Wu Liangsheng sets his hands on his student's in encouragement. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei /China Daily]

Supportive families and society

Wu's wife is also a teacher at the institution, who was Wu's supervisor during his early years there. His daughter, who is 12 years old, has known about autism since she was a child.

"Some of my friends are parents of autistic children, and we'd hang out together often on the weekend, and my daughter has had the opportunity to communicate with these children. She's even volunteered to take care of the children when the parents are taking classes," Wu said proudly.

Inspired by Wu, his youngest sister also started teaching autistic children.

"My parents do not understand what autism is, but they believe that what I am doing is something kind, something to help children and parents," said Wu. "My achievements come from a supportive family."

In Wu's eyes, society has been progressing throughout the past decades. Years ago, when they took students on an outing, some students might have grabbed food from local snack stands without paying. The shopkeeper used to scold the children and teachers for not paying and refused to listen to the teachers' explanations about autism.

"But now people are more aware of autism and most of the owners will let us go. Some even kindly refuse the money and give the children some food. But we will pay anyway, the children have to know about the social rule, which is no pay, no gain," added Wu.