I learned about the ways to get along with autistic students. First, you needed to be genuine and pure-hearted when staying with them. Do not try to fake smiles because sometimes they may notice that you are insincere and actually dislike it. All you need to do is to treat them as a friend.
我学到了许多与自闭症孩子相处的方法。首先，你需要怀着真诚态度来的对待他们。不要刻意的去假笑因为有时他们能察觉到你心里其实是不喜欢他们的。你只需要把他们当成你的朋友就好了。
Moreover, you need to be happy yourself to make the atmosphere of the whole classroom more active and playful for the students. Most importantly, listen to and communicate with them. The few sentences that they say may seem trivial to us but contributes to a great step and improvement for them. Encourage them to have a back and forth conversation with you because this can be crucial and fundamental to their language system recovery. Finally, ensure their safety by paying attention to them, if they have any behaviors that are self-abusing or jeopardizing others, try to divert their attention. For example, there was one autistic student in our class who bit the back of her hand and banged her head into the wall. In a situation like this, you should stay calm. Giving too much attention would cause the child to think if he or she carries out this action, everyone will pay-attention to them. This would encourage them to continue this abusive action. You may easily divert their attention, for example, by putting a pen in their hand or giving them something to play with.
其次，你需要自己先敞开心扉，开心起来。这样才能活跃整个教室里的气氛然后带动学生。倾听他们的想法和与他们沟通也十分重要。他们不经意间的发言也许看着琐碎，但对他们是迈向正常沟通的一大步。多多鼓励你们之间来回的对话，因为这可以帮助恢复他们的语言系统。互相沟通对自闭症儿童而言起到了基本和关键的作用。最后，要保证他们的安全。如果他们有任何自虐或波及到他人的行为，尝试转移他们的注意力。比方说，有一个自闭症学生一激动就咬手背和撞墙。在这种情况下，你需要镇静。给予太多注意会适得其反，导致他觉得自己这样可以吸引大家的注意。这会鼓励他并让他故意去做这件事情。其实你可以轻易转移他们的注意力，譬如把一个笔塞到他们手里，或给他们什么东西玩。
After the lengthy training, I was finally assigned to a student named Nini. She was stout and chubby with an amiable smile that hung between her cherry like cheeks. Since we had extra volunteers, I partnered up with another volunteer to take care of her. She was 10 years old and quite young compared with the other students. Her speaking ability and understanding of the class are not as advanced as others. During class time, she refused to go in the classroom so I brought a handful of supplies to the other room that she was staying. We tried to convince her to draw so we uncapped some markers for her. She started to scribble on the paper with coarse and erratic lines that layer upon each other. The nib of the marker worn out quickly so we put a different colored marker in her hand. She continued her scrawling as her attention wandered and drifted away. She did not care what color she used, in fact, she barely looked at the paper. Afterwards, she started muttering in gibberish. At first, I did not recognize what she was saying but then I was certain that she was saying “Papa”.
经过了漫长的自愿者培训时间，我被分配来教一个叫妮妮的学生。她的身材较矮又有些胖墩墩的。她经常面带微笑，脸颊也很红润。因为自愿者人数较多，我与另外一个自愿者组队带妮妮。妮妮今年十岁，与其他学生相比年龄小一些。她的口语能力和对课堂的理解也没有他人熟练。有次妮妮在上课间不愿进入教室，因此我把大把的材料带到她在的房间里。我们一边拧开笔盖，一边尝试让她画画。她拿起笔反复的涂，粗糙和杂乱线条布满了整张纸。笔尖磨秃了，于是我们在她手中放了另外一支彩笔。妮妮继续涂着，她的双眸犹如起雾了一般，目光呆滞，毫无神采。她没有在意她用的颜色，甚至都没怎么看她画的是什么。后来她开始嘟囔着一些话语。起初，我并不清楚她先要表达什么。后来我才听懂她叫的是“爸爸”。
“Let’s go find Papa,” Nini suggested in an unnatural tone that extends and raises her voice.
“我们去找爸爸，”妮妮拖着长音说道，她的语气显有些既僵硬和不自然。
We explained to her that we can only find her dad after the art class is over. She started being more cooperative and agreed to go into the class room. All the other students were making candles that were decorated with exquisite pedals and leaves. However, she was inattentive and showed no slight interest in making the candle just like when she was drawing in the other room. We tried to hold her hand to pour the liquid wax and brush oil on the sides of the mold. But she stared blankly elsewhere as she repeated “Let’s go find Papa” so many times as if she was possessed. Abruptly, she stood up and headed towards the door. She was going to get out of the classroom again. I felt frustrated as I heaved a sigh. I realized that taking care of her was much more difficult than I expected. I thought to myself that all beginnings are hard and it is perfectly normal to encounter setbacks. This reminded me of the whole purpose I came. I wanted to understand more, to listen to the voices in their hearts. The task is not supposed to be easy in the first place. I stood there, took a deep breath and told myself that I should be more patient. I then walked out and caught up with Nini.
