In China, parents struggle to help their children with autism

From Xinhua in China:

BEIJING -- In an outdoor gym class in Beijing, parents are holding their young ones' arms helping them follow the teacher's moves. None of the autistic kids are focusing on the teacher as they move awkwardly -- gently pulled this way and that by their parents.

In this nursery mainly for autistic children, parents accompany their kids all day long. Autism is a neural disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and repetitive behavior.

The nursery belongs to the public-funded Beijing Chaoyang Anhua Intelligence Training School, where about one third of the 165 students suffer from autism.

Since there are no public schools specifically for autistic children, these kids are taught together with others who are mentally challenged.

When the kids are taking a nap at noon, Liu Jianhua, a 40-year-old father, is wiping his son's classroom floor and tidying up the toys. He volunteers his work. He takes turns with his wife to look after his son.

"Now I'm pleased to see that my boy wants to hug his Daddy occasionally, but before attending the school he treated me just like another person," he says. His 5-year-old boy, Liu Shuai, doesn' t talk and needs to be looked after all day long.

Generally, unlike normal kids, autistic children seem emotionally detached from their parents, never showing intimacy.

However, this doesn't make Liu Jianhua love his son any less. "What really worries me is my boy's future, especially when his mother and I are not with him anymore. Who will look after him?" says Liu.

Another parent Zhong Xueping says outside the classroom, "I dare not even think about it." In the classroom, his 4-year-old boy Zhong Chuangli is waving his right hand, unaware of what the teacher is doing.

Zhong Xueping says he has no idea if the training will help his boy, All he can do is give his boy the best he can afford -- a huge financial burden for him.

Anhua's tuition fee is 1,500 yuan (219 U.S. Dollar) a month, roughly half the average salary in Beijing in 2009. Tuition fees at privately run schools can be double or triple that.

Even the cost of the public schools can nearly bankrupt a family, as only one parent usually has time to work, while the other must look after their child all the time. To add to their struggle, a number of families have to leave their hometown and rent flats in big cities so to ensure their children get proper care.

Zhong Xueping's family is from Hubei province. His wife and him sell clothes in Beijing for a living. "We barely make ends meet after the tuition is paid, and we can only afford to rent a small basement," he says.

As to what kind of future the kids can have, Long Jianyou, the president of Anhua School, says, "In the best scenario, graduates from Anhua' s vocational high school can find employment."

Anhua caters for children from pre-school through to high-school ages.

This year, 12 of the graduates have already found jobs in reputable hotels, doing fairly menial jobs such as changing bed sheets. "They could earn as much as 1,700 yuan a month," says Long.

"The employers offering jobs to our kids are all China-based foreign companies," says Long.

"There is not a single domestic company doing this. They might employ physically disabled persons, but never those mentally challenged," Long says, blaming Chinese people's poor understanding of autism for this.

Zhong Xueping says his family is discriminated against because people

think their child is some kind of lunatic. "We sell clothes in a market, and when my boy crawls into others' stands, they shun him away like he's an idiot."

Talking about their child's future, Wang Hongli, mother of a 10-year-old boy who's just started to show symptoms of autism, believes her son could do a lot better. She hopes one day her boy can socialize like normal kids.

She's going to send her son back to normal school this autumn. But he will probably need a tutor which could cost 2,000 yuan a month at least.

Wang comes from a small city in northeast China's Liaoning Province. Because there is no such special schools in her hometown, she took time off work and brought her boy all the way here for schooling.

Even in Beijing, there were no special schools for young children suffering for autism six years ago. Long Jianyou, the president of Anhua, says "We only realized recently that the earlier autism is diagnosed and treated, the better people fare later in life, so we started this autistic nursery."

China has incorporated a plan for training autistic children into the country's development blueprint for 2006-2012, which specifies the building of autistic training facilities in 31 pilot cities, and training of professionals to diagnose and train autistic children.