How did this all start? It started with my mom reading "Autism Breakthrough" by Raun Kauffman which teaches techniques used in the "Son-Rise Program". She then got Jeremy and I copies of the book and told us we HAVE to read the book ASAP! :) We started reading the books in March 2015 and could not put the book down. It made so much sense and it seemed like the perfect approach to use with our daughter Ashley. We started using some of the techniques from the book on Ashley (joining, 3 E's, celebration, motivation, and changing our attitudes during interactions with her) and saw immediate results. It is very different from ABA which says autism is behavioral disorder. Son-Rise Program sees autism as a social relational disorder.
This hit home for us because Ashley makes very little eye contact, does not have friends, does not talk, has many sensory issues and probably 80% of the time she is in her own world "isming" or stemming(rocking, head banging, pulling hair or eye lashes out, lining up toys, spinning balls, flipping through a book). One thing that makes Son-Rose unique is "joining" which means you join in your childs' "isms". If she is rocking, then we sit 4 feet in front of her and rock with her. We were skeptical at first because it sounds like this would increase these odd behaviors. However, we have already seen that she will make great eye contact with us, smile, and then we get to interact & build trust! Before we would stop her stemming or redirect her but that only made her upset or more anxious. The book points out that stemming is what calms her down since the world is overwhelming and unpredictable so this is how she survives. So we will no longer stop any of her stemming unless she is really harming herself. This gives us a great way for us to join her world so we might be able to pull her into our world. Here is a video on a Son-Rise technique called “joining” that Ashley is already responding well to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giFZP6k0sdg
This book made me see that I had our priorities and school goals all backwards. How does it help Ashley if she can complete a puzzle or know her colors if she cannot relate to people or interact??? Isn't it better that we focus on her social skills and interaction so that she can learn even better from looking at people and listening? She can always catch up on education later! We also have been using a binder with PECS (picture exchange system) so that she could communicate to us for the last 2 years. I was even pushing the school district to test her and transition her to IPAD to communicate. I feel that it has now become a crutch for her and we have not been challenging her to make sounds or words for items she wants. She can make sooooo many sounds when playing with a doll and sometimes it sounds like Chinese. :) Honestly, we gave up hope that she would ever talk because she has not yet at age 5. So with Son-Rise Program we will be fading out the PECS so that she will be challenged more to use words!
We were so grateful to be given financial assistance to attend the Son-Rise Start Up Program on April 12th, 2015 in Sheffield, MA. We flew into Boston and the next day drove a few hours to the Autism Treatment Center of America. It was a very intense week and we learned so much! We came home with so much hope and ready to start getting ready to do a full time program with Ashley this summer. We are confident it will allow her to improve her communication, develop deeper levels of social engagement, and to accomplish all that God has for her. It has also changed our attitudes, our view of Ashley and is helping us love her even better!
We got to enjoy an afternoon & evening in Boston!
Amazing view and sunset from our hotel room
Kate Wilde is author of "Autistic Logisitics" and she was also one of our teachers for the week!
This was our Start Up April 2015 group with 52 parents from all over the US and many other countries like Canada, UK, Africa, Australia.
Beautiful! Our school sent me a letter when my son finished kindergarten and it said I needed to check out and use a picture board to communicate with my son over the summer. I was livid when I learned they were using pecs signs and pictures instead of encouraging verbal communication. I sat in a room surrounded by professionals who disagreed that my son would learn verbal skills! They stopped using him at my request and that is when he started making just a few repetitive words. In fact, my son only learned one sign....for smile so when asked to smile for the camera he would grow, look at the ground and sign! That made it clear to me that Son-Rise was right for our son. I was hooked the first 15 minutes when he reached out for the first time to take my hand to walk in circles. Many people think if a child isn't using words by age 4 it is permanent. It's only permanent if you believe it is. Now, Josh is verbal and developing! We have been to Start up and New Frontiers and hope to attend the Intensive next to learn how to help with higher level skills! What a great story you already have. We wish you tremendous success.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, Thank you so much for sharing your story and that is so encouraging!!!!!
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