我们向妮妮解释我们只有下课了才能找爸爸。她开始更加配合并同意回到教室。其他学生都在制作蜡烛。那些蜡烛镶嵌着精致的花瓣和叶子。然而，她对做蜡烛表现出毫无兴趣的样子。我们尝试握着她的手然后带着她倒蜡液，但她还是眼神迷离的望着别处。她着魔了一般地重复着“我们去找爸爸”。猛然间，她站起来然后向门外走去。好不容易让才她留在教室里，这下她又要离开。我感到十分无奈和焦躁。我叹了一口气，然后发现照顾她比我想象的要艰难。我告诉自己所有的开端都是困难的，所以遇到难关也是正常的。这让我想起我参加这个活动的初衷，去理解，去倾听他们内心的声音。这项任务从一开始就不是什么轻而易举的事情。我站在那里，深吸一口气，并振作起来了。我走了出去随后跟上了妮妮。
For the next thirty minutes, all we did was take Nini across the hallway to find her Papa. We wandered around in the building while the others were working on their candles. To teach her some ways to draw, we drew circles, squares, and we even drew a teddy bear for her. Then, she was eager to show it to her dad.
接下来的三十分钟，我们唯一干的事情就是跟着妮妮满屋子跑。当我们在找妮妮的爸爸时，其他学生都在认真做蜡烛。为了教她一些基本的画画技巧，我们画了圆，画了方块，也为她画了一只泰迪熊。然后，她不知为何执着于让她爸爸看一看。
She murmured in her unnatural tone, “Let Papa see.”
她用不自然的语调嘟囔道，“给爸爸看。”
Then she repeated it countless times that we decided to let her visit her dad. We took her to her living place next door and met her dad. There were also other family members that squeezed together in this nonspecial and cluttered room. When we came in, they stopped their conversation and looked at us. Her dad hugged Nini and smiled at her tenderly.
随后妮妮不断的重复这句话，我们无奈的决定让她见一下爸爸。我们把她带到她家，也就是隔壁的一个房子，那里面也坐着妮妮其他的亲戚。我们走进他们所在的房间，那里有些拥挤和杂乱。我们一进来他们就停止了闲聊，把注意力转移到我们身上。我们见到了妮妮的爸爸，他一把抱住了妮妮并温和的对她笑着。
“Did you draw this?” Papa spoke fondly as he held the piece of paper.
“这是妮妮画的吗？”妮妮爸爸拿着纸，用宠溺的语气说道。
Nini slightly nodded. He glanced at us knowing that she did not draw it but continued to compliment her. Since class time was over, we left her and waved good bye. It seemed to me that her dad’s attitude to Nini was indulgence. This also explains why she was so reliant and bonded with her dad.
妮妮微微点头。妮妮爸爸瞥了我们一眼，对这幅画不是她画的也心知肚明。但他继续向妮妮表示认可和称赞。因为上课时间过了，我们就把妮妮留在那里并说了声再见。他爸爸对她的的态度看着有些溺爱。这可能也是妮妮这么粘着和依赖她爸的原因。
We returned to the class room and said good bye to the other students. We explained our situation to the teacher responsible for this program. She said that it is normal for an autistic child to not have eye contact or communication with you. She also recommended that we start to develop her interest in art by making it seem like a game. I started to reflect on myself that maybe this class was not successful because we told her to draw when she did not have the interest yet. Therefore, I hope that I can foster her interest in art and build a relationship with her. Then I can communicate with her more and strive to understand her and her feelings.
我们回到了教室，也送走了其他学生。我们向负责这起活动的老师解释了我们的状况。她表示如果自闭症的孩子没有和你有语言上或眼神上的沟通，那也是正常的。她建议我们慢慢培养她的绘画兴趣。我们可以通过把画画当成一个好玩的游戏，与学生玩。我开始反思并发觉这节课上的不顺利是因为我们在她绘画兴趣没有培养好之前就让她画画。这也是为什么她无心上课，对做蜡烛毫无兴趣。因此，我希望我可以逐步培养她的兴趣并建立更好的关系。这样我才能与她有更深层次的沟通和理解。
Images in the article are from internet.
Joyce's Blog 