I struggled with this. I taught in a training school, and some of the kids were just obviously suffering from some kind of learning disability - not engaging, not working with the other kids, not talking with the other kids, complete lack of social skills, all sorts of symptoms manifested in my classroom.

The parents didn't want to know about it: "they always get along well with other kids", "the main day school says he's top of the class!", "she's always very active at home", "I've never heard anything like this before!".

In one or two cases I did kind of what you were suggesting and took a little time while the other kids were doing crafts and stuff to work one-to-one with them. That, of course, was very difficult in a training school because all the parents were peering through the windows and would have got VERY upset if they'd though another kid was getting preferential treatment.

At the start, one particular kid would not engage in learning as part of a normal lesson, but he would talk with me a little bit. He loved drawing, so I bribed him to speak a little bit of English by drawing pictures and having him tell me what they were (a poor exchange, I'm the worst artist on the planet). Eventually, his participation improved somewhat. If the kid is genuinely in the aspbergers/autism spectrum, you'll find the things they like, they REALLY like.

One, I'm about 99% sure the kid was dyslexic, and she became much easier to work with once I figured that out. Once she realised I wasn't going to humiliate her by trying to make her publicly do things she couldn't, her verbal progress at least was much more rapid and behaviour was much improved. I didn't have enough time with her to do anything about her written problems and nor was I trained to - my TA told me she was not much better at writing in Chinese, poor kid. I shudder to think what she's going to go through when she gets to high school.

Certainly don't give up on the kids, Hulk, they are probably not receiving the specialised learning they need (because what parent would admit their one precious little lion had a learning disability, even a fixable one) but kindness and persistence even from an untrained person can help. But, you should also recognize that a child with a learning disability, of any kind, needs a complicated, caring and knowledgeable support network and you cannot be the entire solution for them.

I don't think that being abandoned by the parents is a realistic possibility (although, my ability to predict Chinese behaviour blows). You're more likely to get one of two responses;

1. No, she/he does not have a problem.

2. If she/he has a problem, then the fault is yours as a teacher or there is a problem with the school.

Oh, and in terms of running a classroom which contains learners like you've described: structure, routine and discipline are your friends. Particularly routine.

Hulk,

Welcome to teaching! However I advise you to beware of how much personal emotional intelligence you give to it, especially with children, if you ignore my advice you won't last a semester (imho).

You're a teacher NOT a doctor or parent, but if you allow it you'll be an unpaid both.

I had a a parent, who I trained at an international company, ask me to observe his son at English classes. The father, who had studied and worked in Canada, knew there was a problem with his son. He was aware, from conversations, that I was a disability tutor with TAFE in Australia, and had studied Inclusive Education methods at university.

I observed, and came to a similar conclusion that you did. The father was quite happy to take my advice, and seek medical and professional assistance for his son, but the school went into complete attack mode.

They insisted that I thought ALL Chinese were inferior and retarded, just because I was a foreigner. They contacted the companies I trained, telling them I was a bad teacher (none of them took any notice), and banned the from the school. They called and sent emails abusing me many times a day. It was constant for 2-3 weeks, then they just stopped.

My advice, based on that experience, is to be careful what you say. Remember, they are as paranoid as hell about foreigners, and won't stand for anything that even slightly appears to be "criticism" of a Chinese person.

The parents did, however, remove their son from the school. The school's opinion of me was of no consequence, because it was a one off thing with them. I would not get involved if my visa was through them.

I have a student, aged 5 who suffers from the same issue. Unfortunately he is quite ignored in the classroom and I had to make use of some serious efforts to convince the teachers that he needs a special treatment and special attention. After several month the kid got adapted to the new environment.Usually he would cry all the time calling after his "papa". It took several months until he started to smile and now is better than ever as of his psychological and emotional balance. He needs a lot of attention to keep up with the level of his class.

As an English teacher, I tried to do something but it was not enough. I was thinking these days that I should make up on a plan to help him more than I did. All in all , the Chinese  teachers tend to ignore him though they do their best too to make him feel comfortable with the rest of the children in the class. 

What pleasantly surprised me is that at least the kids don't treat him like somebody weird. They never make fun of him and all the contrary they treat him like anybody else in the class. 

hulk, ignore it. there is nothing you can do for them in cina. this is still a stone age society, and bringing any attention to it will cause more harm than good.  their family will not accept it, and they would lose face. and everyone around them would mock the poor child.

this is china

Well, those kids are warming up to me. I got one of them to draw a picture and participate in the games. It's a start, but he's warming up. I've given them a lot of attention during the lessons, and they seem to appreciate that.

MissA, your recommendations were really helpful. I found something one of them really likes: the color purple. We even got him to complete one game and, of course, he chose the purple sticker. He still didn't maintain eye contact with anyone, or talk to anyone, but it's obvious he's able to listen.

