The "spark of stars" ignites the light of life of a child with autism

On March 30, 2021, at the Xinyuxing Children's Psychological Development Center in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, the special education teacher guided Tongtong (pseudonym), a child with autism, to a training session.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Peizhen

On 2 April, the 15th World Autism Awareness Day (also known as World Autism Awareness Day), this year's theme slogan is "Focus on Autism Services: Building Social Security Mechanisms to Promote High-Quality Development of Service Providers". Autism is one of the most serious disorders of childhood developmental disorders, characterized by obvious social interaction disorders, speech developmental disorders, and stereotyped interests and peculiar behaviors.

It is reported that children with autism are also called "children of stars" because they live in their own world and are lonely like stars. Recently, many places across the country have carried out public welfare actions for autism care, such as parent-child interactive entertainment activities, theme forums, calligraphy and painting tour exhibitions for autistic students, doing handicraft work, etc., and colorful forms of activities have made the children and families of the stars feel warm and hopeful.

It is worth noting that childhood autism is still a medical problem in the world, according to incomplete statistics, the number of autistic patients in the mainland has exceeded 10 million. With the gradual deepening of the mainland's understanding of the field of autism medicine, the society's concern and concern for autistic children is also increasing, and how to provide a good environment for angels from the stars to integrate into society has always affected thousands of families and society.

From finding the cause to finding the heart lamp

After the age of speaking, but will not speak for a long time, may not even open their mouths for life to call a father or mother; will not communicate with others, can not look into each other's eyes... This is a true portrayal of children with autism.

"The child is not clear about the direction of these short answers up and down, for the day or night, the day of the week such abstract things can not understand, can not understand cartoons, ignore other people's questions ..." A parent from Wuhan told reporters about the child's symptoms, the first time he took the child to check was when he was 4 years old and 3 months old.

The reporter's investigation learned that the family members of many autistic patients almost all spent their lives in collapse and despair. A parent tearfully revealed his heart: "I blocked all the friends who sent the child's dynamics, deleted WeChat contacts in large quantities, and when they saw other people's children, they would secretly cry." ”

Industry experts say there is no ideal treatment because the cause of autism is unknown. The main purpose of treatment is to improve the ability of autistic patients to live independently and independently, reduce their degree of disability, improve the quality of life, and strive to make some children have the ability to study, work and live independently in adulthood.

Yao Weiluan, director of the Child Rehabilitation Department of Taiyuan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, told China City Daily that at this stage, autism treatment adopts scientific intervention treatment methods: mainly based on behavioral intervention based on applied behavior analysis (ABA). Other interventions include extended and alternative communication, structured education (TEACCH), interpersonal development interventions (RDI), etc. The key principles of treatment are early, integrated, individualized, and formal.

"There are currently no very effective drugs, mainly to improve symptoms. For example, patients with emotional behavior abnormalities, such as emotional instability, irritability, self-talk and laughter, hyperactivity, self-injury and aggressive behavior, etc., can choose some antipsychotic drugs; there is a problem of inattention, you can use some drugs to improve attention. Yao Weiluan said that physical factor therapy - transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), transcranial direct current and other ways to improve brain function; dietary supplement treatment - the use of vitamins, probiotics, folic acid preparations, etc., the effectiveness is still in the verification stage; in addition, music therapy, dolphin therapy, robotics and other methods are currently in the field of research.

In the view of Deng Zhidong, general manager of Hainan Boao Medical Technology Co., Ltd., in recent years, the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder has achieved good clinical efficacy, combining traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, five elements music and Western medical behavior education, nutritional therapy, Western medicine and even emerging stem cells, and other treatment methods, and the clinical efficacy is outstanding. Integrative medicine has gradually become the mainstream treatment method for autistic patients.

Qiu Yuming, a member of the expert and technical committee of the Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Intractable Disease Research Association, said in an interview with China City Daily that the fundamental cause of autism lies in the lack of yang qi and insufficient spleen and kidneys, resulting in cold and wet diseases spreading throughout the body. In the clinic, it is found that many children's problems are not limited to the brain, cold and humidity spread throughout the body, affect digestion in the stomach and intestines, stasis in the liver, eczema on the body surface, and block the brain network to affect the connection function of neurons and nerve cells. Therefore, we must find ways to adjust the body from the whole, including kidneys, liver, spleen, heart, brain, meridians, etc.

Call on the community to care for more, so that children with autism can go to school and love school

At present, there is a shortage of special education schools in the mainland, and it is difficult for children with autism to enter general education schools. So, how to face up to this problem and effectively solve it?

