Autism Hong Kong
2011
About the author: Sau-ying Yu, founder and chairman of Autism Hong Kong, is a
registered social worker in Hong Kong with 26 years of social work experience. Sau-ying Yu is committed to working with disabled adults
and in recent years has focused on promoting the movement of annual World
Autism Awareness Day in Hong Kong and Guangdong province.
This article is based on
the author's talk given in August 2009 at the Seminar on Social Services in
Hong Kong Council of Social Service and Guangdong held by the Hong Kong Council
of Social Service and the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Guangdong province. This
article is an excerpt from the author's contribution to the Seminar.
(End)
Index
> Guangzhou >
Contact Us 联絡我們
© November 2010-October 31, 2011 版权属于『中国自闭症大全』及 余秀萤 Copyright:『Autism-in-China』 Yu Sau-ying
版权所有、不得翻印 更新日期 Updated October 31, 2011 ; Mother Organization: www.autism.hk/
China Hotline:
(86) 131-8912-8454
Email Us at联络电邮:info@autism-in-china.org / autismhk@ymail.com / autismhk@126.com
HK Fax传真电话:(+852) 3020-6276 / HK Pager网站传呼电话:(+852) 7102-7454
除注明版权持有人所有文本外,本站所有的文本内容在GNU自由文档许可证下发布。
Except
text with copyright owned by other parties, text of
this website is available under GNU Free
Documentation
重要声明:本网站内容纯属网主个人意见及创作,并不代表本网站内题及的任何机构及组织。
The views expressed in this website are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the organizations mentioned in this website.