How to establish a teaching assistant system for autistic children?
Integrate into the campus lack of teachers Support parents to hire self-study teachers with a heavy burden
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
April 2nd is World Autism Day.
As a mother of an autistic child, Guo Feng (pseudonym), who is nearly 40 years old, currently wishes that her daughter can be accompanied by a special education teacher during elementary school, so as to better integrate into campus life.
This wish of Guo Feng is also the common aspiration of many parents of autistic children.
A group of parents of inclusive education where she belongs has been discussing the "14th Five-Year Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan") announced in January this year, which proposes to study and formulate education for children with autism. Guide, and gradually establish a teaching assistant system to provide support for children with autism to better integrate into the learning and life of ordinary schools.
"I look forward to the early establishment of the teaching assistant system," said a number of parents of autistic children who were interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily.
At present, due to the lack of the teaching assistant system, parents either allow autistic children to sit in the school with the class, or with the school's consent, they hire a companion teacher to join the school to accompany the study, but the burden is "heavy".
The interviewed experts believe that children with special needs have not received the attention they deserve in the field of basic education in my country, and the advancement of the concept of inclusive education in the field of basic education has not been satisfactory. Special legislation on education provides rigid institutional guarantees for the implementation of the education rights of special children, including autistic children.
Gradually establish a teaching assistant system
Solve the real needs of children and families
Guo Feng's daughter, Xiao Guo, is in the second grade of a primary school in Beijing and is an autistic child.
According to public information, autism is a kind of pervasive developmental disorder, which is mainly manifested in different degrees of speech developmental disorder, interpersonal communication disorder, narrow interests and stereotyped behavior.
Some children have better abilities in certain aspects under the background of general intellectual backwardness.
What makes Guo Feng a little gratified is that her daughter's intelligence has not been damaged. Except for her particularly low social skills and inability to understand social rules, her learning ability is close to that of normal children.
"During the self-study class, she often goes out of the classroom to play with other classmates she knows. In her consciousness, the self-study class means that she can do whatever she wants." Guo Feng said.
Guo Feng’s daughter’s school does not have a special education teacher, nor does she agree that children with autism have accompanying teachers, which makes Guo Feng very anxious, because she will receive calls or messages from teachers from time to time, informing her that her child has “aggressive behavior at school” ”, such as shoving classmates for no reason, etc.
When she saw in the group that parents discussed the "action plan" and proposed to "gradually establish a teaching assistant reading system", she was very much looking forward to the early sunset, so that children could have accompanying teachers in school.
Another parent in the group, Liu Yu (pseudonym), has the same expectation. Her son Yueyue once went through the formalities of suspending school because she did not have a teacher to accompany her.
In the fall of 2014, Yueyue went to elementary school.
During school, the teacher told Liu Yu that Yueyue had a "bad habit" of biting her fingers and touching her ears, and hoped that her parents would urge her to correct her; during recess, Yueyue would go up to hug her classmates when they were playing with her classmates.
Since Yueyue is an autistic child, the strict supervision of the teacher and the supervision of the parents did not make Yueyue change her "bad habits", but made Yueyue lose interest in going to school.
In desperation, Liu Yu obeyed the advice of the psychiatrist and handled the long-term suspension for the child.
In Liu Yu's view, if the school has a special education teacher for autistic children, or if parents can hire a companion teacher to join the school to accompany Yueyue, she will not go to the point of suspending their children.
To solve this problem, the Action Plan proposes to gradually establish a teaching assistant system.
Zhou Cheng, an associate professor of the School of Education of Renmin University of China and a member of the Policy, Regulation and Rights Protection Professional Committee of the Beijing Association of Mental Disability and Relatives and Friends, believes that this is an important measure to "improve the special education guarantee mechanism and comprehensively improve the quality of special education", which is conducive to solving autistic children. To meet the real needs of families, provide necessary care and learning support for children with autism to live and study in school.
At the same time, through the intervention of professionals, the education quality of children with autism can be improved, and they can be integrated into the daily school life faster and better.
According to Fu Tian, director of the Education Teaching and Research Office of the College of Elementary Education, Capital Normal University, this system reflects the practical institutional care for special children, including autistic children, and can effectively help special children solve practical difficulties in the process of going to school. It has a significant role in promoting inclusive education, guaranteeing the right to education of children with special needs and broader equal rights.
Lack of special education resources in schools
Finding an accompanying teacher becomes a burden for parents
Qi Yonggang, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, has an 11-year-old daughter Guoguo who suffers from autism.
In 2018, when Guoguo turned 6 years old, whether to go to a special school or an ordinary school made Qi Yonggang hesitant.
By chance, he heard a symposium held by a parent of an autistic child in a southern city, who shared his child's experience of receiving inclusive education, that is, by hiring a companion teacher and receiving professional training, he entered the school to accompany him.
"After listening to the introduction, I felt very shocked, and I saw the direction at once. That is to hire a companion teacher to accompany Guoguo to go to the general school and receive integrated education." Qi Yonggang said that on the one hand, he enrolled his children in the general school, On the one hand, I started to look for a companion teacher. At that time, it was very difficult to find a suitable companion teacher in Beijing, and the price was about 9,000 yuan per month.
Fortunately, Qi Yonggang found a pre-school student who was willing to serve as an accompanying teacher.
Next, he began to communicate with the school.
After introducing to the school the professional role, work content and method of the accompanying teacher, the school agreed to give it a try.
