We arrived late yesterday afternoon in Changsha, a 2-½ hour flight south of Beijing. Not quite as hot as back home but very humid. We had a brief stop at our new hotel, which turned out to be one of the best in the city. One of the families does business with the hotel and was able to get a great price for our rooms. Dinner in a beautiful private home though the power was out, and the meal was moved outside and ended by candlelight with neighbors, program directors, and parents of children with autism. The next door family is from Indonesia, and they are very interested in creating a relationship between Heartspring and programs in their home country.   

Our first full day in Changsha focused on visits to two of the local programs. It was a difficult day as we heard story after story of parent sacrifice, chaos, confusion, and disappointed expectations. Many of the parents, usually mothers, have traveled long distances and rented a room locally so that their children could attend these private schools. They are alone and separated from family and support systems for months, and sometimes, years on end. They come with the hope that these programs will cure their child, teach them to talk, prepare them academically to enter regular school, and make them “normal.” In the mean time, there is less of an emphasis on “what really matters,” self-care and toileting, communication, and self-injurious and aggressive behaviors. Mainly mothers, but sometimes fathers and grandparents, shared their stories and questions with such intensity and tears that one could not help but feel their pain, which could easily become overwhelming. Hope was constantly bringing them back to what was most important for the child’s quality of life and for the parent’s quality of life and to the need to focus on what really matters for the child and the family. It was a day that was emotionally draining but still a powerful reminder of how important it is what we do.

Gary