Our Son-Rise Journey

Eye Contact Rocks!

15/03/28 at 7.36pm   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

Creating an, “Eye Contact Rocks” type of mind set, will help intensify what we do to encourage our children to want to look at us.  Sometimes our desire for our children to grow their ability to verbally communicate, read and write, or play with their peers can be stronger than our desire for them to increase their eye contact.  The way to change this is to see Eye Contact for the amazing skill it is.  Eye contact sets the scene for learning so many skills.  It sets the scene for forming a particular word: when you look at someone you can see how they move their mouth to create the word.  It sets the scene for conversation skills: when you look at someone it lets the other person know that you are talking and listening to them.  It sets the scene for facile expressions and understanding social cues: how can our children learn these and what they mean if they are not looking at people?

Above all else when our children look at us they get to see the love we have for them.  They get to see and feel the warmth of social interaction.  If we saw it as an important pivotal skill that will help our children grow in leaps and bounds socially, then we would probably nourish it more, and celebrate it more consistently and effusively when we received it.  Eye contact will grow and thrive the more consistently and effusively we value it.

~Kate Wilde -The Sonrise Program

The value of eye contact in this program has been an integral part to Lucas’ growth.  Through the techniques of this program, we inspire our children to look at us.  And when they look, we celebrate!! This encourages more looking.  The more they look, the more they learn!

Lucas had fleeting eye contact, at best,  6 months ago.  He now looks over 80% of the time he is in the room with our team and out of the room.  That is probably more than a neurotypical person does these days…lol!

Along with that increased eye contact has come some unbelievable growth.  Growth that we have not put emphasis on, naturally occurring.  Lucas is speaking in long and varied sentences.  He has the ability, and more importantly THE WANT, to communicate his needs,thoughts and interests.  He is interested in facial expressions, human contact and connection, and is imitating!

Imitation is such a basic skill for a neurotypical child, but one that can be almost impossible to pull out of a child on the spectrum without some sort of coercing or prompting.  Imitating is how children learn, grow and relate.  It is something that is naturally happening now with Lucas thanks to our team, this program and of course valuing eye contact!

All About the Journey

15/03/22 at 12.35am   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

Sonrise photo becky

This week’s post is going to be short and sweet.

What a beautiful portrayal above of what this program is all about!  When we, as Lucas’s parents, stopped quantifying his “success” and began enjoying the process of just being with him, loving him, accepting him, not judging him and inspiring instead of pushing him to grow…..this is when the real progress happened!

Although I have close to 8 videos I would love to share, I just want to focus on one tender moment this week.  THIS, and many moments like this, is why we chose this program and relentlessly continue to do so.  The doors to connections with our son are continually happening, and he is absorbing so much more as a result of it…..without the need to piece things out for him.

He is observing, imitating, growing on his own because he feels loved, accepted, valued.  We are continually thankful for Team Lucas and all those who support our family in this journey.  <3

 

So Many to choose from!

15/03/14 at 9.31pm   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

I have to say that I am a very lucky program director.  I have so many wonderful moments and videos to choose from each week that I have the tough task of narrowing them down to only a few.  My volunteers are unbelievable and are really bringing it to the playroom every day!!!

Before I get to the videos, I wanted to share something major that happened this week for us as a family as a result of this program.  Our daughter had her 4th birthday party this past week at pump it up.  Normally an event of this nature would cause an overload of stimulus at some point in the evening and a significant increase in self-stimulatory behavior.  Not only did this NOT happen, but Lucas was very present the entire evening.  He navigated the bounce house on his own and even began to imitate his peers and those around him.  He began to independently join activities where many people were involved  (something he would have avoided in the past).  Additionally he joined the kids at the kid’s party table after all of that stimulation in the bounce house and sat the entire hour intently watching those around him (never exclusive).  He was extremely present at this time.  For the first time ever, he went through his entire goody bag, playing with each item appropriately, including putting necklaces around his neck.  This was the most amazing evening we were able to share as family….really ever!

Onto the Videos I am sharing (4 videos; about 5 minutes total):

The first one shows our volunteer really taking a green light to the next level with Lucas.  Lucas had been exclusive for a while during this session.  Using her 3 E’s and creativity, she was not only able to keep his attention, but he independently came over to her and helped her get up with a high five.  A very cute moment!

