By Angela Cruz, Marketing Director
Xiersen at ICONX Kids Sports Festival
ELG’s sister NGO, Xiersen, was chosen by ICONX to support for their first ever Kids Sports Festival that was held at The Place (虹桥南丰城) on May 13 and 14. It was a great weekend, packed with fun free sports activities for kids, such as tennis, baseball, and soccer. Parents and families came to our booth to learn more about Xiersen. Many of the participants were wearing their Xiersen AWare sleeves. In China, children with autism are called “children of the stars.” Sponsored by Gap, AWare’s yellow and navy colours are for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) awareness. Wear AWare sleeves to show your support of special needs in China and help connect advocates around the world!
Angela Cruz from ELG gave a speech explaining Xiersen’s mission, highlighting the AWare sleeves and the Careers in Care 2.0 Program, which will help train paraprofessionals in China to support children with special needs.
Harvard’s Dr. Owens’s Seminars on Sleep
On Friday, May 12, special guest speaker, Harvard’s Dr. Judith Owens delivered two fascinating seminars on the subject of sleep among children and teenagers. She was joined by ELG’s Dr. Wang (whom she supervised for his Ph. D. research).
In the morning, she gave a stimulating seminar in Pudong Special Education School (PDSES) on “Managing Behavioral Insomnia in Children with Special Needs.” Undeterred by the torrential rain outside, about 40 parents and kids attended the talk. Following the seminar, Dr. Owens and Dr. Wang, who helped translate, held a Q&A, which proved to be very engaging, with a number of interesting questions being raised by parents. Questions continued even after the Q&A session had finished! Since ELG supported this event, our staff members helped answer questions and gave parents information about our services.
Later that day, Dr. Owens presented a seminar at ELG’s Puxi Campus on “Sleep Education: Facts and Advice about the Need for Sleep,” focusing particularly on the effects of sleep for adolescents and providing helpful tips and advice for kids and parents alike. The ELG Puxi campus kitchen was full of parents and teachers, as well as one teenager, who were all eager to learn more about sleep. The event went overtime by half an hour before we had to end it, with audience members raising numerous questions and expressing a keen interest in the evidence-based research on sleep issues conducted by Dr. Owens over her decades-long career.
For those of you who weren’t able to make the seminar, if there’s anything Dr. Owens wants you to take away, it’s that you shouldn’t hit your snooze button! Hitting snooze does not help your sleep or your productivity in any way. Thanks to Dr. Owens, Dr. Wang and everyone who came to the seminars! We enjoyed learning about the fascinating subject of sleep and we hope everyone who attended did too! If you missed the seminars, check out our Teen Sleep Series based on Dr. Owens’s talks.
ELG at Run in Blue
We at ELG had a fantastic time at the Run in Blue event on Saturday, May 6 at Century Park! Donations from the event went towards funding the Careers in Care 2.0 Program, run by ELG’s sister NGO, Xiersen Children Service Center, which will train local paraprofessionals in special education.
Nikki Lindgren at the China CIO Alliance Conference
Nikki also participated in a panel discussion about how CCA can better be linked to the wider community. She encouraged attendees to look for gaps to be filled in the community, as she did when starting community initiatives REACH and Healthy in Shanghai. She cautioned attendees to not just provide superficial CSR experiences but really try to use their expertise to teach others or support existing projects.
Inspired attendees also gave suggestions for CCA members to work on open source projects or record talks that can be shared for free online in order to share their skills and help others.
We look forward to seeing how CCA and its membership moves forward in finding ways to be socially responsible!
Nuanxing Community Workshop on Children’s Language in Wenzhou
On Sunday, May 14, Siyang Sun, Speech-Language Pathologist, led a workshop on “How to Develop Children’s Language at Home” in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, with around a hundred parents and teachers from Wenzhou and nearby towns attending the event. Siyang introduced key principles in helping non-verbal children to develop verbal language, as well as in helping verbal children to use language in a more functional and appropriate way. He also explained in detail some strategies, activities and games for parents to facilitate their children’s language development at home.
ELG at Livingston American School’s International Festival
ELG attended the Shanghai Livingston American School’s International Festival on Saturday, May 20. There were some great performances from students and teachers, booths for different countries, a bouncy castle and even a mechanical bull! There was also a lot of interest from families about the ELG Therapeutic Summer Program. You can find out more about the Summer Program here.
ELG at Hangzhou International School Dragon Run
ELG was at the 10th Annual Hangzhou International School Dragon Run on Saturday, May 20. There was a 5K Race, Family 1K Fun Run, food stalls and games. The Dragon Race raises money for charities all over China. This year they supported The Library Project and Carnations School.
Examples of Workshops and Trainings
Sarah Bilodeau, Dramatherapist, delivered an “Introduction to Dramatherapy” at the Shanghai International Mental Health Association’s (SIMHA) annual training day.
Davy Guo, Psychologist and Community Relations Manager, delivered a parent workshop on the topic of “Helping my Child to Succeed Abroad” at a school in Shanghai.
Lei Jin, Educational Psychologist, held a parent workshop on the subject of communication with teens at an international school in Suzhou.
Our 6-part Love and Logic series for parents at an international school came to a close, facilitated by Speech-Language Pathologist Evelyn Willemyns.
Evelyn also presented with Registered Behavior Technician Tameah Chandler about getting fussy eaters to eat well for parents at an international school.