On December 12, in Wenjiang, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, a video of a father selling toys in a square with his son suddenly caught fire.
In the video, the father constantly guides and encourages his son to communicate with strangers. The father held up the camera, far and near, like carrying a line to carefully pull the kite, so that countless netizens instantly broke the defense.
Screenshot of a video of a father taking his son to sell toys
The Red Star News reporter learned that 13-year-old Xuan Xuan is an autistic teenager. Any small thing in life requires him to pay a lot of time, such as: 5 years old to learn to call Dad, 6 years old to learn to call Mom, 8 years to learn to brush teeth and wash face, 9 years to learn to wear clothes, shoes and socks, 10 years to learn to go to the toilet independently...
Daddy and Xuanxuan
Every morning, Dad Gan qiang would hand a broom and dustpan to his son Xuanxuan's hand and let his son sweep the peels of the confetti on the ground together. This is a fixed training content for his son. Xuan Xuan needs to control the power of his hands as much as possible to complete the cleaning action.
Seemingly simple actions, Xuan Xuan still needed a few minutes to complete, and sometimes even needed to be assisted by Mr. Gan personally holding Xuan Xuan's hand.
"Great! Great! That's it! "Mr. Gan will give praise and encouragement to his son's feedback in a timely manner." At this time, there is always a glimmer of joy in the son's wandering eyes. This is the 45-year-old Gan Qiang's 13th year as a father and the 13th year he has accompanied his son.
Couples are heartbroken
My son has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy since he was a few months old...
Autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, thalassemia, children encounter any of them, the family is difficult to bear. But 13 years ago, these "misfortunes" all fell on a Chengdu boy named Xuanxuan.
In 2008, Xuan Xuan was born. The arrival of the little baby filled this ordinary family with happiness and laughter. However, when Xuan Xuan was three months old, everyone found that his little hands were always tightly clasped, his neck could not stand up, his eyes were frozen, and he did not cry like other babies.
Xuan Xuan's overly "well-behaved" appearance made the family begin to perceive that something was wrong. Gan Qiang recalled that the couple had vaguely felt the problem in their hearts. The couple bought professional medical books and ruled out articles explaining autism and cerebral palsy over and over again. "This one may be a bit like that, that one is not, Xuan Xuan is not like this." The book is full of circles and forks, and the couple desperately wants to find evidence that Xuan Xuan is not ill.
But the reality is that Xuanxuan, who is a few months old, does have different performances from babies of the same age. Gan Qiang still decided to take his son to the hospital for examination. Eventually, Xuan Xuan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Although I had prepared in my heart, the moment I knew the news was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, full of torment and despair.
Next, at the age of 1 and a half, Xuan Xuan was diagnosed with autism again. Before long, the child's epilepsy began to have seizures, and he would have seizures for half an hour every day. During this time, every few seconds, Xuan Xuan's small body would continue to convulse. Whenever this happened, Xuan Xuan's parents couldn't stop crying. Desperately, at the age of 7, Xuan Xuan was diagnosed with "thalassemia".
The whole family is on the battlefield
Fathers found that music therapy helped with autism recovery
The illness affected Xuan Xuan's upbringing and his entire family. 1 and a half years old can not speak, eat can not chew, no eye contact, serious emotions, often tantrums, stereotypical behavior, easy to be manic and restless, can not be well expressed in words...
The child was so young, he was entangled in this variety of diseases, and the photos of his early childhood were pasted on the disabled card, which made it difficult for the strong to bear, and Xuanxuan's mother never smiled again.
Xuan xuan's illness is complex, the cost of treatment is quite high, in order to give Xuan Xuan a better treatment condition, Gan Qiang went to Chongqing alone to work, eat the worst meals, live in the worst place, and earn money for his son to treat the disease. Xuanxuan's mother worked two part-time jobs in Chengdu, non-stop.
Dad took Xuan Xuan for rehabilitation training
Grandma also joined in, giving up work to bring Xuan Xuan to recover. She does not believe that "a family will not gain anything by working hard.".
Later, Gan Qiang checked the information on the Internet and found that music therapy would help the rehabilitation of autism. So when Xuan Xuan was five years old, he decided to let Xuan Xuan start to touch the piano. But this decision also made them encounter a problem - cerebral palsy made Xuan Xuan's fist-clenched hand unable to open at all, nor could he press the keys.
