Model railways provide perfect platform to engage with special needs children
Train club aims to educate public about autism
Masayasu Kageyama teaches a child how to operate a model train set
- ucanews.com correspondent, Tokyo
- Japan
- June 1, 2012
Of the many model railway enthusiasts that descended on Shizuoka City for the ‘Granship Trainfesta’ on May 19-20, the members of Masayasu Kageyama’s Aal Train Club were surely among the most benevolent.
A parishioner at Shizuoka’s Iwata Church, Kageyama runs a 12-member club which aims to engage with children that suffer from autism, a developmental disability that affects how people interact with others and the world around them.
The club operates its 1:80 scale model trains on "railroad trips" with autistic children and at special-needs schools.
“Autistic children love trains, too,” Kageyama says. “And their memories are so good they’ll memorize practically a whole train schedule and tell us how many more minutes it will be until the train bound for wherever shows up.”
Kageyama and his fellow club members also engage in educational activities with the general public designed to raise awareness and understanding of autism-spectrum disorders.
It all started when Aal Train Club set up a model railroad at a library where there was an autistic child in the audience.
“All we could think was: ‘What if that kid wrecks our trains?’ But later, the parents told us about the hardships of raising a child with autism,” he says.
Kageyama felt so ashamed at how little he knew of the disorder he began studying it intensely. He also began to take more notice of the many autistic people on his bus to work, which coincidentally ran right past a special needs school.
Sumiko Ohashi, the mother of an autistic child in Iwata City, says what all children like hers really want is the chance to engage with people.
“These children do enjoy being in their own little world, but if they find something fun they also like the outside world too. It’s just that people never invite them to play, so their world never gets any bigger,” she says.
At this month’s model railway event in Shizuoka City, Aal Train Club set up an information booth with free literature designed to offer information on autism. But for the club members and Ohashi’s son, the primary reason to be there though was for the trains.
“People with autism really do want people to listen to them, they just can’t put their feelings into words. They want to play with everyone, but if things don’t go well it’s very stressful for them,” says Ohashi. “That’s why I’m so happy to have the Aal Train Club.”
A parishioner at Shizuoka’s Iwata Church, Kageyama runs a 12-member club which aims to engage with children that suffer from autism, a developmental disability that affects how people interact with others and the world around them.
The club operates its 1:80 scale model trains on "railroad trips" with autistic children and at special-needs schools.
“Autistic children love trains, too,” Kageyama says. “And their memories are so good they’ll memorize practically a whole train schedule and tell us how many more minutes it will be until the train bound for wherever shows up.”
Kageyama and his fellow club members also engage in educational activities with the general public designed to raise awareness and understanding of autism-spectrum disorders.
It all started when Aal Train Club set up a model railroad at a library where there was an autistic child in the audience.
“All we could think was: ‘What if that kid wrecks our trains?’ But later, the parents told us about the hardships of raising a child with autism,” he says.
Kageyama felt so ashamed at how little he knew of the disorder he began studying it intensely. He also began to take more notice of the many autistic people on his bus to work, which coincidentally ran right past a special needs school.
Sumiko Ohashi, the mother of an autistic child in Iwata City, says what all children like hers really want is the chance to engage with people.
“These children do enjoy being in their own little world, but if they find something fun they also like the outside world too. It’s just that people never invite them to play, so their world never gets any bigger,” she says.
At this month’s model railway event in Shizuoka City, Aal Train Club set up an information booth with free literature designed to offer information on autism. But for the club members and Ohashi’s son, the primary reason to be there though was for the trains.
“People with autism really do want people to listen to them, they just can’t put their feelings into words. They want to play with everyone, but if things don’t go well it’s very stressful for them,” says Ohashi. “That’s why I’m so happy to have the Aal Train Club.”
