Our last day at Stars and Rain and it was a busy one. In addition to the training in the group home and the observations in the classrooms, a Chinese online news agency and a TV production crew were at Stars and Rain to interview staff, parents, and Heartspring staff. The website for the online news is www.56.com. It is all in Chinese, so good luck. Scott was missing as he was at his graduation ceremonies for his Master’s Degree.

I left around noon for a taxi ride back to Beijing Normal University for a meeting with Scott and the Deputy Director and her staff at the Beijing Normal University China Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI), which is primarily a research and policy organization. Earlier this year they issued a “research report to better inform the public about autism and to call on the entire society to better support children with autism and their families.” I have a full copy of the report in Chinese for those who are interested, and there is an abstract in English that I will make available when we get back. Currently there are no national standards, curriculum, or credentialing process for special education professionals in China, and CPRI is interested in collaborating with Stars and Rain and Heartspring to develop them. They invited us to participate in an international conference in 2013 that will include a focus on professional standards, and we anticipate that a member of their organization will visit Heartspring with the Stars and Rain delegation later this year. Stars and Rain will celebrate their 20^th anniversary at the same time.

After the meeting we headed back to Stars and Rain for the farewell BBQ. We got to see Ping’s baby for the first time. Three grills were going and food was constantly appearing on the tables. It was hard to once again say goodbye to old and new friends. Back to the hotel to back for the flight to Changsha tomorrow.

 Just a quick note to let you know about blog posting. Sometimes new posts will appear lower down in the blog when they refer to previous days events. You might want to skim down now and then to check or look to the right for "What's New." Thanks for the comments along the way.

Gary