Current Status of Education for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in China

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs in infancy. Impaired social interactions and communication deficits and restricted interest and stereotyped behaviors are two core deficits. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the incidence of infants with ASD has risen from 5000:1 in 1975 to 59:1. The 2017 Report on the Development of the ASD Educational Rehabilitation Industry in China II shows that there are over ten million ASD patients in China, of which the number of children with ASD aged 0–14 has reached two million and grows at an annual rate of 200,000. As the number of children with ASD continues to rise, the demand for educational assessment tools for children with ASD is increasing. However, the current development of domestic educational assessment is still in the initial stage. Most of the educational assessment tools are imported from abroad and seldom modified and lack reliability and validity, so they are not fully applicable to children with ASD in China. Few tools are independently researched and developed. These tools only include the Development Assessment Form for Children with ASD prepared and modified by the Rehabilitation Department of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the Education and Training Assessment Form for Children with ASD researched and developed by Beijing Haidian School for the Mentally Handicapped, and the Shuangxi Assessment Scale developed by the Taiwan Shuangxi Culture and Education Foundation for the Mentally Handicapped.