Fallen from the stars
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Parental meltdown
Xue Tiaomei, 37, and her 4-year-old son were having a communication class at Stars and Rain.
Her son was sitting in a chair and playing with toys. But the boy was aggressive and tried to put his hands on other kids' toys.
"Stop it," his mother said, pulling his hands back. But as her child began roaring like a lion, she was startled and let him go.
A teacher approached and corrected her. "That was a wrong approach. He can read every expres-sion on you face and understand how to control you. You should be like an actor, show no fear no matter what he does."
Xue nodded religiously.
Like Xue, about 300 families now are receiving training at Stars and Rain each year. Many of them gave up their jobs and rent a small house near the center to accompany their children. The tuition fee is about 1,500 yuan a month for this type of training. And there is a one-year-long waiting list for another 300 desperate parents.
One mother's story
The center has helped over 6,000 autistic children and their families and given autism teaching training to 210 teachers all over the country since it was founded. It currently has 29 staff members.
Xue first found out her son's behavior was different from other children when he was three.
"He has a lot of episodes of agitation, yelling, roaring and screaming," she said. "He could not tell how he felt and what he likes."
She said her son's unexplainable breakdowns broke her heart and shamed her in public.
"You could see people shake their heads in disgust and hear them saying that I am a bad mother who fails to discipline my son," she said.
She and her husband took him to a local hospital in a rural area in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, where he was diagnosed with autism.
"I had no idea what autism was, but it sounded like a big problem," she said. "But I wanted to cure my son, no matter what."
They gave him anti-psychotic drugs to calm his temper and brought him to an organization in Xi'an to "correct" his weird behavior. The changes were small.
"There were some moments that I wanted to kill myself and my son to end the tragedy," she said.
After watching a movie, Ocean Heaven, based on Stars and Rain founder Tian Huiping and her son, now 22, Xue brought her son to Beijing for treatment.
"I believe my son is slowly improving, I find hope and I see progress," she said.
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