Learning to Live.docVIP

Learning to Live 　　Just like any other regular early-childhood education center， the Gaobeidian branch of the Wucailu Center for Children With Autism， located in Beijing’s Chaoyang District， has corridors lined with chairs that seat mothers， fathers and grandparents as they wait for the most important people in their lives to finish up for the day. 　　Inside one of the spacious classrooms， which are divided into cubicles， several autistic children， aged 3 to 6， receive one-to-one tutoring from their teachers， who are mostly young women. 　　Xiao Qiang， a 4-year-old boy， is one of the autistic children. He sits facing his teacher， but seems to look beyond her. The teacher asks him to stand up， a request he doesn’t respond to. His teacher puts her hands under his arms and lifts him to his feet while repeating the direction. 　　In another classroom， five children are taking part in a group lesson. While four of the children attentively string beads and play with blocks， one boy is restless. He gets up from time to time， wandering around the classroom， waving his arms and kicking his legs. 　　Four-year-old Xiao Tong is the only child in the center who greets visitors with a smile. “Say hello to aunty，” his teacher said. “Hello， aunty！”he responded， waving his hand. It is hard to imagine such a vivacious boy is autistic. 　　“He has received therapy in the center for some time， and has made a lot of progress，”said a male teacher surnamed Wang， who asked not to give his full name. 　　Autistic children can show a broad range of different symptoms―some may be unable to talk， while some can chat with others but are locked into rigid and repetitive patterns of behavior， Wang explained. 　　 Understanding autism 　　Autism is a developmental disorder characterized mainly by difficulty socializing and communicating， with afflicted children also of-ten behaving repetitively or having a very narrow set of interests， if not both. 　　In 2013， the fifth revision of the American Psy