The second video, again, our volunteer had been enthusiastically joining at the mirror for a while and really getting into their ism when Lucas gives her a green light, saying her name. She gives such a genuine response and is rewarded with a beautiful hand hold.  Eventually Lucas comes over to her ball and spends a long time just “being” with her.  When we enthusiastically join our children’s world and then patiently wait for them to cross that bridge into our world, there is always a beautiful reward that we receive from them.

The third video I love because it shows how much Lucas has evolved with being clear with what he wants and using his language and voice to convey this accurately to us.  Communication has been such a wonderful evolution of this program.  In this video, Lucas kicks our volunteer off of her ball telling her he wants it, then tells her he wants both balls, only to notice that she can’t join him without a ball.  He then gives her one so she can have fun too!  So funny!

The last video, our volunteer is working on clarity during a squeeze game and Lucas looks up at him and says, “Hi!” quietly.  Our volunteer doesn’t hear him clearly and asks him what he said.  Lucas then tells him to say “Hi Lucas!” and proceeds to tell him to squeeze him in a loud, clear voice.  Again, using his communication to be social and direct the volunteer to be social when he doesn’t respond…lol!  He is then very clear with what he wants.

Hope you enjoy these moments as much as I did!

Inspiring Lucas to Grow

15/03/07 at 5.30pm   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

I have three videos today of our newest volunteers and they are both absolutely amazing with Lucas in the playroom!  Just a quick explanation.  I chose these videos because they involve some wonderful work (or should I say play…lol) on our volunteers’ part to first motivate Lucas in a game and second to inspire him to grow.  When we say grow, we are pulling goals in at his direction and stretching him/giving him opportunities to participate in our world and create meaningful, trusting relationships.

In the first video, our volunteer is working on the clarity goal (inspiring Lucas to use his normal voice in communication instead of a whisper or high-pitched voice).  Our volunteer does an amazing job of asking Lucas to grow in a fun, enthusiastic way when he is highly motivated in their squeeze game.  It’s a very sweet interaction between the two of them.

The second two videos, our volunteer is really working on physical participation in a game.  You’ll have to excuse my mediocre cropping software.  The video is a bit blurry, but our volunteer’s enthusiasm, energy and excitement shines through even without the greatest clarity of picture.  She is having so much fun that Lucas actually begins to want to color with her on the same picture, initiated by him!  This is another goal of ours….physical participation around a shared activity/object.

On a side note, the team met this past week and we are so excited with all of the progress Lucas has been making.  We have noticed that his clarity has really taken off in and out of the room and that his physical participation percentage has been climbing up.

Another unbelievable development is that Lucas this past week engaged in a 3-loop conversation for the first time!  This is HUGE!!!!!  We were monitoring this and he was inconsistently participating in 1-loop conversations as long as choices were provided as answers.  What’s a loop you ask?  It’s something like us saying, “Lucas are you hungry,” and Lucas responding “yes.”  A 3-loop would continue with two more loops around the same topic: “What do you want to eat?”, Lucas responds “Pizza.” Then, “What do you want on your pizza?”, “pepperoni.”

Let me explain why this is a big deal.  It takes a great deal of focus for Lucas to be able to process and answer one question appropriately, but to follow a whole sequence around the same topic is incredible!!!  As well as staying engaged long enough to make it that far.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

So….Onto the show!  : )

 

 

Attitude and Sonrise

15/03/01 at 1.36am   /   by sdcarlson   /   0 Comment

Lucas had a rough month health wise as a result of the new diet. We, as a team, have spent the last few weeks creating ALL of our games around Lucas lying down on the blanket, which is a stark contrast to our usual sessions of bouncing on the balls and running back and forth. Our volunteers really stepped it up and had the most amazing attitudes during this period!!! Attitude is one of the key aspects at the very center of the Son-Rise program.

It can be difficult to keep your attitude upbeat, energetic, full of enthusiasm and excitement when Lucas is shall we say less than upbeat or energetic. However, our volunteers really came with their love for Lucas and enthusiasm for the program, and they still managed to pull out so many long interactions with Lucas. I am so very happy to say that we have successfully increased our average interactive attention span by another two minutes this month. The team’s attitudes and persistence were the mainstay that kept this program running and gave our Lucas a silver lining to his day whenever they were here!

I just love the following video. Our volunteer here is engaging Lucas in a game of bubble blowing and if you watch closely, you will see him nod yes when she asks him if he would like her to blow the bubbles. This is not a goal we are currently working on or something Lucas actually has ever done. That is….a nod in response as a natural reflex to a question without some sort of prompting. This itself is one of many amazing evolutions as a result of this program, our team’s dedication and of course their amazing ATTITUDES!!! : )