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Xingxingyu: Boon for Families With Autistic Children
Xingxingyu (Star Rain) Education Institute for Autistic Children, or Xingxingyu for short, is playing an increasingly important role in helping families with autistic children.
Nearly 500 families with autistic children across China have benefited by Xingxingyu, which lies on the outskirts of Beijing, since it was founded in 1993 by Tian Huiping, whose 15-year-old son was diagnosed as profoundly autistic 11 years ago.
Up to now, 10 children who have gone through the school's short- term training programs have been accepted by normal schools and special schools, including Tian's son, who stayed at Xingxingyu for two years.
There are 600,000 Chinese diagnosed with autism, 500,000 of them are children. But other than Xingxingyu, there is no hospital on the Chinese mainland or other facility specializing in care of autistic children.
Tian said that her center does not attempt to cure children with autism. "The most we can hope for is to draw these special- needs pre-school children out of their own world into a normal reality," says Tian.
The facility enrolls special-needs children, aged between three and six, who work with their parents in 10-week training programs that cost 3,000 yuan (about US$361.5). It does not board students, so parents and children have to live outside the school, mostly renting housing from farmers nearby.
As a NGO, Xingxingyu is largely dependent on international donations, said Tian Huiping.
According to Tian, the waiting list is so long that some parents will have to wait until 2003 to get help for their children. "Some of them want to come back for a second training program," said Tian.
Other parents who cannot wait have invited teachers from Xingxingyu to their homes to give lectures on the special therapy advocated by the school.
Encouraged by the success of Xingxingyu, Tian is considering opening a training program for teenage children with autism and their parents.
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