Symposium on Autism, China
I recently had the opportunity to speak at the 11th Symposium on Autism which took place in Nanjing on the 4th of November 2021. More than 13,000 people attended this online, Symposium on Autism, co-organized by the Amity Foundation and the Nanjing Brain Hospital Affiliated with Nanjing Medical University. During the conference, professionals from England, Scotland and China presented the latest insights into inclusive education and policy, practice, and research on diagnostic and principles of therapeutic intervention.
My partnership with the Scottish China Church Group and the Amity Children’s Development Centre in Nanjing spans over several years, beginning in 2013. In my role as Principal of New Struan School (part of Scottish Autism), Rev Patricia Johnston approached me about presenting at an international Autism conference in Nanjing. This was a fantastic opportunity to share the work of the school community and learn about the services supporting children and adults with a variety of learning needs in China. I welcomed a reciprocal visit in 2014, from some of the Children’s Development Centre staff. They were interested to see and learn about how we supported children, young people, and adults across our services at Scottish Autism. The partnership continued to flourish through leadership coaching and a return trip to China in 2018, in a consultancy capacity, supporting the team through self-evaluation processes and strategic planning. It has been a privilege to be involved with the SCCG and Amity and to engage with teams of committed, aspirational and resourceful staff who aim to provide outstanding services to children, young people and adults with Autism and other learning difficulties in China.
My presentation at the recent Symposium discussed inclusive education in Scotland. This was also a chance to share insights from my current doctorate research at Stirling University, exploring how we reimagine equity in education for neurodiverse children and young people. The term ‘neurodiversity’ is used to describe the experience of neurological diversity (including brain structures, connections, and functions) that is a feature of all of us as humans. Neurodiversity means there is a wide variation in brain processes, and therefore in individuals’ experiences and behaviours. In the past 10 years (2009-2019) there has been an increase from 5.4% to 30.9% of children and young people with a recorded neurodiversity in Scottish Schools. The global pandemic has had an even greater, disproportionate impact on children and young people as they have faced reduced access to vital care, education, and support and well as to valued activities.
The Scottish Strategy for Autism launched in 2011 and concluded in 2021. This outcome focused strategy had four key areas – A Healthy Life, Choice and Control, Independence and Active Citizenship. It supported and funded a wide range of activities and developments at local and national levels designed to bring out improvements in services and supports for autistic people and their families/carers. Valuable resources were created, and new and additional services delivered. Overall, the evaluation of the strategy concluded that to have greater impact, the services and support need to have greater reach, become embedded and be sustained across all local authorities. Systemic change can only be realised in true partnership with autistic people and through collaboration across services and sectors.
The presentation was very well received and 11,908 people went online to listen to it! I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Demi Tian from Dollar Academy, who did an outstanding job translating my presentation with such care.
