Programme helps autistic children in Hong Kong schools open up
- One parent credits the Jockey Club-funded programme, JC A-Connect, with bringing her son out of his shell
- The after-school programme uses videos, activities and games to teach children how to understand other people’s emotions and manage their own
Hongkonger Tiffany Lee was surprised when her 10-year-old son recently told her not to pack any snacks in his school bag, saying he wanted to focus on chatting with his friends during recess.
Prior to that, Lee’s son – who was diagnosed with autism four years ago, and lacks certain social and communication skills – would usually just play alone.
“He was relatively passive and reluctant to play with other children. He would just play on the slide by himself,” she said. “He did not know how to join the other students, even though he wanted to.”
The disorder had also put a strain on his life at a local primary school. Lee recalled her son’s teacher saying he would simply “walk back and forth in the corridor” during recess.
But in 2017, Lee’s son was recommended by his school to join the JC A-Connect, a programme by Jockey Club Autism Support Network in which social workers from eight NGOs organise after-school training sessions for autistic students at 510 mainstream schools.