CUHK
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The Department of Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will hold the fourth Interactive Concert for Autism on Sunday, 22 December which aims at enhancing the development of autistic children through music and people’s understanding on autism.  The concert provides a totally stress-free environment for all audiences to relax and move around as they wish.  Different kinds of music will be played by volunteer musicians and performers.  Autistic children and their family, as well as members of the public are welcome to join the concert.  Interested parties please register at: www.musicautistic.com/page144. 

The concert was initiated by Prof. Agnes S. Chan, Department of Psychology at CUHK, who has been studying autistic children for over ten years.  She said, ‘The idea behind this project is to use music to help autistic children relax and express themselves freely in a natural stress-free environment, where they can feel accepted and are allowed to sing, dance, clap hand, and run around.  I wish to express our gratitude to all participated musicians and performers who perform voluntarily for the concerts, enabling those specially-needed children to enjoy various types of music.  Most importantly, the concert illustrates how knowledge can be transferred from academic theories to practical applications.  We hope it will have a positive impact on the children’s growth.’ 

It is a common misunderstanding that autistic children are ‘isolated’ and ‘unresponsive’, that they do not have emotions and are not interested in things happening around them. In fact, autistic children, like many other children, have their emotions but they have difficulty to communicate and express such emotions.  Those with language delay or very limited verbal expressions cannot express their needs, thoughts and feelings properly; while those with normal language ability may still have difficulty when interacting with others.  It will become even worse if they are discriminated or bullied in schools. 

The previous three Interactive Concerts were very successful, attracting hundreds of families to join.  Some participating children who seldom talked or smiled showed happy faces and expressed themselves through words, sounds or movements during the concerts.  Photos and videos of these joyful moments can be viewed at www.musicautistic.com. 

Details of the upcoming concert are as follows: