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Link to blog post by Qimingxing

Today was our second visit to Qimingxing Autism centre this term. Our activities took place in the dance studio which we accompanied our service partners to learn an easy dance with a professional dance teacher. When they got stuck or didn’t fully understand a move, we helped them reposition their posture so that their move looks the same as the teacher’s. We had lots of fun practising together. Another challenge that we faced during this link session is guiding then to travel to the dance studio by subway. We each looked after one or two members from Qimingxing to make sure that they don’t get lost on the way. That was quite effort taking and most of us were pretty nervous on the way. 

The first time is always the hardest, and this week is no exception. The majority of the folks in the center were unfamiliar to us. Prior to leaving, we only knew that we would be dancing with them. We didn't expect the situation to be this bad. Everyone seemed anxious when we arrived, including ourselves. We made an effort to get to know them, but it wasn't very successful. Most of them did not answer our questions. They ignore us, the communication is ineffective, and we are also unable to understand what they are saying. The same thing occurred during the dance; we made an effort to engage, but we fell short. The Qimingxing Autism Center is up against its greatest hurdle here. The issue will be finding a way to communicate with them. 

After the dance they planned, we eventually started playing board games with them. We discovered an intriguing fact: they focus on the game and interact with us while enjoying the process. Particularly those games call for some activities. In the future, we will be able to communicate with them in this fashion. More games that are tailored to them will be created; they will be able to stretch while playing, which will be great for them. The trip this week was a success, and while we discussed the difficulties, we also came up with new ideas. 

We started off the day in splitting up to have our delicious lunches to boost ourselves to get ready for a delightful day. We then went straight to the kids center having 20 minutes to spare letting us plan and get the toys that we brought ready. During their playtime, the kids loved the toys that we brought, not wanting to stop playing with it. We then moved back into the classroom where we played with their own toys such as bubbles. The kids were fascinated by the bubbles and even ate some of them. We then continued to their exercise class where they jump and dance around, participating in this also gave us a sweat. Ending off in a calm note, we sat down and started to do our arts and crafts, creating blossoming flowers.

For our next session, the teachers said they would allow us to have 30 minutes of their schedule to do what we would like to. So we are very excited to bring the kids to joy in an educational way.

Today was our second full Links day. We started the day off by having lunch together as a team at the CP, which allowed us to bond and discuss different activities we could do with both the children and the adults. After that, we separated into our two different centers and carried out our independent tasks. Unfortunately, at the adults’ center, we were unable to go to a nearby park and do sports with them due to the rain, so instead we had to improvise and do another activity instead. Luckily, all of our group members knew how to fold variations of paper planes and boats, so we decided to teach the adults how to create the wonderful origami themselves. After folding the paper planes, we thought it would be convivial and entertaining for them to have an internal paper plane throwing competition to see whose paper plane would glide the furthest, and everyone was very pleased at the idea and grabbed at the chance to go first.

In colloquial terms, today was a booming success.

Today, our group was again split into two halves, with some going to the young adult center and others going to the children's center. At the young adult center, we mainly did three activities: we did sports with them at the park, some of our group members performed classical music pieces to them, and we also solved puzzles with them. Of these three, the puzzle solving session was the most memorable for me, as we encountered an adult who was extremely passionate about solving puzzles. His mother would sometimes purchase puzzles for him to play with, and he would be able to memorise the position of each piece and solve the puzzle in a really short amount of time. It was truly amazing.

At the children's center, we joined up with the kids after their nap time. As they were well rested and energetic now, they had a dance session in the hallway outside. We danced beside them and played around a little. After their happy dance break, we went to accompany them to do their schoolwork which was 3 or 5 tasks depending on the child. The teachers and us split up and helped a kid each guiding them through their activities and making sure they are benefiting from their work time. The last thing we did was assisting the teachers in the arts and crafts session. The kids were able to follow the teachers instructions and paint out three adorable tangerine paintings then it was time for us to leave.

Today was the first day that our group split in half: one half went to the Qimingxing Autism Center for children, while the other half went to an autism center for young adults. At the young adults center, we assisted the adults in putting their original artwork into photo frames. We found out that even though they had autism and their communication skills were not as good as ours, they were still able to achieve great feats and excel at what they were good at. The other half that went to the autism center for younger kids had lots of fun helping with activities designed by teachers that train special hand-eye coordination and basic skills for the kids with autism. 

On Tuesday, our group went to another branch of the Qimingxing Autism Center where we interacted with adults instead of young children. At the center, there were around only 5 adults who each had different severities of autism. We got to know what they enjoyed doing and what they did for homework time. During their homework time, they each had to fill a piece of paper with stickers, staying inside the boxes. After their homework time was over, we got to experience their play time. Their play time was meant to challenge them creatively, for example, trying to solve picture puzzles, build lego structures etc. When their school was over, we got to meet their parents and interact with them.

After this session, we decided to split the group in half. A few students going to the center with adults and a few going to the center with kids.

We visited the Qimingxing Autism Center today as a group of 9 people genuinely passionate about helping and educating people with autism. After the short bus ride there, the founder of the center greeted us warmly with open arms, showed a presentation that introduced us to what autism was and how to understand people with it. We took the 30 minutes that she gave us to ask any questions we had in mind about our future actions and activities to do with the kids at the center. We thought of many ideas we could implement during this community time with the kids, including basketball, painting, creating music, and other interests that they might have. We then went to meet the kids, and split up into 3 classes. The teachers started making an art piece with all of the kids, and we helped by supervising and helping the kids wear their aprons. Most of the kids seemed to love us, with one even climbing up onto Kaitlyn’s lap, cuddling her, and calling her ‘mama’.