World Reach - China

Chinese educators visit Heartspring
Aid for autistic children
Teachers seek new techniques
By Christina M. Woods
Wichita Eagle
Published 6/21/2006

The school is called Stars and Rain for short – a place, in China, where parents learn how to raise, educate and love their autistic children.

The school’s very existence can be jarring in a culture that frequently shuns rather than supports people with special needs, staff members say.

Three teachers from the Stars and Rain Education Institute for Children with Autism are in Wichita this week learning from preschoolers in a day camp at Heartspring, a school for children with disabilities, at 8700 E. 29th St. North.

Staff members from the Chinese school visited Wichita for the first time in 2005 through Heartspring’s World Reach program, which recognizes programs that serve children with disabilities.

Tian “Hope” Huiping, the mother of an autistic child, started the school in 1993. It cost her her marriage and her university teaching position. The school is the first of its kind.
For the staff at Heartspring, the cultural exchange points directly to its mission of being a “worldwide center for children with special needs.”

For the teachers – Scott Sun, Sang “Sandra” Zhinhong and Wang “Susan” Xiuguing – the experience will strengthen their own knowledge base at Stars and Rain.

“This will open our minds to know many things,” Sun said.

The teachers said they’re particularly interested in learning fundraising techniques.
An estimated 2 million people in China have autism but only 20 doctors are qualified to diagnose the disorder, according to Stars and Rain staff.

The Autism Society of America describes autism as a developmental disability that affects brain function. Communication and social interaction and sensory functions – such as feeling and smells – are affected.

Stars and Rain, which has served more than 2,000 children across China, offers four 11-week sessions for children and their families to learn more about autism.

“It is very meaningful work with these children,” said Wang, using Sun as an interpreter.
Heartspring staff may one day implement a similar training program for families based on Stars and Rain’s.

“These are possibilities we can someday explore and what better way to learn than from someone who’s already doing it,” said Evelyn Horton, then director of professional development for Heartspring.

The teachers will tour other area organizations that assist people who have special needs such as Envision, which helps low-vision and blind people.

This is the first trip outside of China for two of the teachers, Sang and Wang. Thursday the teachers will get their first taste of American baseball at a Wranglers game. Sun gets to throw out the first pitch.

Heartspring and Stars and Rain staff said they appreciate their worldwide connection.
“It’s part of our duty, our social responsibility,” said Katie Bishop, Heartspring spokeswoman. “When we’ve got the expertise, we’ve got to share it.”