Son-Rise Program® Basic Facilitation Checklist

William Hogan

Senior Son-Rise Program Teacher and Trainer

Autism Treatment Center of America™

I am excited to share with you this Basic Facilitation Checklist that I know will be very helpful in making your Son-Rise Program even stronger. Every two to three months it would be very useful to step back from your program and fill out a Basic Facilitation Evaluation. This Facilitation Evaluation will ensure that you and your support team (volunteers, paid individuals, etc.) are balanced in their work with your child.

Sometimes programs become so overly focused on a specific social goal (e.g. speaking in words or sentences, greater flexibility, longer attention span, etc.) that they lose sight of the basics and become less effective for the child. By using the Basic Facilitation Checklist you will clearly see ways in which your program has become unbalanced. For example, if you are focusing  your child on language and have stopped celebrating their achievements, the Checklist and Evaluation will highlight this and you will be able to adjust accordingly, making sure your celebrations are bigger.  As a result, your child is more likely to be open and willing to interact and respond to you.  Another example: If you and your team are great at joining and celebrating yet weak in building/initiating fun games and activities,  then by using the Basic Facilitation Checklist you will see what you need to change to become facilitators who passionately inspire your child to grow.

Below you will find the basic checklist to use with yourself and your support team to ensure that your program is running effectively:

Joining: This is the foundation of being with your child. They are challenged by Autism (whether ‘non-verbal yet’ or ‘highly verbal’) and will have isms (repetitious behaviors that can be exclusive or interactive). 

1. Do you and your support team:
2. Know what all your child’s current repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors are?
3. Know how to effectively join your child’s current repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors?
4. Enjoy Joining these repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors?

Celebrating: Our expressed delight in our children shows how much we love them as well as the direction for them to keep developing.

1. What are all of the ways that your child interacts with you?
2. Are you and your team appreciating and celebrating your child for all his/her interactions?

Green Lights: Eye contact, physical touch, a space in your child’s interactive conversation, etc. As you have learned in The Son-Rise Program weeklong programs (Start-Up, Maximum Impact and New Frontiers) there will be times when your child will show an interest in you – this is the time to strongly invite them to interact longer and more deeply with you.

1. What are the current ways that your child gives you and your support team Green Lights?
2. Are you and your team aware of all these Green Lights?

Building and Initiating:  When your child is showing an interest in you (Green Lights) this is the time for you and your team to make a new game or activity or to suggest a new game or activity.

1. During your child’s Green Lights, do you and your support team build/initiate a game/activity?
2. Are you and your team prepared for these moments? For instance, before going into the play/focus room do you and your team think of fun ideas to expand the repetitious activity or new games/activities to initiate when your child becomes interactive?

Requesting: Once you are in a game/activity with your child, this is the time to incorporate requesting one of your chosen program goals (e.g. looking to start and continue an interaction; speaking in  

1. short phrases; turn-taking, etc).
2. In the last few weeks have you used The Son-Rise Program® Developmental Model to plot your child’s current social development and selected the next 3-4 social goals for them?
3. Once an interactive game/activity is established, do you and your support team passionately request a program goal?

The Three E's and Enjoyment: The most important part of all! Your joy and The Three E's (Energy, Excitement, Enthusiasm) are the invitation for your child to be with you and to learn how to further interact with you. In every aspect of Joining, Celebrating, Green Lights, Building and Requesting you want to have joy and enthusiasm for your child by fully enjoying the child that is currently before you. Additionally, enjoy and be enthusiastic for yourself because you are truly doing an amazing thing. With your Three E's and joy, you will be a model for your child of how to enjoy another person who is different than they are.

1. Do you and your team project The Three E's and joy when being with your child?
2. Are there times in the play/focus room when The Three E's and joy are fully present? What helped you achieve that?
3. Are there times in the play/focus room when your Three E's and enjoyment are missing? What is stopping you from using and enjoying The Three E's?

Below you will find a worksheet for you and your team to print and fill out. In your next feedback session or group meeting, take time to review this worksheet with your team. Don’t forget to celebrate what is currently working as well as to discuss and work on what you and your team would like to change. Use the Basic Facilitation Checklist to make your program as effective as possible. This will help all of the amazing people who work with your child be more effective so they are as strong as possible in all areas.

With much love and celebration,

William Hogan

Senior Son-Rise Program Teacher and Trainer

Autism Treatment Center of America™

The Son‐Rise Program® Basic Facilitation Checklist Name:___________________

Use this checklist to evaluate yourself and your support team (i.e. volunteers, paid individuals, etc.)

Fill out a sheet for each person (including yourself) and when finished, celebrate where each team member is strong as well as assist them in areas where they are not as effective.

Joining

i. Do you know what all of your child’s current repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors are?

(Make a list on a separate sheet of paper.)

ii. Rate how effectively you Join your child’s current repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors:

(Not effectively) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Very effectively)

iii. Rate how much you ENJOY Joining these repetitious and/or exclusive behaviors:

(Do not Enjoy) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Highly Enjoy)

Celebrating

i. What are all of the ways your child interacts with you? (Make a list on a separate sheet of paper.)

ii. Rate how consistently you appreciate and celebrate your child for all his/her interactions:

(Do not appreciate/celebrate) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Consistently appreciate/celebrate)

Green Lights

i. What are the current Green Lights your child gives you?

(Make a list on a separate sheet of paper)

ii. Rate how consistently you recognize these Green Lights when working with your child:

(Rarely recognize) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Consistently recognize)

Building / Initiating

i. How consistently do you Build / Initiate when your child gives you a Green Light?

(Rarely build/initiate) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Consistently build/initiate)

ii. Are you and your team prepared for these Green Lights (before going into the play/focus room do you think of fun ideas to expand the repetitious activity or of new games/activities to initiate when your child becomes interactive)?

(Never/rarely prepare) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Consistently prepare)

Requesting

i. In the last month have you used The Son‐Rise Program® Developmental Model to plot your child’s current social development and selected the next 3‐4 social goals for them?

YES NO

ii. Once an interactive game/activity is established how consistently do you request a Son‐Rise Program social goal?

(Never/rarely request) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (Consistently request)

The Three E's and Enjoyment

i. Rate your overall level of The Three E's and enjoyment during your play/focus room session with your child:

(Low Three E's  & enjoyment) 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 (High Three E's & enjoyment)

ii. Are there times in the play/focus room when your Three E's and enjoyment are fully present? What helped you achieve that?

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iii. Are there times in the play/focus room when your Three E's and enjoyment are low? What is stopping you from displaying them?

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