Lookout | 22 years, he let the "children of distant stars" see the light

Up to now, the center has accumulated 11,000 rehabilitation training cases for autistic children, and more than 20 research and development projects around the core disorders of autistic children

"We don't actively follow our graduated children, we don't even want to see them again, all we can do is bless them in our hearts." Because those 'missing' children have got rid of the shadow of autism and lived their own wonderful lives. ”

Wen | Liang Jie, a reporter for the news weekly "Lookout"

Pronunciation, imitation, simple conversational communication... These seemingly mundane actions and communications may take months or even years for autistic people to learn.

In 2000, Zhang Yuanping, who was still teaching at a university, came into contact with the first child with autism. In the face of this disease that has not been traced back and completely cured so far, he has used 22 years of exploration and persistence to build a bridge of hope for these "children of distant stars" to return to ordinary life.

Tianjin Hexi District No. 8 Kindergarten, autistic children in the company of "shadow teachers" to participate in kindergarten learning life Photo courtesy of the interviewee

"I became his friend"

"What's your name?"

In a slightly long few minutes, Zhang Yuanping repeatedly asked the child named Ning Ning in front of him. Even though he kept changing his tone and expression, Ning Ning still stared at a corner of the room without any reaction. Zhang Yuanping did not understand why such a cute little boy from Yuxue was so difficult to communicate with people, and even could not look at each other.

It was an afternoon in 2000, and Zhang Yuanping, chairman of the Tianjin Yitong Autism Research Service Center, was exposed to autistic children for the first time.

In 1992, Zhang Yuanping graduated from Beijing Normal University majoring in education, engaged in the teaching and scientific research of child psychology in Tianjin Normal University, and devoted himself to the treatment of children's psychological and behavioral problems based on mental development, ADHD, social disorders, learning disabilities and other issues.

"At that time, very little was known about autism, and there was basically nothing in the literature." Facing Ning Ning, Zhang Yuanping felt very embarrassed. In the end, it was the child's mother who decided to rehabilitate Ning Ning. "The child is only 4 years old, his mother's hair is actually gray, and the fear, anxiety and helplessness in his eyes are like a drowning person, grabbing a straw and begging for help." Recalling the scene at that time, Zhang Yuanping's mood is still difficult to calm down.

Without ready-made experience, I look for professional books to seek; I don't know why the child loses his temper, so I slowly observe and analyze. Zhang Yuanping found that Ning Ning did not express his needs like ordinary children, and would scream when his needs were not met. "If he wants to snack, I will raise things high, create an opportunity for communication, crying, making trouble is useless, I have to induce him to say the word 'want', not a word." 」

Two months later, Zhang Yuanping was pleasantly surprised to find that "the child has eyes, his emotional problems have improved, and he can still play with me with plasticine for a while, and I have become his friend." Three months later, Ning Ning's mother called and cried silently, "Teacher Zhang, my child will call mom, this is the first time the child was born to the present." Hearing this good news, Zhang Yuanping on the other end of the phone also choked up excitedly.

"Research Leads to Rehabilitation"

Ning Ning's rehabilitation training came to an end, and Zhang Yuanping thought that he would return to the previous teaching life track. Unexpectedly, more and more parents of children with autism came to ask for help.

Zhang Yuanping told reporters: "Autism is not a rare disease, but an unfortunate experience that really occurs in many families. "From the perspective of the individual development of autism, the plasticity of the brain at different stages is also different. In the sensitive period of brain development from 2 to 6 years old, appropriate intervention in autistic children can not only improve behavior, but also have a multiplier effect on their subsequent social, language and other abilities.

In order to focus on the early rehabilitation of autistic children, in 2002, Zhang Yuanping quit his job and borrowed a classroom in a kindergarten to begin the exploration of rehabilitation training for autistic children. "The idea at that time was very simple, that is, I wanted to use my profession to solve some practical problems for these children and families."

When there were more and more cases of contact, Zhang Yuanping found that unlike other children with mental illness, the situation of children with autism varied widely. "Some children will hate a certain color of light and scream when turned on; some children will always be normal and will never speak again because their parents did not pick him up on time."

