Hanoi (VNA) – Tears, teasing and discrimination are absent in this school, where dozens of children with autism are emotionally immersing themselves, in the sound of music and painting, creating their own world.

The Sunrise for Arts (SforA) school in Hanoi is the first educational facility in Vietnam taking on music as a life support and form of behavioural therapy for children with autism.

When music becomes a form of therapy 

Internationally-known and award-winning violist Nguyen Nguyet Thu, who founded SforA, has a 17-year-old son with autism.

After years of doing researches to help her own autistic son, Thu found that defects in detecting sounds are common amongautistic people.

"Music and a proper teaching method can do tremendous goodto those with the condition," Thu told Vietnam News Agency.

“We can tell if they (the children with autism)are in a friendly or nervous mood via the music and tone they are playing,” she said.

With that understanding, SforA teachers know how and whento teach their students to play music, to learn language skills, or how to behave so theycan grow their awareness and personality. 

“By measuring the sound sensitivity of mystudents with a specialised tool, I can tell who has special talents for musicand help them to develop their skills,” the musician added. 

Autism is a developmental disorder characterisedby trouble with social interaction and communication and by restricted andrepetitive behaviors. It is caused by a combination of genetic andenvironmental factors.

After nearly five years of operation, SforA hasset up three centres in Hanoi, delivering affordable treatment services. It hasdeveloped its own textbooks for music lessons, social skills and basic academicknowledge.

“I hope what SforA has done will be widelyapplied to help more children with autism,” Thu said.

Parents' love for their child never gets old

A daughter of Thoa (who doesn’t want her fullname to be published) was diagnosed with autism when she was small. 

“My daughter could not talk like otherchildren. I kept hoping that she had something wrong with her vocal cords evenwhen she showed other typical symptoms of autism,” Thoa recalled.

Thoa took her daughter to an ENT doctor for atest. The doctor concluded that her daughter had autism.

“At that moment, I was not surprised or sad,and my maternal love told me that my child is perfect whatsoever.”

Nguyen Thi Van Anh, in Hanoi, has a son withautism.

“Sometimes, my son ran around the house andyelled at midnight. My husband and I ran after him. It was worse than anightmare.”

“However, my maternal instinct told me to care more about figuring out ways to help my son improve rather than wondering where his condition came from,” she said.

Nguyet Thu said her son came into her life as aperfect gift.

“Looking back, I sometimes thought of my son asan angel, who came to help me know better the purpose of my life.”

She believes she is destined to help other children withautism become complete to their parents, as well as to inspire their parents,and give them trust and hope to continue the journey with their children.

Be real friends with your autistic child

According to Hoang Duong Binh, head of theHoang Nhan Psychological Consultation Club, parents of children with autismneed to adapt themselves to and be true friends with their children. 

"Many parents of autistic children tend to get nervous and impatient, which is understandable," Binh said.

However, they are supposed to create even more friendly andpeaceful atmosphere to help their children achieve a mind-emotion balance, he suggested.

There is a special connection between childrenand parents, particularly the mothers, therefore the mother’s state of mind hasan influence on her children’s wellbeing in a strong and subtle manner, accordingto Binh. 

“Children who have patient, emotionallyattentive and sensible mothers tend to have balanced and peaceful minds, whilethose having nervous or ambitious mothers tend to bear stresses, even fears,”the expert elaborated.

Binh is among the pioneers to apply meditationin treatment of mental disorders in Vietnam. He believes meditation can be aneffective therapy and advises parents of children with autism to practicemeditation. 

“Some said my advice is nonsense. However, Iwould like to let the outcomes of our centre over the past decade speak for themselves,”Binh told Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of a recent workshop “Meditationfor parents of children with autism” in Hanoi.

He said positive energy created by parents whopractice meditation will do some good to the improvements of their childrenwith autism.

Currently, Binh gives meditation instructionsfor dozens of parents of children with autism, who believe they, more thananyone or anything else can make the difference for their own children.

After all, any children, particularly vulnerable ones should be more of the responsibility of their parents than any institutions, Binh added.

Also at the workshop, PhD.Truong Thi Nhu Quynh,head of the Natural Life meditation club said meditation has become a populartreatment method. Some diseases have good response to silent treatment, such asmeditation.

“Parents who practice meditation will have morebalanced and calm behaviour, creating a more positive environment for theirchildren to grow up," Quynh said.

"Ultimately, meditation can generate good impacts for theliving quality of families with a member with autism, thus building trust among them,” Quynh explained.

After practicing meditation at the Hoang NhanClub, “I have felt positive changes in feelings, behavior, and attitudestowards my daughter,” Thoa said.

Like Thoa, Nguyen Thi Van Anh practicedmeditation after she once sought help from a sorcerer amid confusion. She realised that patience and calm have walked her through the ups and the downs.

“Since practicing meditation, I have felt lessworried and doubtful and had a more tolerant look at my son’s world, as well asestablished a better connection with him,” Van Anh said.

Recently, Van Anh and her husband have nolonger had to wake up at night and run after their son around the house,because he has a good sleep. 

Love, trust, and patience bear fruit

“My daughter now likes to draw. Her paintingsare simple and filled with such emotional expressions as sadness, joy, cryingor smiling faces. Sometimes, she watches films and asks me why the actresscries,” Thoa said.

The eight-year-old girl, who used to stay hidden, now socialises quite well. She remains quiet sometimes,which Thoa would consider part of her character rather than symptoms of autism.

Maternal trust and love have given Nguyet Thudetermination and patience to accompany her son over the past decade.

“The way he shows his emotions naturally, his behaviours and attitudes really surprise me,” Thu said proudly.

Thu’s 17-year-old son, who couldn’t speak atfour, now can speak English, Dutch, and Portuguese. He loves his mother somuch.

“If I had been equipped with better knowledge adecade ago, I thought I could have helped my son to be absolutely normal, evenbecome a talented person,” Thu said.

Nguyet Thu hopes that, with her own experienceand dedication, SforA School will offer more opportunities for other childrenwith autism. She also plans to set up a therapy model targeting parents ofchildren with autism.

“Being parents, you should always be there for your children when they need you most, whether they are smartor autistic, to become geniuses or any average persons.”-VNA