Son-Rise Program ® Mom Sings and Puts Music to My Poem: King Of Imagination

http://www.option.org/media/audio/SRS-KingOfImag-mp3.mp3

From Brandi: I have found great joy in sharing my poetry, written for various children from our Son-Rise Intensive Program, since I began writing blogs. A few months ago a Son-Rise Program Mom from Norway wrote me. She told me that she was inspired by the poetry that I have written about our Son-Rise children. She said that she shares each of my poems with her children at the breakfast table in the mornings. HOW FANTASTIC!! The ways in which we can inspire ourselves is endless. Caroline has created her own melodies to a few of my poems and you can hear her singing one of them if you follow the link above. Enjoy!

4 Tips for Toothbrushing Fun

Our kids are just like us...they want to do things they think are fun! We all move towards activities we enjoy and see as positive. Yet, sometimes (maybe more than sometimes?) as adults, we pick certain things and call them 'necessary' in our own mind instead of thinking of them as fun. Like nail clipping and hair brushing and, of course, tooth brushing. When we see it as a 'chore' or 'stressful' or we feel ourselves sigh as we anticipate it the result is that we certainly don't make it fun. We can change that! We can bring playfulness and fun to the experience and create a welcoming invitation for our children. Once we do that, we create something positive and playful that our children will want to move towards, not away from. Every one of us can do this!

Here are some ideas for how you can bring FUN to tooth brushing:

Give it a name
Pick a name for your toothbrush. Each morning (and afternoon, and evening) when you go to brush your teeth in front of your child, begin by excitedly talking about how you are going to have FUN with "Mary". You could say, "Hey, I want to go have fun with Mary, want to come?" Then give Mary an excited greeting and even a kiss when you see her!

Get your groove on
While you brush your teeth, hum a playful (or rockin', or hip hop...) tune and dance as you brush. With your mouth full of toothpaste and song, shake your booty! Show your child how FUN it is to be doing a toothbrush jig.

Make it a family affair
Invite your family member to be a part of the Brushing Party! Tooth brushing isn’t just for the bathroom. You can invite everyone in the house (your other children, your spouse or even grandma) to join you in a group brush. Hand out toothbrushes to everyone and march in a circle and dance as you go. Show your child how FUN this experience can be.

Dress for success
When you go to brush, put your brushin' hat on. Or your brushing scarf, or your silly brushing glasses. Make it an 'event' by highlighting the experience with some FUN kind of fashion accessory. Wrap a pink boa around your neck, or put on your biggest ten gallon hat. This is an exciting moment and we always dress up for our special events.


HAVE FUN!!!

What do I Want?

FROM BECKY: This morning, here at The Autism Treatment Center of America in our Son-Rise Program Intensive, I was teaching the Mother of an adorable 9 year old boy with Autism.

Something I noticed from observing this lovely Mom in the playroom was that she wasn't building (offering a fun action) when her son gave her a green light (spontaneously interacted with her). So this meant that her son would spontaneously engage with her and then go back to his exclusive activity of ripping pages out of his coloring book.

When we talked about this, she came up with some very creative and fun ways that she could have built from her sons cues. All of which sounded awesome! I asked her some simple questions to understand why she hadn't built and she revealed that she had been stuck in her head, in her own thought processes. So instead of doing something, she did nothing! From exploring this further it became clear that she was censoring herself from trying things, in case he said "No". In her attempts to trying to stay away from what she didn't want, she actually never once allowed herself to go for what she actually wanted. This also played out in many other areas of her life and a result of that was her constantly moving away from things concerning her son than moving toward them and taking action to first be aware of what she wanted and then move toward her wants.

When we ask ourselves the simple question of "What do I want right now?" We can be more active in our lives. This can apply to the smallest snapshot of our day (e.g. "What do I want in the playroom with my child?.....I want to have fun!....to connect with him.....to express my love) or to the largest aspect of our lives.....What do I want in my relationship?.....my job?.....my health?, etc.

When we figure out what we want, we begin a journey of moving toward! When we concentrate on what we don't want, we move away from and therefore don't take action. It's a completely different path that disconnect us further and further from our wants.

Watch This Video! You Will Love It!!!

From Brandi: I have been thinking about the nature of possibilities lately and how it relates to Autism and my own life. The video above speaks in volumes about what we can achieve in this world. This beautiful group of band members have created steps of inspirational expression where a straight road of limitations could have easily been paved. When the camera zoomed into their smiling faces I was blown away by what each of them have achieved for themselves! Loving expression and possibilities truly have no limits. We are the one's who decide what our limitations are. Can you imagine if we truly believed that we are capable of anything. ANYTHING!! When you look in your children's eyes today remember what is possible. Remember the power of change that we each have access to. Remember that who they are is perfect. Remember that the sky is not the limit and that you can reach as high as you choose. Have fun today!!

Mati

This is Mati - What a Cutie Pie!
Mati is a chatty and lively 5 year old with autism. I met him and his wonderful parents Carlos and Patricia in July in Argentina, when I was lucky enough to visit their home and do a Son-Rise Program outreach.

During the outreach I got to watch Carols, Patricia and some members of their team play with Mati and give them some pointers on how to increase Mati's social interaction.One thing that stood out about their program is the dedication and love they have for their son, and their creative powers of thinking up and creating interesting and fun games to inspire Mati to want to interact with them. I also got to play with Mati myself.

Mati has many things that he loves to play and chat about. He loves to talk about things in the supermarket, escalators, trains and train stations are a particular passion of his. He also loves drama and is quite the opera buff especially liking Don Giovanni, and has a great singing voice himself. He can be very thoughtful, he asked me whether I spoke Italian, as he can speak a little himself he was trying to find a language that we had in common-how amazing is that!.