Because of the difference in the child's situation, and because the domestic autism rehabilitation training was almost blank at that time, Zhang Yuanping established the value system of "scientific research leading rehabilitation" at the beginning. Zhang Yuanping said that the rehabilitation of autistic children requires great love, more scientific and rigorous technology and methods, and needs to find the most suitable rehabilitation path through a large number of case records, analysis and research. Zhang Yuanping asked the team to conduct a case analysis and case reserve for each child who came to rehabilitation training, one of whom was a child with autism and schizophrenia, and in just one week, Zhang Yuanping wrote tens of thousands of words of case analysis.

Although children with autism may be accompanied by a variety of comorbidities such as sensory dysregulation and eating disorders, the core disorders are consistent. In order to intervene efficiently, "we spent 5 years developing language courses alone. The curriculum design in the four steps of objectives, content, tools and assessment all introduces experiments from the standard and control groups to compare data to ensure that the intervention meets the intended objectives. Zhang Yuanping said.

Up to now, the center has accumulated 11,000 rehabilitation training cases and more than 20 research and development projects around the core disorders of children with autism. "It is equivalent to building your own retrieval system, which can correspond to the characteristics of children and accurately and efficiently formulate rehabilitation training plans." Zhang Yuanping said.

For Zhang Yuanping, "scientific research leads to rehabilitation" also means helping children outside the center get out of difficulties. Since 2012, the Center has jointly carried out research with Tianjin Normal University, Nankai University and other universities, and co-published papers on "The Effect of Turn-based Teaching Method on The Effect of Vocabulary Acquisition in Children with Autism in Children Aged 3-6" and "Visual Attention of Children with Autism Spectrum", which provides a basis for the design of rehabilitation programs for more children with autism.

"Returning to normal is success"

At the end of 2018, Tao Siliang, president of beijing Aier Charity Foundation, and his party came to Tianjin to investigate, and in a class of the eighth kindergarten in Hexi District, Tianjin, Zhang Yuanping said: "There are three autistic children in the class who integrate with the class, guess which three? ”

In the classroom, the little children look so cute and ordinary. The group guessed several times without guessing correctly.

"It was the proudest moment of my career." Zhang Yuanping said that when watching the children's situation improve, smoothly integrate into general education, and live a life that is infinitely close to a healthy person, they will feel the value and success of the profession.

Entering a rehabilitation training institution and becoming an ordinary child in the crowd is the wish of every parent and rehabilitation trainer of a lonely child. This desire depends on the support of the family, institutions and society.

"The most important thing is to intervene early. Children with autism, 3 and 5 years old receiving rehabilitation training, can be two completely different outcomes. Zhang Yuanping said that he has seen too many "missed" children, "when the child reaches the age of 7, the plasticity of the brain will become smaller, the recovery will miss the golden period, and the effect will be greatly reduced." By the time you reach your teens, your intellectual development will not grow much. ”

Training for parents is equally important. In addition to the regular home intervention experience sharing sessions for parents, in order to allow parents to breathe briefly, the center will also regularly hold "respite days" activities - parents participate in theme tea parties together, do psychological development and stress reduction games, "although it can only relax for a while, but it is also a comfort and encouragement for them." Zhang Yuanping said.

Zhao Jiayi is a rehabilitation trainer at the center, and in the past few years, she has taken her children out of the house and the rehabilitation center and seen many different things - picking things in the supermarket, rolling on the grass on the farm... Firefighters and police officers will also come to the center to let children feel a different world through the form of science popularization.

"Admission is to graduate, this is director Zhang's words." Zhao Jiayi said, "In addition to being able to smoothly integrate into ordinary kindergartens and schools, the ultimate goal of 'graduation' is for children to be able to integrate into social life in the future." ”

In the course of the interview, talking about the children he has met in the past 20 years, Zhang Yuanping's story is almost always seven or eight years old, and the only big child is still the first two years before receiving the news - the boy who was only 4 years old when he first met has successfully graduated from Tianjin Polytechnic University.

"We don't actively follow our graduated children, we don't even want to see them again, all we can do is bless them in our hearts." Because those 'missing' children have got rid of the shadow of autism and lived their own wonderful lives. ”■