Ball is in society's court to help autistic children
Autistic children play games with their parents at the NBA Basketball Play Zone in Xintiandi on Sunday.
A group of autistic children and their families played at the NBA Basketball Play Zone in Xintiandi on Sunday.
The annual event celebrates the progress they have made in playing basketball.
Started in 2017, the special basketball team was formed by the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University to mark the World Autism Awareness Day, which falls on April 2.
Initially the team only accepted autistic children aged between 10 and 12. It expanded last year with children aged from 5 allowed to participate.
The children have one hour's training every month, something they look forward to.
This year, the team plans to recruit 30 new players. And for those who play well, there will be an advanced team of five to seven players.
“We will have a more intense weekly training for the beginners for two months,” said Fu Zhengzheng, a middle school PE teacher who volunteered to teach the children. “Then we will have a six-month advanced class twice a month.”
However, it needs a totally different criteria to decide the definition of “playing well.” Simply bouncing the ball can be a challenge for the autistic children.
Xu Xiu, director of the children’s hospital’s child healthcare department, said that after two years, the overall improvement in the children’s physical ability is heartening.
“We would like to focus more on individual cases in the future,” said Xu, “to see how they benefit from sport exercises from different perspectives.”
Feifei, 12, was having a good time at the play zone. He is one of the founding members of the basketball team.
It has been a year since the Shanghai Daily writer last saw him. He was as energetic as he was last year.
Feifei ran all over the gym, from the trampoline to ball practice. This year his mother Jasmine watched the action.
“The coach said among all kids in the team, he is the best player now,” said Jasmine.
Feifei was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.
The family tried to intervene as early as possible. Thanks to his parents’ dedication, Feifei is the only one in his team in a normal class.
“Many parents are desperate because they don’t know how to reach their children, we too experienced that difficult time,” Jasmine said.
They insisted on sending Feifei to a normal school as the social atmosphere can be vital to an autistic child's growth.
“The teachers were worried that Feifei could disrupt the classes,” said Jasmine. “Or he could lose his temper and scare the other kids.”
But Jasmine pointed out that being in a normal class helps Feifei control his temper.
“Every time he causes trouble, we will punish him by ordering him to do something he dislikes such as exercises or cleaning up rooms," she said.
Over time Feifei learned that flying off the handle doesn't solve anything.
Now teachers don’t have to worry about Feifei at all.
Xu added: “Unlike normal kids who learn from reading, listening and watching, autistic kids often fail to connect. They learn from doing.”
Xu described a case she encountered recently. An autistic child who was quite good at numbers failed a seemingly easy question.
“The question was there are three kids, each kid has two apples,” Xu said. “It asked how many apples are there altogether.”
The child could have solved way more difficult questions but failed this one.
“It turned out the child didn’t understand what ‘each’ meant,” Xu said.
An autistic child who is also a team member shoots a ball at the NBA Basketball Play Zone.
Six-year-old Edwin joined the team last year.
“Bouncing a basketball requires him to fully control his muscles, which is often something autistic kids can’t manage,” said Oliver, Edwin’s father.
Oliver took his son to basketball not only for training but to meet other parents in the same situation.
“We are like a big family huddling together for warmth,” said Oliver. “I’m grateful for the doctors, teachers and volunteers for giving us a moment of bliss every so often from our constant pressure and anxiety.”
Like Feifei, Edwin loses his temper when things don’t go his way.
“He doesn't know how to express himself, shouting is the only way to get people to notice,” said Oliver. “But failure is something you have to deal with.”
This year, the theme of the World Autism Awareness Day is “Assistive Technologies, Active Participation.”
Oliver said just like the slogan says, active participation is the key. “And it’s not simply the participation of the families of patients, but the whole society,” he said.
Yet, there is a long way to go.
Both Jasmine and Oliver’s families have sacrificed a lot.
David, Feifei’s father, quit his job to keep his son company.
He even paid more than 200,000 yuan (US$29,800) to undertake a series of professional classes on relationship development intervention.
David is now a consultant who assists families with similar issues.
“Our children are allowed to go to normal school but alienated because most schools are enrolment rate-oriented,” said Oliver. “Autistic children can never keep up the pace.”
Most teachers also do not know how to communicate with autistic children.
“There are good teachers willing to learn during the progress,” Oliver said. “But professional training for teachers is absent."
He said equality is the base to establish a social mechanism to help autistic children.
“We are not begging for attention or donations,” Oliver said.
Jasmine doesn’t like the popular term which refers to autistic children as “children of the stars.”
“It feels like they are some alienated species,” Jasmine said. “What we need here is not sympathy or sentimental stories about one or two families, but common sense that acknowledges autism is around us and all of us need to do something about it.”
Jasmine and Oliver said the basketball team is a silver lining.
Many volunteers are teachers and doctors who want to make a difference.
“We see it as a bridge,” said Oliver. “Not simply connecting families, but us and the whole society.”
(Names of the children and parents have been altered to protect privacy.)
