FGA500 Characters in this Issue Zhang Xiaofan, CEO of Wuhan Linjie Rehabilitation Medical Center Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc.

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People in this issue

Wuhan Linjie Rehabilitation

Medical Center CEO

Zhang Xiaofan

Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "ABC") is a special education institution established in California, USA, with a history of more than 30 years, mainly for patients with autism spectrum. Provides intervention and treatment services to people with disorder (hereinafter referred to as "ASD") and other related developmental disabilities, especially children. In the summer of 2019, the company received a job application from Zhang Xiaofan.

After the interview, ABC believed that Zhang Xiaofan met the requirements to become a behavioral consultant. However, HR asked again, "Are you sure you want to do this?" The other party seemed a little strange. This 26-year-old with a background in electronic engineering and game development Why young people choose low-paying jobs.

"I am very happy to see the changes in children's lives. For me, making money is not the first priority, but the joy and sense of accomplishment of working with others have changed me." After working at ABC for half a year , Zhang Xiaofan returned to his hometown of Wuhan for the Spring Festival, and just in time for the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, he decided to stay in China and joined Wuhan Linjie, which has a cooperative relationship with ABC. The latter was founded in 2001 and was formerly Liyuan Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Hospital rehabilitation center for autistic children.

The picture shows Zhang Xiaofan, CEO of Wuhan Linjie Rehabilitation Medical Center

01

Focus on children with ASD and convey love

Currently, Zhang Xiaofan is both the scientific research project director of Wuhan Linjie and the director of the institution's rehabilitation medical center Legal representative, is responsible for developing innovative Experimental and interesting courses are used to improve the learning, social and life skills of children with ASD, and "language function conversion" and "rapid naming" are the behavioral intervention strategies it has recently adopted, in order to effectively promote the development of language communication skills of children with ASD.

"Quick naming" refers to improving the basis of language communication for patients with ASD by increasing their vocabulary and strengthening their ability to "label" various things in life. Zhang Xiaofan said that for normal children aged 2 to 4 years old, they can naturally express themselves after being exposed to hearing and seeing, but for children with ASD, it is necessary to provide a higher frequency of language exposure and more diverse exposure methods. , such as making the language communication content in the family environment richer and fuller.

"In an experimental class I am leading, each child can achieve an average of 4 STOs (Short Term Objective, short-term goal) every half day." Zhang Xiaofan is quite satisfied with his educational results. "There are more than 300 children in the rehabilitation medical center now, and last year we had about a 30% to 40% return rate, which means they can return to normal mainstream society."

Pictures provided by Zhang Xiaofan

02

Because of love, I became associated with special education

Zhang Xiaofan has nothing to do with special education. In 2009, at the age of 16, he went to the United States to study alone and completed high school in the United States as an international exchange student. Afterwards, Zhang Xiaofan studied for an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, and served as a customer service manager for Netis Systems, a North American communications equipment company (the company is a subsidiary of Leike, and worked with Qihoo 360 cooperates to launch router products). In his senior year, Zhang Xiaofan participated in a project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and entered Columbia University Teachers College after graduation to study for a master's degree in digital game design and development. Through a project during his first year of graduate school , he came into contact with the ASD children group for the first time.

"At that time, our group was asked to do an innovative project, and I contacted a local special education school in New York City. I would regularly observe the children in the school, and then design social games in a targeted manner "Gradually, Zhang Xiaofan, who was accustomed to dealing with machines, experienced a sense of accomplishment in helping children with special needs. "There was a child in school who originally ignored everyone around him, but slowly his relationship with me became better and better. Every time he saw me, he would rush over and hug my legs. This made me feel, I had the opportunity to help change the lives of this group of people.”

So Zhang Xiaofan applied to become a teaching assistant at Fred S. Keller School (a school that provides behavior analysis and early intervention services for children between 18 months and 5 years old) and began to work at the school. Practice the intervention method of applied behavior analysis (Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA) in the school classroom. At the same time, he also wants to further try to combine games and intervention treatments.

