For 30 years, Dr. Helen McCabe has collaborated with professionals, families and organizations to develop and expand opportunities for children with autism in China.

She has also provided training and support to thousands of families and teachers in China through a non-profit organization that she co-founded, The Five Project on International Autism and Disability Support.

As an associate professor of education at Daemen University, she focuses on special education and early childhood special education.

To help share her knowledge, McCabe will give an online lecture titled, Collaborating to Provide Educational Opportunities for Children with Autism in China at 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday, April 1.

Register today to attend the lecture, presented by the University at Buffalo Confucius Institute, as part of the Great Lakes Chinese Consortium Spring 2021 lecture series.

To dive deeper on the subject of McCabe’s lecture, we asked her some questions about her work and its importance in China, the U.S. and more.

Autism is increasingly prevalent in both the U.S. and China, as well as worldwide. Many students are interested in teaching students with autism, and every teacher will have a student with autism at some point, regardless of their certification. – Dr. Helen McCabe

How does your unique background working with families and teachers in China add to Daemen’s program and the exposure and offerings you are able to provide to our students?

I often share examples in class of classrooms where I have worked, and at least half of the time these are examples from China. While strategies for working with children are often effective across cultures, I am able to give them a different perspective based on the unique societal and educational context in China. I hope this helps students to better understand our own education system as well as get a vision of a system that is in some ways very different from our own.

How can students’ learning about Autism in China help them in their career after graduation both in the U.S. and abroad if they so choose?

This is exactly my hope – I hope that students might learn about autism in China and become intrigued with the idea of working abroad. I have gained so much from my teaching experiences in China, many of which have made me a better teacher here in the U.S. too. In other words, even if they want to teach abroad for a short time, that will definitely have a positive impact on them, and show them different ways of working with children and different ways of providing education, which can be applied back home as well.

What do you think makes Daemen’s education programs unique?

I love that Daemen offers certification all the way from early childhood (and early childhood special education) through adolescence education in many subject areas. Starting right from birth (early childhood) is quite unique and something that attracted me to Daemen!

What made you want to provide this presentation opportunity?

It’s always helpful to learn about innovative practices, maybe especially those in countries other than one’s own. It helps us to consider new options and possibilities for students with autism, and I hope this might bring some new ideas to our students that they can use in their current and future work.

Learn more about Daemen’s variety of top quality education programs today.