Our Son-Rise Journey

Another Wonderful Intensive Video!

15/01/25 at 7.59pm   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

Here is another intensive video.  I apologize for the quality.  I had to do some work-arounds to get this one on here, but it is so worth watching!  This is with one of the facilitators who was so unbelievably musically inclined and full of joy.  Lucas truly cherished the moments they played music together.

This video shows Brandi doing the core aspect of the program “joining” and waiting for opportunities, aka “green lights” (where Lucas gives some sort of social interaction cue such as eye contact, touch, verbal responses, etc.), to build a game or interaction.  As you will see, she attempts a few times and eventually is able to build a game/interaction into singing Wheels on the Bus on her guitar.  Lucas become very involved in picking the words, playing the guitar, etc. Additionally, this ended up being quite a long interaction between them.

I have only included a few minutes of the entire interaction, but I really wanted to show you the talent and persistence and love that these facilitators had for Lucas while we were there.  It is these qualities that allowed such interactions to take place.  We learned some invaluable techniques by just watching these fabulous people interact with our son.  As a result, we have been able to give so many helpful comments and feedback to our team which has really given us so much growth in the playroom with Lucas.

Due to the quality of our interactions increasing, we now have an average interactive attention span of 8 minutes!!!!  This is double what we left intensive with at Christmas.  I know I use this word a lot…AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!  There I got it out of my system, for this post anyhow.  I am constantly in awe of this program and the accomplishments our team keeps reaching.  By the way,  his little smile is so darn cute in this video, I wanted to run in and squeeze him when I was there.  Enjoy!!!

 

Here is our first video from intensive! : )

15/01/19 at 12.20am   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

What a week we had while in Massachusetts!  Luke spent 8+ hours per day in the playroom without coming out.  The results were amazing.  The child facilitators who worked with Luke had only known him for the week we were there, but the work they put in instantly built trust with Luke and you can see the results in the videos above.  In the first video, Michelle built a lot of trust by explaining to Luke that she was there for him while still giving him control.  The second video speaks for itself!!

We thought it was important to show both videos, because many times we post the successes or unbelievable connections or progress that come out of the many hours in the playroom but forget to include the joining and creativity on the part of the volunteer/facilitator that really goes into fostering those moments.  Our volunteers put in so many hours just being with Lucas, accepting, loving and respecting him.  These moments of connection are our cherry on top of some wonderful joining moments! So please enjoy!

Some other successes to note this week:

* Lucas spent close to an hour coloring and reading books with one of our volunteers.  To sit in one spot attending to this type of activity for this amount of time is not something that readily happens for Lucas.  He tends to need a lot of sensory input while in the room and moves around a lot.  It was truly amazing to see him enjoying this activity and particularly enjoying this activity with his volunteer!

* He enjoyed listening to one of our volunteers play him music on her guitar this afternoon.  The smile on his face when she brought it into the room spoke volumes.  It was truly priceless!  The lengths this team will go to put on smile on his face is amazing!

* The clarity of his speech and intonation of his voice have really increased over the past weeks since we returned from intensive.  We were somewhere around a clarity of 40% of the time to close to 60% now, which is incredible progress in just 3 weeks!

* We are noticing that Lucas’ duration of interactions have much more quality to them and tend to be much longer.  We started out just trying to get his attention for up to 2 minutes and we are now averaging 7 minutes (Some single interactions have been as long as 50 minutes!).

* He has also been very affectionate overall not only physically, but verbally.

* Lastly, he is maintaining his eye contact!  This was the first goal we worked on as a team in September and although we have shifted our focus, he hasn’t lost his progress in this area.  He is constantly looking at us in and out of the room!

I have a plethora of videos to go through from my volunteers, highlighting many of the moments above,  and would really like to share some videos of our new volunteers so you have a chance to meet them : ) All in good time!

 

Such a great Moment!

15/01/12 at 12.18am   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

I know I promised you some videos from intensive and they are loaded and ready for sharing, however, this moment with one of our volunteers was truly amazing.  In fact, there was a half-hour long of these moments with her on this day.  I think he truly missed his “people” while gone over the holiday.  He has given out I love you’s to many, unbelievable hugs that are not sensory oriented, and has just been an extremely happy boy to see them and be in the playroom with them!

I have said this before and I will say it again, this is a true testament to our volunteers commitment, love, acceptance and openness to grow in the room and as individuals.   Going to intensive, I learned how truly blessed we are to have the group of people “working” with our son that we do.  They really do put their heart and soul into that playroom and are always wanting to grow, so our sweet Lucas can grow.

The typical requirement  in the program is to commit to 4 hours a week plus a monthly team meeting.  However this team gives so much more of their time and so willingly!  Brad and I have heard them say thank you to us so many times for being part of our program.  It is us who are thankful and truly humbled by their generosity and love for our child.  I am in awe of them.  It has truly been God’s blessing and gift to us to have them in our lives!

Some more news, we also had a new addition to our team start this week!!  She did so wonderfully her first time in there! She is definitely going to be another asset to our team!  Lucas took to her immediately and I’m not surprised : )

On a side note, I got my first spontaneous and meaningful, “I love you,” shortly after we got back from intensive.  In fact I’ve gotten at least 3 since I’ve been back!  I’m not sure I can relay how much that means to me and to any mom with a child on the spectrum for that matter.  To get a genuine, “I love you” not only means well that exactly but so much more.  It means he sees me, can relate to me and feels a real connection and appreciation for me.  Something that is so difficult for children with autism to express verbally in a way that is meaningful to those around them.  I am overjoyed!

It is my intention to give you more bits from intensive as the weeks go on, but my team does so well, that I will always post their successes firstly ; )  So in time, we will share many of our experiences in Massachusetts.  Thanks for being patient and enjoy the remarkable video!!!

The Essence of Son-Rise

15/01/04 at 8.28pm   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

Son Rise Picture

A bunch of Son-Rise parents were asked to summarize their feelings about the Son-Rise Program in a few words and one parent took many of those words and made the image above.  It is such a true and beautiful message that is clear and at the very center of this program.  These are the many reasons we chose this as our path with our sweet boy.  Regardless of whether any “progress” is made (…and there is unbelievable progress being made across the world and especially in our home using this program!), who would want to choose any other method of being with and loving their child.  <3

With the holidays, we are still in the process of pairing down all of the information we gathered,invaluable lessons we learned, and editing the videos we took…so bear with us.  We will share more as we get through it all!  Brad wrote his feelings about our journey last week and I thought it would be a great time for me to add to his beautiful entry.

As a mother of a very special child, it was truly amazing to spend a week with a whole room of people, just there loving our child and supporting us and giving us the tools to not only grow our program but allow us the space to look within ourselves and grow as individuals and as a couple.  Their nonjudgemental, loving attitude at its core gave us what we needed to be open and absorb so much from this whole experience.

I can tell you that what we learned about our program and the shift in our attitudes has completely taken this program to another level.  My husband and I went there as individuals wanting the best for our son, and really and truly left there as a team giving the best to our son!  As a result we have so much more valuable input to give our awesome volunteer team at home and they will have the opportunity to grow and learn about themselves in the process, as we did during our week at intensive.

We have already been able to increase Lucas’ hours in the playroom from a part-time program of around 20 to 25 hours a week to a full-time program of about 35 to 40 hours per week and he is LOVING it!!!  Lucas is so calm and centered and really truly present.  It is really just a pleasure being his mom and being allowed to be part of his world.  I have never had so much fun being with him in his lifetime.  I think that the true beauty of this program is allowing ourselves as parents to enjoy our child as they are and celebrate every bit of who they are while truly being present and enjoying their growth and development throughout this process.

So sit tight, videos to come!  I promise!!