In order to make Xuan Xuan learn to play the piano, Xuan Xuan's grandmother spent more than half a year training Xuan Xuan's fingers one by one, and then playing the piano one by one. Although the process of learning the piano is full of hardships, under the company and guidance of his family, Xuan Xuan has gradually developed a strong interest in the piano.
The dawn is finally dawning
Gan Qiang resigned to become a full-time dad
The son reached the tenth grade of amateur piano at the age of 10
After several years of hard work, the family has accumulated some savings, considering the hard work of taking care of the children and the mother's age, three years ago, Gan Qiang resigned and returned home as a full-time father.
In order to improve Xuan Xuan's social skills, every time Gan Qiang takes his child out to meet other children, he will let Xuan Xuan open his mouth and teach him to shake hands and high-fives. In this way, children can communicate with others.
Xuan Xuan would not look at each other, and Qian Qiang would often hold Xuan Xuan's face, let him look at himself, no matter what he said, try to let Xuan Xuan look at him and say. Xuan Xuan couldn't speak clearly, so He learned from his mother to let his children blow candles and go to the roof to practice speaking, "Ah, ah, ah..."
Sometimes, Xuan Xuan also had emotions, breaking the objects around him, even hitting the wall with his head, grabbing himself with his hands to get blood, and roaring and screaming uncontrollably. At first, Gan Qiang was helpless and could only hug him tightly. Later, Gan Qiang learned to relieve the child's emotions by diverting the child's attention or taking Xuan Xuan out to play.
Dad took Xuan Xuan to learn rock climbing
Through the joint efforts of the whole family, Xuan xuan's autism has slowly improved. The restless Xuan Xuan could quiet down under the melody of the piano, and his fingers became more and more flexible. In 2018, Xuanxuan, who was only 10 years old, also passed the piano amateur level 10 exam.
This achievement is indeed not easy to come by. Gan Qiang introduced, because of autism, seemingly simple small things in life, for the son to take a long time to learn.
Previously, Xuan Xuan had been asserted by the doctor that he had basically lost his language ability, but in the word-by-word dialogue training, he learned to actively express his emotions, his speech slowly became clear, and the frequency of seizures was greatly reduced.
Dad taught Xuan Xuan to take pictures
Looking forward to the future
"Just be his father alone, hoping that his son will live on his own"
Children's social skills are equally important than mastering the necessary life skills. On December 12, a video of Gan Qiang and his son selling toys in a square in Chengdu's Wenjiang District attracted a large number of netizens.
Dad took Xuan Xuan to sell things
In the video, Gan Qiang constantly guides and encourages Xuan Xuan to communicate with strangers. Xuan Xuan was also very polite throughout the whole process, and when he was rejected, he was able to calm down without emotional explosion; when he sold the toy, he would show a happy smile and a glow in his eyes.
"Let him learn to buy and sell things, which is a skill that must be mastered to integrate into society." Only going out to contact a complete stranger and making him feel the variety of life is also a process that must be experienced. Speaking of the reasons, Gan Qiang feels that only in this way can his children experience the real environment of integration into society. It is understood that such training will be carried out every week, as long as there is time, Gan Qiang will bring Xuan Xuan to the square and spend an hour or two selling things.
The 13-year-old Xuan Xuan is now very tall and is about to catch up with his father. In the video, Gan Qiang holds up the camera, far and near, like carrying a line to carefully pull a kite, such a picture makes countless strange netizens break through the defense in an instant. The child is getting older, and Gan Qiang's sideburns are becoming more and more gray, although Xuan Xuan has achieved some gains, but Gan Qiang feels that it is not enough. On the contrary, the sense of urgency in his heart became stronger and stronger, constantly driving him to speed up his pace.
"Xuan Xuan is my only son, and I don't plan to regenerate in the future, so I will be his father alone." Gan Qiang said that what he wants now is to let his children learn the skills of living alone as soon as possible, learn how to communicate with strangers, and master the methods of controlling emotions, so that when he and the elderly can no longer take care of their sons, he can also survive on his own.
Source: Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News reporter Dai Jiajia Provided by the interviewee