We talked during the outreach about The Son-Rise Program technique of joining, and how to know when Mati was being exclusive. During my session with him I was able to demonstrate this by joining in with his escalator ism. He would line up legos and talk about how big and long and how many steps the escalator had. I joined him by creating my own escalator and talking about how long and big mine was. After 15 minutes or more of joining him he stopped looked at me and asked me if we liked escalators at Options. (He was calling The Autism Treatment Center of America, "Options".) I liked to think that he asked this question because I had been joining in with him with such sincere delight in escalators, that he had the experience of playing with someone who liked escalators as much as he did- making me easier to relate to. Of course I let him know that if he came to the Autism treatment Center of America he would find a whole bunch of people who would love to play his escalator game with him.

Thank you Carlos, Patricia and Mati for a beautiful day.
Keep up the amazing work you are doing with Mati.

Tracking Interactive Attention Span

FROM BECKY: As requested from a beautiful family I worked with recently, here is a clear and simple way to track your child's interactive attention span.

When your child is in a game/activity/interaction with you and they walk away but are not yet focused on anything else, call them back to the game (e.g. "Where are you going?", "Come back here", etc). If you try calling them back two consecutive times and they come back then you can continue that same game and track it all as one interaction. If, however, they do not come back but go onto something else or become exclusive, then that interaction is over.

This guideline is taken from the third edition of The Son-Rise Program Developmental Model. This has been shown to be the most effective and simplest way to work on tracking interactions.

Have fun with those games!

Games Games Games!

Hello Everyone,

The Autism Treatment Center of America brings you some more creative game ideas that you can take into your Son-Rise Program playrooms and inspire your children to:

Want to look at you
Want to talk to you
Want to engage and play with you.

Just click on the video below.

Guilia

This is Giulia- isn't she lovely!!!

Giulia is another gentle soul with Autism I met on on my travels in Argentina. I was lucky enough to do A Son-Rise Program Outreach with her and her Mom Xexa.

Not only does Xexa run a full time Son-Rise Program for her daughter which is bursting at the seems with the 3E's, but she also works late into the night to help other families who have autistic children know about The Son-Rise Program through the CEUPA organization. Thank you Xexa for your dedication in spreading the good news of The Son-Rise Program.

Giulia is a snuggle bug!! She will give so many cuddles and kisses, and she likes to bury her head into your chest, or lean on you any chance that she gets. She is an expert jumper, and loves to chew and shake things as she looks at herself in the mirror, as well as being an avid reader of books. She is a great listener, often looking deeply into your eyes as you celebrate her or explain how to say a word. She is just a delight to play with!

Her team of passionate volunteers were so excellent in the Son-Rise Program techniques of joining and celebrating Giulia that she is beginning to interact and connect with her team of volunteers more and more. One major way she is showing her team that she is ready to play is by physically connecting with them through hugs, leaning on their shoulders etc. During the outreach we talked about using this physical contact as a green light, a time when they can initiate games and activities with Giulia to help her lengthen her interactive attention span.

If your child loves to hug you, one thing you can do is to put little toys in your pocket, such as a harmonica or a folded piece of paper and a crayon, so when you child goes to hug you, you can offer them a game of coloring, or start playing some music.

Sending much love to you Giulia, and Xexa and to each of your wonderfully passionate and dedicated team.
Go Team Giulia

The Son-Rise Program Spread Around the World

FROM BECKY: I did a Son-Rise Program consultation at the weekend with a family that I work closely with. Their sweet four year old son Tomas has grown so remarkably in the past 1.5 years since they started running their Son-Rise Program that he is now having regular play dates with other children and is beginning part-time school this fall.

He's doing so well that they decided to take a family vacation and were calling me from Columbia. While in Columbia, this amazing Mom has decided to do a presentation on The Son-Rise Program to a group of parents and professionals right there in Bogota, Columbia. This presentation started out with just a few people attending and has now grown to 50 people. She is doing this presentation tomorrow, so please spare a thought for her as she spreads the Son-Rise word in Columbia!

Franco

This is Franco and me.

As you can see he is a very handsome 14 year old. Some of his greatest loves in life are his Mom, putting colored glue in the palm of his hand and peeling it off, pop music and food.. He has the sweetest eyes, is incredible fun to play with and he has autism.

Franco and his Mom Vivi live in Argentina. I was fortunate enough to do a Son-Rise program Outreach with this family last month. Thank you Vivi for welcoming me so warmly into your home. Vivi was the first Argentine family to find out about the Son-Rise Program and travel to The Autism Treatment Center of America to do The Son-Rise Program Start Up. When Vivi first started her Son-Rise program with Franco he was 12 years old, completely non verbal, having yet to say his first word. He had very low eye contact and did not interact with his family, spending most of his days exclusively in his own world.

He is now 14 years old and Vivi has been running his Son-Rise Program for the last two years. He now speaks in 2-3 word phrases, and has just started to tell his family and friends what he was doing the day before, the beginnings of mini conversations!!!! He interacts for up to 15 minutes at a time, talking, looking and taking turns in games with his volunteers.

There are professionals who will tell you that your child cannot learn past a certain age. Here in the Son-Rise Program we have seen children in their teens just as Franco and in their 20's and 30's begin to speak and make significant changes in their social development. Take Franco as your inspiration that your child has every possibility to make changes.

Hurray to you Franco for doing the work to make these changes within yourself.
Hurray to you Vivi for creating a strong program for your child, and always searching for answers.
Hurray to the Son-Rise program for giving hope to families across the globe.