In September 2018, after several months of communication, Guoguo entered the school with the accompanying teacher.
The progress of Guoguo in the integrated environment is obvious to all.
At the end of the first grade, Guoguo's Wechsler intelligence test score rose from 59 to 67, and great breakthroughs have been made in social skills and self-care skills, which have been praised by school leaders and class teachers.
At the end of the school year, when the school was still holding the annual summary meeting, Guoguo's case was written, which became a highlight of the school's work.
In Qi Yonggang's view, the fact that accompanying teachers can join the school means that the school "opens a door to integration" for autistic children like Guoguo.
Since then, many parents have found Qi Yonggang, one is to ask him for his teaching experience, and the other is to hire an accompanying teacher through him.
However, there are too few institutions providing accompanying teachers in the society, and there are not many accompanying teachers who can meet the needs of parents.
Moreover, the cost of hiring an accompanying teacher in Beijing is about 15,000 yuan per month, which is unbearable for ordinary families.
In order to solve this problem, Qi Yonggang and several parents in Beijing established a company called "Star Trust", which specializes in recruiting students majoring in preschool education, providing them with professional training, and forming a supply of accompanying teachers to serve ordinary families.
In fact, with regard to the educational rights of persons with disabilities such as autistic children, the revised Regulations on Education for Persons with Disabilities clearly stipulates that ordinary schools enrolling students with disabilities should arrange for teachers or experienced teachers who specialize in the education of persons with disabilities to undertake the following tasks. Education and teaching work in classes or special education classes.
In 2020, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Work of Compulsory Education for Children and Adolescents with Disabilities", which clearly requires all teachers.
Many parents of children with autism believe that every school should be equipped with special education teachers to help children with disabilities.
However, due to the lack of special education resources, accompanying teachers have become a particularly heavy burden on parents.
Zhou Xiang believes that studying in the same class is a policy that is steadily advancing. First of all, it will be promoted in schools with better teachers and perfect hardware conditions. The ultimate goal is to realize the normalization of students with disabilities studying in the same class.
"We can't ignore the physical and psychological differences of children with disabilities, and we need to give them more attention and care. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a teaching assistant system, and professional personnel will intervene in the school environment to provide special care and attention to different types of children with disabilities. Learning assistance. It can be said that studying with a class and accompanying a teaching assistant are two parallel systems that complement each other. They are not only an important means to promote inclusive education, but also an important performance of inclusive education." Zhou Xiang said.
Government-led establishment of schools to implement
Legislation specific to special education
For parents of children with autism, how to implement the system after the state proposes to gradually establish the teaching assistant system is their greatest concern.
In this regard, Fu Tian believes that it is the responsibility of the government to provide various forms of special assistance for special children in schools to help them learn like ordinary children.
For example, primary schools in some western developed countries provide special language teaching assistants for foreign students whose native language is not English to help them overcome language difficulties and adapt to the English learning environment as soon as possible.
Because guaranteeing the right to education of all school-age children is one of the most basic functions of the government.
In Fu Tian's view, this right to education should not only be reflected in the entrance of education, that is, to provide all children with basic rights and opportunities to enter school, but should also be reflected in the process of education, that is, to allow all school-age children to be able to Really integrate into school life and participate in normal learning activities without being excluded from school life.
If some children have special difficulties or obstacles in integrating into school life, the government has a responsibility to help them remove these obstacles.
"Therefore, this kind of teaching assistant system should be established by the government, and the school should be responsible for its implementation."
In Zhou's view, the teaching assistant system requires the cooperation of the government, schools and families to realize it, and is not a unilateral responsibility.
At the national level, a complete qualification certification and training system for teaching assistants should be established, including the establishment of a qualification certification system and a skills training system for teaching assistants and reading professionals.
The government guarantees the implementation of special funds, and provides basic wages and benefits for teaching assistants and accompanying students through direct financial appropriation or through government purchases.
Incorporate teaching assistants and accompanying reading staff into the management system of professional and technical personnel.
Establish a parent school, guide and train the professional ability of parents and teaching assistants to accompany reading, and introduce a parent volunteer system for teaching assistants to accompany reading.
A follow-up question is whether it is necessary to specialize legislation on special education to impose legal rigid constraints on the responsibilities of all parties?
Zhou Xiang believes that a large number of normative documents already exist in the field of education for children with disabilities in my country.
At present, the first task is to introduce concrete measures to implement the existing laws and regulations as soon as possible, so as to realize these provisions guaranteeing the right to education of children with disabilities as soon as possible.
Afterwards, on the basis of departmental coordination and summarizing experience, separate legislation will be introduced in a timely manner to ensure the comprehensive advancement of education for the disabled.
Fu Tian believes that children with special needs have not received due attention in the field of basic education in China, and the advancement of the concept of integrated education in the field of basic education has not been satisfactory.
Considering the huge population of children with special needs and people with disabilities, it can be said that it is very urgent and imperative to introduce special special education legislation at present.
"The educational integration of children with special needs, to a large extent, directly determines whether they can become independent, whether they can communicate with the outside world normally, and live a dignified life. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to specialize in special education legislation. Provide legal and institutional guarantees for the implementation of their right to education. After all, tolerance, care and respect for the disabled is one of the basic indicators to measure the civilization and moral level of a modern society." Fu Tian suggested.
Graphics/Li Xiaojun