Son-Rise Autism Program & Kidney disease and long soliloquies?

[Guest guest]

Marsha and Renee,

Wow, I wish I would have seen that show, because we do the

Son-Rise Program with our 6 yr old daughter. Barry Neil Kaufman and

his wife Samahria, created the program after their son was diagnosed

severely autistic and mentally retarded and the doctors said that

little Raun would never learn much of anything. My husband and I have

met Raun a few times, and it's true, I can't see anything remotely

Autistic about him now. Raun's friends in college (Brown University)

never knew about his past condition. Raun is now CEO of the Autism

Treatment Center of America

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/contents/about_son-rise/staff_bios.php

 

It's so great that there was something on TV about the Son-Rise

Program! Most Autism coverage lately has been Jenny McCarthy, which

I'm grateful for all she's doing to bring attention to this issue. I

read her book cover to cover, and while it's worth reading,

particularly if somebody is doing Bio-Medical interventions, which we

are, but for a teaching modality, she only talks about ABA, a

behavioral approach. One-on-one ABA works really well for about 48%

of ASD kids, but not our daughter. Son-Rise, a relationship based

modality, is giving us our daughter back. Our daughter's progress in

the year we have been doing Son-Rise has far out paced the previous 3

years with ABA, in terms of verbal communication, eye contact,

demeanor (no more 3hr tantrums), sleep pattern (no more begging her to

finally go to sleep at 4am) and toileting. This has been life altering!!!

 

If you know someone with a child with Autism, the Son-Rise book is

great! However, our favorite Autism book, if you want to get a

straight forward feel for the Son-Rise approach, I suggest reading the

book " What You Can Do Right Now to Help Your Child with Autism "

http://www.tenthingsautism.com/ by Jonathan Levy, a certified Son-Rise

Teacher who has worked one-on-one with over 800 kids, is a great resource

to get your feet wet and see if Son-Rise is the right approach for

your child. The book is a quick read, doesn't cost much, plus you

might find it at

your library, and while at the library, look for " Happiness is a

Choice " by Barry Neil Kaufman to get a feel for the attitudinal

approach. This approach has helped me deal with our daughter's

Autism, my renal disease, and life in general better than I ever have.

As to the original topic of my post Kidney disease and " long

soliloquies " , don't worry folks, it didn't upset me a bit. It was

just such a bizarre statement that I became curious whether anybody

had ever heard such a thing. Actually, it was good of a laugh at my

house...my husband and I kept doing jokes about my kidney trying to

type. ;-)

Anyway, if anybody wants to talk to me privately about our experiences

with Son-Rise, my email is nikasmomma2001 The most

important thing for parents to know is that hope is real.

Peace be with you!

---Nicole

, " Renee " <gaiacita wrote:

>

> I don't know if you are talking about the method developed by Barry

somebody

> Can't think of his last name right now. Their son was determined

to be

> very autistic. They did just as you mentioned and they have written

a book

> called Son Rise. It was when autism first was recognized as a

disease, so

> the boy is grown now and perfectly normal.

>

> Samala,

> Renee

>

> ----

>

> I just saw a tv presentation last night on a couple who worked

with their

> autistic child daily with a technique that brought him out of his

autism. It

> was incredible. I wish I could remember the method. Anyway, they

created a

> special room for him of his own, and they took away all of the

normal things

> that might distract him and only put his bed, bureau and all of his

favorite

> things. For instance, he enjoyed taking a certain item and waving it in

> circles, so that was in his room. And he liked taking a blanket and

hiding

> under it. Anyway, the father, the mother, and a therapist all took turns

> with him and worked with him 7 and 8 hours a day combined. They sat

one on

> one with him and copied him doing all of his favorite things. All of

this

> took about a year before he responded. Anyway, it was tiny baby

steps, but

> eventually he made eye contact with them as they interacted with him

doing

> his favorite things. He never had to leave the room. They brought

his food

> in and let him stay in his safe place, the key was copying him and

playing

> in that manner. Eventually his eye contact with them became more and

more.

> With the eye contact, they responded with a smile and would point at

him and

> show him even more that they were enjoying taking part in his type

of play.

> After one year, he spoke a word to them in an interacting way. At

his own

> request, he left the room to begin doing other things. He is a

normal boy

> today. The key was starting while he was young, he was about 4 years old

> maybe??? when they began and he did have a normal intelligence

level. Just

> wanted to share....

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Nicole. Wow--an amazing story! I'm so happy that you have found

something to help your girl. There are so many degrees of autism, but it's

difficult to 'manage' any of them apparently. I have no personal experience

with it, but am fascinated with it. How the mind works--how these children

function. I don't know the name Jenny McCarthy, but is that the girl who

can't talk but types on a talking computer? I know there is another lady

that has written a book on her life as an autistic person. It's amazing how

they see the world.

 

Samala,

Renee

 

----

 

It's so great that there was something on TV about the Son-Rise

Program! Most Autism coverage lately has been Jenny McCarthy, which

I'm grateful for all she's doing to bring attention to this issue. I

read her book cover to cover, and while it's worth reading,

particularly if somebody is doing Bio-Medical interventions, which we

are, but for a teaching modality, she only talks about ABA, a

behavioral approach. One-on-one ABA works really well for about 48%

of ASD kids, but not our daughter. Son-Rise, a relationship based

modality, is giving us our daughter back. Our daughter's progress in

the year we have been doing Son-Rise has far out paced the previous 3

years with ABA, in terms of verbal communication, eye contact,

demeanor (no more 3hr tantrums), sleep pattern (no more begging her to

finally go to sleep at 4am) and toileting. This has been life altering!!!

