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.