Giving Hope to China’s “Children of the Stars”

One woman’s efforts to help her own son expanded into China’s first school for autistic children

When Tian Huiping’s son, Taotao, was just 4 years old, it seemed like his life was already over. The boy had been diagnosed with autism. Tian was told there was no help for autistic children in China.

“More than 98 percent of autistic children have to stay home because they are rejected by kindergartens,” Tian says. She could not accept a brochure about therapy for autistic children. Help was possible! She decided it was up to her to help her son and others like him.

Stars and Rain

In March 1993, Tian opens Stars and Rain Education Institute for Children With Autism. She chose the name by combining the movie title Rainman with “children of the stars.” The latter is the term used in Taiwan for autistic children, who seem to live in another universe.

Stars and Rain started with six students and four teachers. Two teachers left in the first two weeks. As a nongovernmental organization, it depends on donations to survive. But despite the struggles, the school’s amazing success stories gave Tian the courage to persevere.

Stars and Rain offers a 12-week training program for autistic children aged 3 to 12. Parents work with their children, learning to help them function.

So far, 10 children who have gone through the school’s program have been accepted by normal schools or special schools. This includes Tian’s son.

Tian shared about one family the school helped. When their daughter first came to Stars and Rain, she couldn’t even dress herself. She can now write over 500 Chinese characters. Tian says, “All the family’s colleagues and neighbors say she has become a different person.”

Bo Hongli jas taught at Stars and Rain since the beginning. “In a family with an autistic child,” Bo says, “one person has to make sacrifices for the child. But Tian makes sacrifices for all the kids here.”

Tian did not set out to become a hero. But, in her quest to help her own son she has become one.

“Sometimes I think, if my son were not autistic, if I hadn’t set up the school, I would be living another, totally different life,” Tian says. “I stepped onto another road because my son is autistic.”

quest : In the 1800s, many people move to California in the quest to find gold.