Still working on the other kid. I think he's got it worse, but I'll keep trying. Fortunately, he's started to make a few shy attempts at eye contact before looking away. He's also speaking just a little tiny, tiny bit. Is that huge? Come to think of it, this kid reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger... it's probably part of the reason why I don't want him being left behind.

(more updates, but I'm not sorry, and I'm really fixated on this issue)

I actually brought this up with an assistant today. She told me that the third kid can't speak anything, and his parents really want him to speak. He doesn't speak Chinese either, and they're worried about him.

She thinks the child might have autism, but she told me not to tell anyone because she thinks everyone will get mad. She seemed to imply that the school will lose his tuition money. In fact, she told me, in her own words, "We can't tell anyone. They will become angry. We can only hope he will soon speak"

She says she wants to help him really bad, but she doesn't know how. I offered to set aside some time to teach him by myself, and she liked that idea. However, she was afraid I didn't know enough Chinese to teach him. I'm not sure it matters seeing as he's never said a word in his life.

However, it does look like the school is warming up to the idea of helping some of these kids. Okay, I get it. I'm not really qualified to teach a kid with autism (I actually think he's deaf, or really hard of hearing since he doesn't notice loud sounds, but it could be autism -- or both), but I'll be damned if I won't try. If anyone has some more tips (I know some of you -- like Traveler -- are qualified to teach such subjects), please share them here.

The parents obviously acknowledge this child has a problem, and I can help him for no extra charge. Should I just approach the parents since they've already confided in the school?

I agree with the other posts and from a personal experience with my own children a parent really doesn't want to hear something like that about their child (sometimes even if it is true) especially here they will lose face and with the one child policy it's all they got. i draw from several experiences in this area: Difficult to diagnose. 1) One of  my children was diagnosed ADD (which made matters worse my ex-wife teaches special Education and my witty son used every advantage to do less once he was diagnosed. he was smart and lazy. read all the Harry Potter books (because he liked them) but wouldn't do his homework for any reason. Watch for signs of intelligence.

2) I came from an area of the Southern states and social promotion was alive and well because as children they were slow and never learned the basics in any subject but were passed on to the next level on faith (because it was wrong to fail anyone, just like here in China now). And yes, all the education systems want the tuition money and high performance reviews for all their students (or they lose face, not just the parents). who wants to send their kid to a school where he could actually be failed for any reason (like cheating, low scores, no homework, incompetence, etc,) 

3) Don't make waves.If the headmaster or school authority doesn't have a special class at your school then I doubt they will even try to address the problem and just socially promote them. Here at the college i teach for attendance for some second or third year students is minimal at best but we are not allowed to fail them for this reason. We are encouraged to pass everyone regardless.  Even if i fail a student for cheating they complain to the office and I am sure the grade is changed for an apology.

4) Ask the chinese teachers what they would suggest and do in this case. I know most of them are scared to death of drawing any attention to themselves or calling out any students for any reason. Surely we can hope that the Chinese society has some means to deal with this issue but again probably not.

5) Helen Keller - Take a tip from one of the greatest teachers ever and find some way to communicate. My son, who was diagnosed with ADD, was actually quite deaf and it was never caught until later (after he was held back a grade because of low scores). So their may be another underlying problem that was never noticed. Drawing is a great idea for communication and can relay the level of intelligence and maturity. Plus gives them something to do and not just sit and stare.

6) Could be just an outcast and mocked with low self esteem. The pecking order really plays havoc here for many students for one reason or another.

7) They can read but no comprehension of what they are saying. Some students have learned phonetics but still can't comprehend anything or put two simple sentences together to answer a question. They are shy and afraid of being wrong and mocked. kids can be cruel to their peers.

8)try catoons, pictures of animals or toys. the kids have to have some favorite of some kind and use this to open them up. Find the key.

I am still sorting them out at the college level and we do have some handicapped students who try hard. 

So good luck. Hope this helps you find a solution

In China?

sadly, you cant....

Sounds like they have Asperger's. Don't single them out from the other students, and certainly don't take them apart for private lessons, otherwise they will feel more marginalised and accentuate their Asperger's.

What they need is people to engage them into conversation or participate in activities. They are in a completely different world and don't understand how the "normal" people interact or socially behave.

When you are teaching something, ask questions or make a few students participate in activities, but subtly focus a bit more on the kids with Asperger's. They need to be engaged in cognitive behavioral situations, so that normal social behaviours become natural to them after repetition. Those are kids who are as intelligent as their other classmates, but just don't follow the same social mainstream habits.

I had a dyslexic girl in my class in high school, and during reading time in class, one teacher (who happened to be one of my favourite) would ask several different classmates to read, but always included her. My teacher's attempt to help was a bit more subtle this way, and even the few other kids who were giggling stopped doing so after they realised that she was actually making progress over time.

Like you said, the society in China would treat them like they have some sort of mental disease and should be put in mental institutions. However, it seems like you have good and unselfish intentions, and it might be like the best thing that could ever happen to them to bloom in life. So give those kids a chance in a society where people would only selfishly neglect them.