A project in Hong Kong is helping families of children with special needs, like autism, overcome financial difficulties and emotional distress. One mother shared her struggle with despair and the positive impact of the program on her life and her son's.

Wrestling with mounting financial difficulties and the challenges of caring for a child with autism, Hong Kong mother Chau Ting-ting found herself struggling several years ago with thoughts of ending her life. The 30-year-old recalled on Thursday that her son Ziyi, now five, began displaying symptoms consistent with autism when he was two years old. Counsellors advised her to send the boy to a nursery to increase his contact with other children his age. “But when I went to the nursery, I saw...