When children with autism first enter primary school, they have to face unfamiliar classrooms and campus layouts, which is a big challenge for them. Primary school class schedules and classroom discipline requirements are also difficult for children with autism to understand and adapt in a short period of time. The biggest difficulty should be to interact with classmates and teachers, who do not know how to observe words, do not listen to instructions, and cannot control their behavior.

Not only that, but children with autism have different degrees of stereotyped behavior and single interests. Their behavior is more childish and special than that of children of the same age, and they are often discriminated against by their classmates. Teachers have difficulty accepting that their academic performance is not satisfactory, it affects classroom discipline and lack of safety awareness.

The reporter learned that Xiaoyu, 11 years old this year, was diagnosed with children's autism in the health department of Henan Provincial Children's Hospital when he was 2 and a half years old. After insisting on intervention and treatment in the health department for 2 years, the parents traveled to other cities in China to intervene and treat for 2 years. Five years ago, parents came to the clinic again and told that Xiaoyu had made significant progress, but he encountered trouble after entering elementary school.

"Xiaoyu can't stay in the general school, because he can't keep up with his studies, some stereotypical behaviors will appear repeatedly; after the third grade, his logical thinking ability can't keep up, and there are writing problems; because he can't abide by classroom discipline and affect other students, he was jointly complained by the parents of the class, and the school suggested that he withdraw from school." Fang Shuofeng, director of the Child Health Department of Henan Children's Hospital, told China City Daily that parents feel very hard and have paid a lot, but the children still can't be like normal children of the same age, so they seek help. After being asked, Xiaoyu had more intervention models in the treatment process of more than 4 years, but there were fewer preschool integration education content. Although Xiaoyu has improved significantly, it is difficult for him to adapt to the requirements of primary education.

Fang Shufeng analyzed that integrated education is an important part of the rehabilitation of autistic children. At the same time, it also reminds the parents and friends of the majority of autistic children that the daily generalization of skills mastered in the process of autism intervention is very important. How to apply the knowledge and skills learned in the training institution to life, improve their self-care ability and environmental adaptability is the ultimate goal of our intervention. In view of this, families, communities and hospitals must form a community where they can work together to achieve good results.

In addition, Fang Shufeng believes that the government should pay more attention to the group of autistic children, improve the ability of autistic children in the mainland to integrate education, call on more ordinary primary schools to accept such children, and hope that the public will fully understand, tolerate and accept autistic children and give them the opportunity to enroll. At the same time, parents and family members of children with autism should also have confidence, firmly believe that children can gradually integrate into school life, and seek help from doctors, schools and communities in time when encountering difficulties.

There are "doctors", tutors, and guarantees

Building a social security mechanism and promoting the high-quality development of service institutions is an important task of the mainland's "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of the cause of the disabled and the special education development and upgrading plan.

It is worth noting that the autistic community, like every member of society, has the right to enjoy the pursuit of high-quality services, and society has the obligation and responsibility to provide diversified and high-quality services. Basic services for autistic groups include medical security, preschool rehabilitation, school-age integrated education, vocational education, employment support, community life placement, parent support, family property trust, etc. At present, the overall development of services for autistic groups is unbalanced and insufficient, showing a situation in which early services are relatively sufficient, and later services are insufficient, or even blank, and there is still a big gap between meeting the social needs of autistic groups as a whole.

For the country, how to further improve the medical service system so that children with autism can have "medical" dependence? For parents, how to do a good job in the family education of autistic children?

Deng Zhidong told reporters that in view of the widespread problems in the mainland such as the difficulty and high cost of medical treatment for autistic children, the state should further improve the medical service system, strengthen the guarantee of medical treatment for autistic children, implement the designated treatment of rehabilitation medical institutions for autistic children, and include the rehabilitation of autistic children in the medical insurance outpatient reimbursement; strive to strengthen the construction of autism service institutions, improve the ability and level of autism treatment services; establish a government-led, departmental linkage, policy support, and standardized operation of the working mechanism. Continuously improve the rehabilitation service system for autistic children, so that autistic children should be screened, treated, and rescued, and effectively enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the families of autistic children.

Parents are the best teachers for children. Deng Zhidong suggested that the family education of autistic children can focus on training in the following aspects: they can understand the bells of class and class; they do not disturb others in class; they sit quietly and do not move around at will; they will use the recess time to go to the toilet; they will take the initiative to drink water; they know the cold and warm; they will know that they must raise their hands to speak in class; they can read the class schedule; they can practice reading the calendar; they can listen to collective instructions; they can pack up the school bag and cup; they can pass on books and examination papers; they can write names, classes, student numbers, and genders; they can file complaints to prevent being bullied.

Children with autism still have a long way to go and need the care and love of the whole society. I believe that love will create miracles, and "children of stars" also have a future.

■ China City Daily reporter: Hu Anhua