In 2019, with the sponsorship of the American communications operator Verizon, Zhang Xiaofan established his own company A. Project Lab. He hopes to use technology to create an immersive experience to enhance children's learning participation and effectiveness. In a project called "Pally" (Chinese meaning "intimate"), Zhang Xiaofan and his team created an augmented reality (AR) simulation game, which uses HoloLens as a carrier and aims to provide services for people including ASD. Provide virtual interactive environments for special groups, including children, to enhance their social skills outside the classroom.

03

On the road to entrepreneurship, kindness is the companion.

With its excellent settings and performance, Pally became the winner of the 2019 Verizon 5G EdTech Challenge. . In Zhang Xiaofan’s view, this is an affirmation and a positive affirmation. An incentive for them to continue improving their deficiencies. "The headset is indeed heavy and the experience is not good enough, but the hardware is constantly developing, and there are more and more content and applications related to VR and AR. Chinese manufacturers have also joined the market. Of course, the development of the entire industry It’s still in the early stages.”

As a public welfare organization, Wuhan Linjie’s business is divided into two parts: To C and To B. To C's service targets include children and parents: for children, Wuhan Linjie will develop a rehabilitation plan based on individual circumstances, and then gradually implement it after parents sign and agree; for parents, online and offline training courses will be provided to allow them to /They can carry out intervention activities at home in a more scientific and professional way. As for To B services, it provides consultation and training for other professional rehabilitation institutions and helps formulate institutional growth plans.

Zhang Xiaofan said that from his personal experience, when they are told that their children have ASD, many parents feel that the sky is falling, and then they become very anxious. Some parents do not believe the diagnosis, so they do not allow their children to receive treatment, thus missing the best period of treatment. parents need to have more patience and understand and learn the techniques and methods in applied behavior analysis when possible. randomly guides children to observe and learn in daily life.

For special education, the reason why parents’ intervention behavior should be emphasized is that, firstly, the family is an important part of children’s living environment, and secondly, because the number of rehabilitation professionals is insufficient. The "2021 Children's Developmental Disability Rehabilitation Industry Blue Book" shows that in 2020, there are 23,000 rehabilitation teachers for autistic children registered in the China Disabled Persons' Federation, while the conservative estimate of autistic children aged 0-18 is 3 million. The ratio between the two is 1:130; in addition, there are 100,000 teachers engaged in the rehabilitation of autistic children in China. Among them, there are only about 1,000 professionals who can provide high-quality services and hold internationally recognized intervention qualification certificates.

Zhang Xiaofan, who holds a BCaBA (Associate Behavior Analyst) certificate, believes that the United States is also facing a shortage of special education talents, but the situation in China is more serious.“In foreign institutions where I have worked, in many cases, the teacher-student intervention ratio is 1:1, and some are even 2:1, that is, 2 teachers to 1 student, which is the same as 1 teacher to multiple students. The effect will be different. Then we have to think about what changes should be made in the intervention strategy and specific implementation in one-to-many situations? Although there are many translated theoretical books in China, localization must be done. ”

Currently, in addition to teaching and participating in training for ASD rehabilitation education professionals, Zhang Xiaofan is also preparing to submit a research project to Hubei Province, which is about formulating service quality standards for ASD service organizations. In his view, the standards should include measures of children's growth and teachers' service capabilities. For example, how to measure the positive impact (“acceleration”) of external intervention on children? What is the status of teachers' personalized teaching of and ?

At the same time, Zhang Xiaofan has not given up on his pursuit of academics. In September this year, he will go to the University of Pittsburgh in the United States to continue his unfinished doctorate in special education, and plans to return to China after receiving his degree.

"As a Wuhan native, I still want to do something for Wuhan and Hubei. It would be better if the influence of these things could be extended to other parts of China."

Editor | Guan Zijun Typesetting | Andelina