Health Times reporter Wang Aibing
"You sit down obediently, and then clap your hands to show the teacher." On March 26, at the Rainbow Village Rehabilitation Center in Beijing's Chaoyang District, a number of autistic children were conducting their monthly "big pass" according to the usual routine. These children are autistic children aged 2-7, and the simplest behaviors of sitting in front of the teacher, looking into the teacher's eyes, listening to the teacher, etc., are mountains after mountains for them.
In the monthly "Big Pass" exam, teachers take autistic children to review what they have learned this month. Photo by Wang Aibing.
Rong Xuexian, founder of Rainbow Village Rehabilitation Center, told People's Daily Health Client reporter, "We hope to create a miniature society for these autistic children, so that one day in the future, they can better integrate into society and live ordinary lives." ”
"Living the life of ordinary people is their good wish"
When Wang Yishuang, a teacher at Rainbow Village, first met Xiaoxiao (pseudonym), he was just six years and six months old, "He was completely unable to concentrate, talking to him, his eyes could never focus on us, and there were some throwing behaviors." Wang Yishuang recalled that after our evaluation, we found that his ability was only equivalent to that of a 31-month-old child at that time, but his biological age was 78 months.
"At the beginning of class, he couldn't sit in his seat at all, he kept running around, what he wanted to do in the classroom, the teacher asked him to do some tasks, he couldn't complete them, he didn't interact with his classmates, he didn't pay attention to anyone or anything." Wang Yishuang said that after our 3 months of systematic intensive intervention, just last month, when he "broke through", he completed one pass after another very well, and after receiving the affirmation of the teachers, he also looked at his father proudly, and the eyes of the teachers present were moist, because for children with autism, this is already a very big improvement.
In the monthly "Big Pass" exam, teachers take autistic children to review what they have learned this month. Photo by Wang Aibing.
"We are committed to creating immersive real-world teaching, hoping to create a micro-society for children with autism"
"It is said that there is no cure for autism, and the disorder will accompany the spectrum for life. Therefore, it is our good wish to be able to be less dependent on parents or shadow teachers and independently complete some basic social behaviors. Rong Xuexian told reporters that what Rainbow Village wants to do and is doing is to exercise and improve their ability, we are making every effort to create a micro-society including schools, restaurants, barbershops, hospitals and other social scenes in the campus, and hold a public welfare integration market open to the whole society every month, so that genealogical children can experience social relationships, understand social rules, and exercise social communication skills in an absolutely safe and inclusive environment, under the guidance of professional teachers, through immersive real-world teaching. Apply the knowledge and skills learned in desktop teaching, hoping that they can truly integrate into society.
At the monthly public welfare integration market in Rainbow Village, kindergarten children came to participate in integrated education. Photo by Wang Aibing
Ma Li, who has been working in the Rainbow Village Rehabilitation Center for 10 years, said that the Rainbow Village Rehabilitation Center was established in December 2012, mainly providing rehabilitation services for children aged 2-7 with autism (autism) and developmental delays. The center is a non-profit rehabilitation training institution for autistic children approved by the Beijing Chaoyang District Disabled Persons' Federation and registered with the Beijing Chaoyang District Civil Affairs Bureau, and is a designated institution for the rehabilitation of autistic children approved by the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation. Over the past 10 years since its establishment, it has provided effective rehabilitation interventions to more than 900 children, and most of them have successfully entered kindergartens and general primary schools.
The People's Daily health client reporter saw at the scene that the spacious teaching building contains traffic light signs, immersive music classrooms, supermarkets, hospitals, barbershops, bookstores and other settings, like a miniature society, in the playground in front of the teaching building, a lively market is also open, children who have just finished the big breakthrough, can take the rewards they won to exchange their favorite items in the market, participate in hoops, shooting and kicking keys and other puzzle games.
Considering that children with autism are more likely to understand visual information, the Rainbow Village system arranges the learning environment and labels the route with color. Photo by Wang Aibing
At the same time, the donation ceremony of Ai Xing Bakery House, Boai Forest Music House, Jingshun Yueyou Hospital, Love Step Library and Blue Sky Supermarket was also successfully held, and these real-life classrooms were donated by various teams of the Beijing Representative Office of China Lion Federation, which are being used as an important support for immersive real-world teaching, open to autistic children to help them better understand and integrate into society.
Children and parents in Rainbow Village make rice balls at the Ai Xing Bakery to celebrate the Lantern Festival, photo courtesy of interviewee
On the morning of March 26, the signing ceremony of the donation of classrooms for the integration and co-construction of China Lion Federation and Rainbow Village was also held in Rainbow Village.
"The reason why we donate these classrooms is to enrich this micro-society with Rainbow Village, create an all-round integrated teaching environment for children of the spectrum, and help them integrate into society faster and better, and lead ordinary lives." Zhang Ziqi, representative of the Beijing Representative Office of China Lion Union, told reporters that we hope to build a large-scale immersive experience education base based on the advantages of the strong professionalism of the Rainbow teaching team and the rich resources of the teaching venue, which is open to the whole society, so that high-quality education and rehabilitation resources can benefit more children and families.
When the reporter saw the smile in the rainbow village, his eyes could always follow the teacher, and he could follow the teacher wherever he went, and he could cooperate well with the teacher, answer the teacher's questions, and slowly began to have some interaction with the classmates. "Although I don't know very well with a smile and a little shyness, I can already greet us and laugh with us when I come to school every day, and I can sit still and follow the teacher to complete a whole lesson, and I have achieved great results, and the future will definitely be better." Wang Yishuang said proudly.
Older children with autism need more attention
Smiling is lucky to have scientific intervention at the right age. In the hearts of Rong Xuexian, Li Yeqiu and Zhang Ziqi, vice presidents of the Qinhuangdao Harbor District Disabled Persons' Federation, there is another group that they are also very concerned about: "The elderly mentally handicapped group urgently needs everyone's attention." Ma Li said that they are already facing the embarrassing situation of having nowhere to go to school, unable to enjoy a normal social life, and urgently need to receive life ability training, vocational skills training and employment guidance.
Five years ago, many parents of older autistic children came to the Qinhuangdao Haigang District Disabled Persons' Federation and found Li Yeqiu for help, "Our children didn't know that it was autism when they were young, they just thought they were 'problematic' children, and they didn't have the opportunity to give them good treatment at the right age. This is what Li Yeqiu hears most often, and it hurts him the most, so from that time on, in addition to providing training for school-age autistic children, he also tried his best to do something for older autistic people. However, Qinhuangdao's conditions and resources are very limited, and the strategic cooperation agreement signed with Rainbow Village Rehabilitation Center is to introduce its advanced teaching concepts, intervention technologies and other teaching resources to Qinhuangdao.
Rong Xuexian also told reporters, "We are vigorously expanding vocational training and transfer work for older mentally disabled groups, and as part of the "special needs families with special needs and elderly and disabled co-care" project, we were selected as the People's Daily People's Livelihood Weekly 2022 People's Livelihood Demonstration Project." We hope that through our tireless efforts, this special needs group will not only acquire social adaptability, but also develop the necessary social survival skills to help them live independently and with dignity in society. ”