'This education center will cooperate with experts from other autism-related fields, such as psychology, brain and cognitive science, language studies, life science to develop strategies to autism research. The ultimate goal is to provide cultural appropriate education and intervention to children with autism,” said the Dean, Zhongying. Shi, Professor from Faculty of Education.
Autism is believed to affect at least one in 88 children, and perhaps up to millions of adults, many of whom are undiagnosed. Currently, autism is listed as one of the most increase category of disability in China, bringing extremely huge amount of burden to families, and challenges to teachers.
Under the leadership of the Director, Xiaoyi Hu, associate professor from the department of Special Education, the Education Research Center for Children with Autism will build capacity to conduct education research that addresses the larger picture of autism’s impact throughout the early childhood, school-age, and young adult on individuals, families, schools, social service systems and communities.“Our approach will range from research focused on developing evidence-based interventions, functional and social curriculum, and supportive environment that can be effectively scaled up to do the most good in our classroom settings,”said Xiaoyi Hu. “Over the next several years we will bring outstanding researchers to join our Center team to partner with the range of organizations, schools, and institutes around the world to share our commitment to children with autism.”
As the Center grows, areas of emphasis will include: 1) developing educational interventions and curriculum to children with autism, 2) providing training and support to families with children with autism, 3) enhancing the autism-related training to teachers and practitioners, and 4) fostering graduate level students specialized in autism. After the ceremony, there followed a one-hour workshop on autism education research presented by various experts in autism in Beijing.