Sixth-Magnitude star is the weakest star in the night sky visible to human eyes, but it is the main body of light in the universe. Although it is ordinary, but it still shining in the sky, just like autistic children live alone in their own world. In order to care about more autistic children, on April 3, 2019, China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) and Beijing 9F Public Welfare Foundation jointly founded the special fund “9F Public Welfare: Sixth-Magnitude Star Autistic Children”.

During the activity, Zhu Xisheng, secretary general of CCTF and Li Guisheng, chairman of Beijing 9F Public Welfare Foundation visited autistic children in Beijing Wucailu Children Behavior Correction Center and presented picture books to them. At the event, Beijing 9F Public Welfare Foundation donated 3 million yuan to CCTF.

In the training room, staff and volunteers greeted children by saying “hello, baby”. One child turned his head and said “Happy holidays to all!” Staff said, yesterday a child said to volunteers all the time that “Look at the sky, look at the sky”. At the day before a teacher took him to fly a kite, and said to him “Look at the sky”, so he remembered and kept talking. Autism is manifested in different degrees of speech development disorders, interpersonal communication disorders, limited interests and so on.

Some of them have less severe symptoms. A volunteer said that when she asked her children if they wanted any more picture books, he said “I don’t want any more because I’ve already have one”. Such children can be early detection through scientific intervention and back to society.

“9F Public Welfare: Sixth-Magnitude Star Autistic Children” special fund will explore the establishment of scientific and effective rehabilitation treatment model. For example, public lectures on autism themes were held in 100 cities nationwide for the public, families with autism and kindergarten teachers; Provide “online + offline” training for autism rehabilitation doctors, primary pediatricians and doctors in maternal and children health care institutions; Develop applications together with third-party agencies, and establish a national alliance for mutual assistance between parents of autistic children and rehabilitation institutions; and do research on AI technology to assist autistic children with rehabilitation training.

According to statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014, one in every 68 children in the US has ASDS. It is estimated that there are more than 10 million children with ASDS in China, and more than 2 million children aged 0-14 years old. However, according to the “China Education Autism Rehabilitation Industry Development Report III”, China has only 1,810 registered autism rehabilitation institutions, which can serve no more than 300,000 people with autism each year, and fewer than 500 child psychiatrists with experience in screening and diagnosis. There is a shortage of teachers for autism rehabilitation training, which is difficult to meet the needs of rehabilitation.

As a congenital brain development disorder, autism cannot be completely cured. However, early intervention can help some children with mild symptoms to acquire basic survival skills and social skills. It requires the joint efforts of all sectors of society to give more care and support to autistic children, so that the light of “Sixth-Magnitude Star” will not shine alone.