Nathan made my day! I was at the Autism Treatment Center of America, Sheffield, M.A. Nathan talked to me on the phone. He said, “Hello Mama, Teacher Denden said, ‘Ay Naku!'”
…Then he ran off. Lol!
But hey, that was an unprompted telephone conversation!
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Meeting amazing people at Son-Rise New Frontiers
Kristyn is an amazing son-rise volunteer! At the seminar, she was asked to introduce herself. She told us how she loved working with a child with autism and the excitement she felt after the child asked, “Do you wanna play with me?” She talked with so much enthusiasm and compassion. All of the Son-Rise parents in the room just wanted take Kristen home for their children. So did I 🙂
There is so much more to Kristyn’s story. As a child she felt she had sensory issues. She remembers moments when she felt a fog in her brain, which hindered her from learning. She had symptoms of autism spectrum but was never officially diagnosed. Her parents did not know about Son-Rise then, but had the intuition to know what to do. They were patient with her despite her tantrums. They never forced her to learn but encouraged her. She wasn’t proficient in reading until the age of 12. Kristyn continues to be home schooled. She says she has been blessed with her parents. She certainly has. And the universe has been blessed with her.
Kristyn said she once felt the voice of God telling her she was chosen to do great things. I believe she already has! This amazing young lady had achieved so much at such a young age. And now she is doing so much more and helping another child with autism to love, be happy and build relationships. And she’s only 18, she will achieve so much more in her lifetime!
With Bears Kaufman
Doctors told them that nothing could be done for their severely autistic son and he should be institutionalized. But Bears Kaufman and his wife decided they would choose to love and accept their son no matter how different he was….fast forward about 3 decades after, their son, Raun, has no signs of autism and runs the Autism Treatment Center of America – Home of the Son-Rise Program. Meanwhile, thousands of parents, including myself, are helped to find our strength to help our kids with autism.
What an amazing gift to be standing next to Bears Kaufman, Co-founder of the Son-Rise Program.
Universal Principles in Raising Kids, Special or Not
When Nathan’s autism was unraveling, I refused to take advice from friends who did not have any special needs kids. I thought “They have no idea how difficult it is raising a special needs child!”
But as a grew to understand autism especially through the lens of the Son-Rise Program, I realized “Why should we have a different set of guidelines just because my child has autism?”
The same principles that make typical kids successful, apply and can help kids with autism flourish and even go as far as recover from autism. Son-Rise simply takes those universal principles and provides practical applications.
My friend who didn’t have a special child said: kids are like a bucket with a hole at the bottom. While trying to fill them with love, you can be overwhelmed by how fast it seems to drain down the hole. As soon as you give them their orange juice, they ask for their snack, then they ask for an activity to do, then they ask that you sit and play with then. Like you always have to keep proving your love to them. The more you ignore them the more the want your attention.
Finally that good friend of mine found her best-parenting-for-non-special-kids resource, which told her to give and give and give at a rate faster than the flow out. When her child was filled to the top with her proven love, he told her, “Ok mom (I’m confident now) I’ll go to the playground on my own (and give you your you-time).”
In the same manner Son-Rise keeps giving “Full Control” until the child says, “Ok we can go your way now.” The more we give Nathan, the more he allows flexibility, something typically difficult for a child with autism.
Speak my language first then I will speak yours
Yesterday friends came over to play. Nathan loved this little girl and wanted to make conversation. He told her, “La Hatch!” (Thats one of his favorite verbal isms) And waited for her to respond….he tried again, no response….and again. Then he said, “Jalea (that’s her name), say ‘La Hatcha’ please.” Since she still would not respond, Nathan approached her, put his fingers and try to pry her mouth open to say “La Hatcha”
These are the moments when Nathan verbalizes that son-rise is really what he needs to acquire social skills. He loves it when we JOIN him in his “autism world” using his “autism language.” That opens the gate of relationship building and that’s when we invite him out to our world of socialization and verbal communication. He’s certainly beginning to love socializing with even non-son-rise friends!
Previously he would either ignore kids. Or if they are cute, approach and squeeze them, making them cry! This time he’s trying to make conversation! Be it with language but still a language to begin with!
Ism-less waiting for school bus!
Waiting is one of the hardest things for a child with autism to do. We usually carry an “ism” toy with us so he could “ism” and sooth himself instead of get upset waiting.
But today he just sat down and said, “You want to wait for the school bus.” Translation: I want to… (He still gets pronouns mixed up).
No isms at all and he was cool about waiting!
Furthermore I took out my phone to take this photo. He asked for Barney (on YouTube) and I thought, trouble! Watching is not the problem, it’s ending the show when the bus comes or trying to explain that he has to wait for it to load, every time it stops. We get a lot of tantrums watching Barney on YouTube. But Nathan was cool about me putting my phone away and continue waiting for the bus.
It’s getting so easy teaching Amor
It’s so easy teaching Amor to follow instructions now. Mind you this is a laptop (not iPad), which requires more fine motor and hand-eye-coordination skills. Both of which has been her weakness for years.
Plus she doesn’t even get frustrated trying and easily laughs at her mistakes and tries and tries again. She used to be so irritable and frustrated as soon as she couldn’t do things.
This has got to be the chlorine dioxide (formerly called MMS)!
Dealing with Echolalia
When Tita Aldhel Adique was looking for a book and when she dropped a book, Nathan said, “It’s ok.” We were both wondering if this was intentional speech or echolalia (or somewhere between intentional speech and echolalia)
My recommendations: Next time you hear Nathan say something accurately, reward him. Reward even if you’re not sure if it’s intentional speech or not. Actually reward him ESPECIALLY WHEN you think it’s echolalia but is coincidentally used accurately. Example say (and feel):
“‘It’s ok’ , thank you, that makes me feel better!” Or
“…thank you so kind of you!” Or whatever comes naturally or authentically for you.
Nathan has always had language processing issues. Echolalia is a tool kids with autism use to acquire new words. Sooner or later, echolalia always helps Nathan learn to use new words properly. We can make the process of learning faster by highlighting/celebrating/rewarding the times when he uses words (or expressions) appropriately.
I hope this is helpful.
Chlorine Dioxide defeats malaria
How can something so cheap and so simple as a water purifier be so effective in combating a disease with no known cure? ….until now!
This water purifier is known as MMS or Chlorine Dioxide (CD). It is not Sodium Hypo chloride (NaClO or bleach).
154 people came infected with malaria. After drinking MMS in water, 143 (or 93%) had no malaria the next day. The remaining 11 persons did not drink the proper dose and spat out their purified water. They were asked to drink the correct MMS dose again. They came back on their 3rd day, cured.
This very same CD is helping us combat autism.
In His Time
Some of my trying moments:
3 years ago, Nathan and I went to China for radical stem cell injections. We were hoping it would not only help him walk better but also alleviate autism.
During those trying periods, we asked for prayers. Knowing that autism would be a lifetime journey, I asked friends to pray that we be guided to find the best schools, best teachers, best therapists and best doctors to help us bring out Nathan’s maximum potentials.
God did something better than that…He lead us to the Son-Rise Program and told us that WE are our children’s best resource. With the right tools, we can encourage our kids and pull out their social skills.
Son-Rise also helped me link with a network of amazing friends, all doing their best connecting with their kids, some have even helped their kids overcome autism. Every child moving forward is hope that my Nathan too will one day overcome autism.