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Renee,

Actually, Jenny McCarthy is a model/actress who's son was diagnosed

with Autism. She is the spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism

(TACA) http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/index.htm and has a book

out about her experience with her son. It's an interesting book. The

language gets rather rough, especially when dealing with some of the

doctors. Then again, considering that at one point her son was having

seizures over and over for more than a day, and the hospital was just

having interns treat him (pumping him full of valium over and over)

and the pediatric neurologist was no where to be found...and neither

was her husband. I think most of us would have let some words fly at

that point.

As I said, I'm a bit disappointed that she only talks about ABA,

while giving the impression that she looked into all therapies.

Ironically, there are moments when she seems like she is about to

discover some Son-Rise like philosophies, but doesn't dig further.

Also, she comments about how sad it is that there were kids she saw

doing the same bio-medical interventions and ABA, but they didn't

progress like her son. She just chalked it up to a difference in

level of severerity, not digging further to realize that not all ASD

kids respond well to ABA so they need another type of teaching modality.

 

She does state the Autism statistics well, so that will help

awareness. Also, she goes into a lot of detail about the bio-medical

interventions that she heard about and which ones she tried; mainly

going gluten free, casein free, and yeast free (including yeast

elimination). She also does a fair amount of shaking things up with

the system that tends to say " sorry you kid has Autism " then tells

parents almost nothing about treating it. It took me almost 3 years

of internet searches to stumble upon Son-Rise

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/ That said, the message of the

book above all is hope. So I truly applaud that!

 

The need for a message of hope is so strong that for a while now, I've

been thinking it would be great if someone would do a documentary on

Autism that focuses on hope and therapies are helping kids, like

Son-Rise. One name kept popping in my head, Alan Alda. Though his

directorial experience is directing movies and TV, I think Alda's

friendship with William Christopher (from MASH who's son has Autism),

his segments on the PBS series " Scientific American Frontiers " dealing

with special needs children, and his experience growing up with a

mother with Schizophrenia would make such an endeavor intriguing to him.

I started reading his new book, " Things I Overheard While Talking

to Myself "

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Overheard-While-Talking-Myself/dp/1400066174/ref=sr\

_1_1/104-6260266-6952762?ie=UTF8 & s=books & qid=1191389967 & sr=1-1

, which I love, and decided to call the Diane Rehm Show while he was

on. I actually got through. I know it's a long shot that he'll do

it, since he has a lot on his plate and he has not actually directed a

documentary, but it was wonderful talking to him and I helped spread

the word about hope for Autism. If you would like to listen, the URL

is http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/09/12.php#16580 If you want to fast

forward, I'm on at 27m 15s into the program. That said, the whole

show is very interesting.

BTW, here is my favorite website in terms of having a comprehensive

list of treatments: http://www.kylestreehouse.org/about.cfm

Well, off to bed.

Peace be with you---Nicole

, " Renee " <gaiacita wrote:

>

> Hi Nicole. Wow--an amazing story! I'm so happy that you have found

> something to help your girl. There are so many degrees of autism,

but it's

> difficult to 'manage' any of them apparently. I have no personal

experience

> with it, but am fascinated with it. How the mind works--how these

children

> function. I don't know the name Jenny McCarthy, but is that the

girl who

> can't talk but types on a talking computer? I know there is another

lady

> that has written a book on her life as an autistic person. It's

amazing how

> they see the world.

>

> Samala,

> Renee

>

> ----

>

> It's so great that there was something on TV about the Son-Rise

> Program! Most Autism coverage lately has been Jenny McCarthy, which

> I'm grateful for all she's doing to bring attention to this issue. I

> read her book cover to cover, and while it's worth reading,

> particularly if somebody is doing Bio-Medical interventions, which we

> are, but for a teaching modality, she only talks about ABA, a

> behavioral approach. One-on-one ABA works really well for about 48%

> of ASD kids, but not our daughter. Son-Rise, a relationship based

> modality, is giving us our daughter back. Our daughter's progress in

> the year we have been doing Son-Rise has far out paced the previous 3

> years with ABA, in terms of verbal communication, eye contact,

> demeanor (no more 3hr tantrums), sleep pattern (no more begging her to

> finally go to sleep at 4am) and toileting. This has been life

altering!!!

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Nicole

That is so awesome that you use that technique! Let us know if you notice any

changes and how it goes.

 

Marsha and the Yorkies

http://www.miracleyorkies.com

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks Nicole. I'll check out your talk with Alda. Sometimes all it takes

is a word or two to set off the mind. ;-) Hopefully he'll take the bait

and run. There are some good modalities out there. I know, well--from a

list I'm on--about a doctor that made brain cds that he says really help

kids with autism. His name is Dr. Bates.

 

I'll file your info and web site listings in my folder. Thanks

 

Renee

 

----

 

If you would like to listen, the URL

is http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/09/12.php#16580 If you want to fast

forward, I'm on at 27m 15s into the program. That said, the whole

show is very interesting.

BTW, here is my favorite website in terms of having a comprehensive

list of treatments: http://www.kylestreehouse.org/about.cfm