Chengcheng (alias) was diagnosed with autism at the age of six. During the past 14 years, his autism has wrought financial devastation and emotional hardship upon his family. Recently, a glimmer of hope appeared when the family was offered medical aid by Yuquan Hospital of Tsinghua University.

 

In late July, the boy’s father, under the alias of Wang Hui, took Chengcheng to Beijing in the hope of curing his son. His autistic son had already been rejected by a score of hospitals and rehabilitation centers due to his age and aggressive behavior. Apparently the 14-year-old boy has missed his window of opportunity. When his family was on the verge of despair, the Yuquan Hospital of Tsinghua University came to their aid. Chengcheng was admitted into the hospital on August 2.

His father told Youth Weekend magazine: “He would bite, scratch and pull my hair. Sometimes, I could not control him.”

 

Chencheng seldom talked and his aggressive, sometimes violent, behavior posed a threat to his family and people around him.

 

Chengcheng throws a tantrum for no apparent reason. Even his father cannot control him.

 

When Chengcheng was three, he always bullied the other kids in kindergarten. At first, Wang Hui thought his son had hyper-kinetic syndrome. But things spiraled out of control later when the boy in a frenzy attacked his grandfather. Wang had no choice but to truss him up using bands or iron chain.

 

“We didn’t take it seriously at first. We thought it would sort all itself out in the end,” Wang Hui said regretfully, gazing at his 1.6-meters-tall boy.

 

“When they came to me for treatment four years ago, I told the father that autistic children were also plagued with hysterical actions,” Jia Meixiang, a doctor-in-charge of the Sixth Hospital of Peking University said candidly. “ As the child grows up, it becomes more difficult to control him. Unfortunately, an adolescent cannot be trained; I suggest medication for treatment.”

 

Aggressive behavior isn’t uncommon in children with autism. Successfully treating the boy’s autism was not easy.  The doctor at the Yuquan Hospital offered Chengcheng a drug—but it didn’t work.

Chang Pengfei, chief of the Department of Neurosurgery, said: “If medication cannot ease his aggression, we will perform surgery on his brain. More than six autistics have undergone similar surgery in our hospital; all improved afterwards. Chengcheng’s condition is suitable for this kind of surgery.”

 

Knowing that the surgery can just improve the condition but not cure his son’s autism, Chengheng’s father responded: “I dare not hope that he could become a productive citizen. I would just wish that he were not aggressive toward other people.”

 

Father asks Chengcheng, who is having a seizure, to grit his teeth in order to keep from biting himself.

 

Chengcheng is just one lucky and recognized case among thousands of people suffering from autism in China. Sadly, there are scores of undiagnosed people.

 

Autism is a global phenomenon covering all racial and social backgrounds. It occurs in approximately 5-15 out of every 10,000 births, and is four times more common in boys than girls.

 

A sample survey in 2004 that focused on children from 0 to 6 years of age in 18 districts and counties around Beijing, indicated that autism affected 1.5 in every 1,000 kids. A 2005 survey covering 30,000 people in six provinces and cities revealed the incidence was 1 in every 1,000 people. New estimates indicate there are 500,000 autistic sufferers in China in 2006.

 

Since autism has rarely been recognized in China, and clinic diagnosis hardly available, few autistic children are diagnosed before they reach the critical age of three years: the optimal intervention time. But the few who are actually diagnosed as autistic are rarely given any treatment or training directed toward their needs. They too miss their chance to make a positive turnaround later on.

 

Kindergartens and schools reject most autistic children. Lay people cannot understand them. Even the few schools in big cities that specialize in children with mental disorders are unable to offer appropriate help to autistic children because they lack the knowledge and skills to do so. According to the director of Wucailu Recovery Center who is surnamed Sun, there are about 100 centers for these kinds of children but most of them are not qualified.”

 

Thus, staying home becomes the only option for a large majority of autistic children. This puts tremendous pressure on their parents. Even worse, by leaving them alone, these children eventually lose any chance to develop their potential and innate talents.

 

Chengcheng fiddles with a clock—his only companion.

 

With hands bound, the boy repeatedly asks his father: “Do you love me?”

 

(China.org.cn by He Shan, August 15, 2007)