Sponsors Help Hao Achieve His Full, Thriving Potential

When 8-year-old Hao started school a couple years ago near his home in Vietnam, his family quickly learned that his school was not equipped to meet his needs. Thankfully, Hao was welcomed with open arms at a special school supported by Holt sponsors and donors.

Two years ago, Hao was a very scared little boy. Six years old at the time, Hao had just started school near his home in a coastal community where he lives with his parents and older sister in Vietnam. Scared of all the new faces, he would often just cower in a corner of the classroom and cry or shout if others came near him. He would squeal or bang his head. His mom had to stay with him all day at school, which kept her from her job selling vegetables in the market. As the sole income-earner in her household at the time, this put a lot of stress on their family.

“After a month, [Hao] was rejected due to his crying a lot and needing his mother to be with him all the time at school,” shares Ms. Quyen Le, the director of Kianh Foundation Center, a Holt partner that provides special education in Vietnam. “It was a harsh time for the family.”

Like many parents of children with special needs living in underserved, impoverished communities, Hao’s mom and dad were devoted to their son and did their best — but did not have the resources or training needed to help him overcome his fears and challenging behaviors. Neither, unfortunately, did his teachers. Hao has autism with complex behaviors and sensory needs that the teachers at his public school were not trained or equipped to manage. After a month of kindergarten, he was asked to leave.

 “Both husband and wife felt stressed and exhausted, not only about the income issue but also in taking care of their child,” explains Ms. Le, adding that Hao’s father lost his job early in the pandemic and remained unemployed for the following two years. Their income was reduced so much that they had to cut back on groceries and limit the amount of food they gave Hao and his older sister.

“They just hope to find a safe environment for their child when they go to work,” Ms. Le says, “not even thinking about improving his disability condition.”

But just when they needed help most, they learned about the Kianh Foundation Center — a special school in their community supported by Holt sponsors and donors. At Kianh Foundation, Hao would not only have a safe place to go during the day, but a whole new world of possibility would open up for him.

Special Education in Vietnam

Kianh Foundation Center opened in 2012 to meet a unique need in this community.

Located in an impoverished, semi-rural area of central Vietnam, the Kianh Foundation Center is enveloped by tropical foliage — regrowth over generations of the same lush foliage that the U.S. military doused with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The dioxins used in Agent Orange are tied to at least a dozen health conditions, including birth defects.

Today, this region of Vietnam continues to have an unusually high rate of children and adults living with disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, cognitive delays and other conditions. Before Kianh opened, many children with disabilities in this community would either stay home all day — or, out of poverty and desperation, their families would send them to live in an orphanage. But a tide shifted when Kianh began welcoming children with disabilities and presented them with a rich special education curriculum, including art, dance and swimming classes, life skills instruction, and physical, occupational and speech therapies.

At Kianh, children are encouraged to reach their potential and are given opportunities to fully participate in their community. Older children receive vocational training in sewing, gardening and hospitality work — providing skills they can use to help them find jobs in the nearby tourist destination. As so many families live in poverty, Holt sponsors and donors help make it possible for tuition to be charged on a sliding scale, depending on the families’ ability to pay. Children also receive free nourishing meals during the school day.

Hao first began receiving community outreach services from Kianh in 2022, including physical and speech therapies and specialized training for his parents to help them care for him. With such tremendous need in the community, classrooms at Kianh are always full — and the school has a long waitlist of children hoping to attend. The school strives to keep class sizes small and maintain a low teacher-to-student ratio. But recognizing the need, Kianh started an outreach program to help serve even more children with disabilities in the community.  

For these children, the therapies and support they receive in their homes helps them learn essential life skills and have better communication with their families. For the parents, these services empower them to understand their children’s disabilities and how to help them live their lives to the fullest — something all parents want for their children.

“The parents have big love for Hao, and they cooperate well with the teachers and follow all the instructions in interacting with their son,” Ms. Le says of Hao’s mom and dad. “They applied all the knowledge and skills that teachers provided and guided while working with him.”

Then in May 2023, when a spot opened up for Hao at Kianh Foundation, his parents were overjoyed — and they immediately began to see significant changes in their son.

When he first started at Kianh, Hao had the same fears and behaviors as he did at his other school. Thankfully, this time, his teacher knew how to help him. He even trusted her enough to hold his hand during naptime to help him feel safe without his mother by his side.

“As with many children with autism, he is a quiet boy who often seems to be in his own world,” Ms. Le explains. “However, he has started to respond to those around him much more and seems less uncomfortable with people and things around him.”

In just weeks of working with Hao, his parents and teachers saw progress in his communication skills and his ability to understand and comply with simple requests such as putting away his chair or having a drink of water.  As he was finally able to communicate his needs, many of his more challenging behaviors began to subside — both at home and at school. 

“The child is now learning happily in class with his classmates.  He knows to wait for his turn, understands learning activities, and is calm when interacting with people around him, which is completely different from before when Hao had only little interaction with his family members,” Ms. Le says.

With the support of Holt sponsors and donors and the dedicated team at Kianh Foundation, Hao is no longer the scared, cowering little boy that he once was. He is now on the path to achieve his full, thriving potential.