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Autism is not the final word (Click image to enlarge)
According to the latest statistic, 1 in 150 children in America have autism. In the Seventy’s the number of children with Autism was 1 in10,000. There is no consensus in the scientific community for what causes Autism or why there has been such a huge increase from the Seventy’s to now. One thing is for sure though, the parents of autistic children are not content with waiting twenty years for a consensus.
If the national statistic is correct, it is quite possible that there are 100 children in Breathitt county with autism. I am the parent of one of those children. My son’s name is Jonathon. Jonathon seemed like a normal baby until after about 2 years old. At this point he regressed until he had no language and was totally withdrawn from everyone around him. One time, our family decided to go play at a local park. Jonathon loves the park. There were two other children playing as well. Jonathon followed them around and did his best to play with them. But they could not understand him and left him behind. Jonathon began to cry in desperation. It broke my heart. This was one of the last times that Jonathon would attempt to play with another child his age.
Autism is not the final word (Click image to enlarge)
Five years have passed. Painful memories still exist. Question of why still loom. Jonathon is still autistic. But something has changed. My wife and I have progressed from shock to blame to focusing on recovery. Surprisingly, we have discovered that recovery is not something that needs to occur only in Jonathon, but in us as well. After much research and attempting different kinds of therapy, we discovered the Son-rise Program at Autism Treatment Center of America. (the website is autismtreatmentcenter.org) This program is unique in so many ways. The Autism Treatment Center’s strategy is to first deal with the attitude the parents have toward their autistic children and then to provide the tools necessary for the parents to direct their child’s Son-rise Program.
The Son-Rise program is a home based therapy that utilizes what is called a “play room.” There is only two people in the play room, the autistic child and whoever is working with that child. The therapy is “child-centered” and based on play. We have been doing our program for a little over a year. Jonathon has made so many changes. His eye contact has improved dramatically. He interacts with us much more. Jonathon was at one time completely nonverbal, but now he is beginning to tell us what he wants. We are learning to love Jonathon because he is our son. We live for the moment with Jonathon and not for the future. Every small step is a giant victory.
However, there is one thing of which we are in great need. Volunteers! In order for our program to be highly effective, it depends on the efforts of an entire team of caring adults. If you are interested in volunteering your time or would like more information about this type of therapy, please call Jason smith at 606-653-3830 or email jsmith@kmbc.edu.
Thank you my dear husband for making this news available to the public. Now all we need are committed volunteers to help us in Jonathon’s recovery.
Awsome Jason. God is so good.
Tech Question:
Q
this is crazy. He is showing us glimpses of his capability. He has a tremendously hard time saying most words and usually it is only one syllable at a time that he speaks. He was taking a bath this morning. I went in to make sure he was not going to drink the water. He took my hand and gently removed from the bath tub, looked at me and said “good-bye” He has never said that word and I have never tried to get him to say that word. He said it perfectly and in the right tone. It took my breath away.
Jason
My son is 8 and also Autistic. He has some verbal abilities. Does your son receive therapy at school?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2eSvKZmtJU
this time it is my wife pamela. lot of great things in this clip. Video of Jon in the playroom
Hey Lisa,
no, he does not. For our family, we feel that the sonrise program is the best option. We know that the schools offer many great services and rejoice whenever autistic children get the help they need in the public school setting. In our program, the goals are long term and may seem up front to not be as prescribed as the public school. However, there has been many great testimonies of the long term results to families who are really committed to this type of therapy. We have chosen this therapy for two main reasons. One, it focuses on attitude in the parents and two, it aims for recovery. I especially like the focus on socialization. But, We would love to hear how your son is progressing and even meet him if possible. thanks for the reply.
Had a session with Jonathon in the playroom that was more of a test then a session. I wanted to see how many words he could say in two hours. I was able to prompt him into saying 15 different words in that two hour period. He usually does not say 15 different words in a week. So, while this was an unusually intense time in the playroom and very exhausting for Jon, it was great to see Jon pushing his own limits. I never once forced him or tried to coerce one word out of his mouth. I simply tried to motivate him with high energy and play while prompting him to use certain key words in context. My only reward was praise for the great thing he had done and a simple acknowledgment of what he is actually capable of. We are looking forward to more days when this kind of response is more like the norm. And we believe it is coming. Pray with us, that it will.
Jason