If I had a million dollars, I would send a copy of this book to everyone who subscribes to our newsletter and every family receiving an autism diagnosis for their child. This book is that good.
It describes the Son-Rise program, which seems to me to be a very parent-friendly intervention that could easily be used at home. In fact, this book will give you many ideas for meaningful ways to interact with a child with autism, as well as encourage his or her growth and development.
I completely agree with what seems to me to be a foundation of this method: in order to help our children make progress, we should first work on our relationship with the child. When we focus on this first, it makes it so much easier (and much more enjoyable!) to teach new skills. I think that the basic principles of the Son-Rise method would be excellent to use as the foundation of whatever intervention or therapy you are using, including ABA, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc. This is especially true of the chapter on attitude. This chapter is a must-read, no matter which intervention method you’re using. This book describes on of the most loving and respectful intervention methods that I’ve ever read about.
Each chapter includes simple exercises to help you start using these strategies with your child right away. There is also bonus content on the book’s website to supplement each chapter. Make sure you take advantage of that if you purchase the book.
The book does make the claim that the author of the book had autism as a child, and is now “recovered” by use of the Son-Rise program. I am rightfully skeptical of any program that uses words like “recovery” from autism, and I believe you should be as well. I’m not even sure I like that term at all. I always suggest checking the research status of interventions before you use them (a good website for this is the ASAT). However, that doesn’t change my great impressions of the Son-Rise program techniques.
The only other thing that I disliked about the book is that it seems to be somewhat anti-ABA. If you are an ABA person (as I am), please try to look past the parts of the book that are critical of ABA. I believe that naturalistic ABA (such as Pivotal Response Treatment) and Son-Rise have at least a couple of things in common. I would actually recommend this book to BCBAs, ABA therapists, and parents who have children in ABA programs. I think it will give you some great ideas that you can easily incorporate into your program. I see no reason why these two programs couldn’t work together in many ways.
I can’t really think of anyone in the “autism world” that I would not recommend this book to. In my opinion, it seems a little less applicable to children on the Asperger’s side of the spectrum, but the book does have a chapter specifically devoted to Asperger’s. The author also states that their methods can be adapted to use with children across the autism spectrum.
I would encourage you to check out the book on Amazon (affiliate link below) and the book’s website to see if you think it is right for your family.
It describes the Son-Rise program, which seems to me to be a very parent-friendly intervention that could easily be used at home. In fact, this book will give you many ideas for meaningful ways to interact with a child with autism, as well as encourage his or her growth and development.
I completely agree with what seems to me to be a foundation of this method: in order to help our children make progress, we should first work on our relationship with the child. When we focus on this first, it makes it so much easier (and much more enjoyable!) to teach new skills. I think that the basic principles of the Son-Rise method would be excellent to use as the foundation of whatever intervention or therapy you are using, including ABA, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc. This is especially true of the chapter on attitude. This chapter is a must-read, no matter which intervention method you’re using. This book describes on of the most loving and respectful intervention methods that I’ve ever read about.
Each chapter includes simple exercises to help you start using these strategies with your child right away. There is also bonus content on the book’s website to supplement each chapter. Make sure you take advantage of that if you purchase the book.
The book does make the claim that the author of the book had autism as a child, and is now “recovered” by use of the Son-Rise program. I am rightfully skeptical of any program that uses words like “recovery” from autism, and I believe you should be as well. I’m not even sure I like that term at all. I always suggest checking the research status of interventions before you use them (a good website for this is the ASAT). However, that doesn’t change my great impressions of the Son-Rise program techniques.
The only other thing that I disliked about the book is that it seems to be somewhat anti-ABA. If you are an ABA person (as I am), please try to look past the parts of the book that are critical of ABA. I believe that naturalistic ABA (such as Pivotal Response Treatment) and Son-Rise have at least a couple of things in common. I would actually recommend this book to BCBAs, ABA therapists, and parents who have children in ABA programs. I think it will give you some great ideas that you can easily incorporate into your program. I see no reason why these two programs couldn’t work together in many ways.
I can’t really think of anyone in the “autism world” that I would not recommend this book to. In my opinion, it seems a little less applicable to children on the Asperger’s side of the spectrum, but the book does have a chapter specifically devoted to Asperger’s. The author also states that their methods can be adapted to use with children across the autism spectrum.
I would encourage you to check out the book on Amazon (affiliate link below) and the book’s website to see if you think it is right for your family.
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