Hello all,
I just received the email below from AutismLink. Larry King Live http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/ will be doing a show tomorrow [Wednesday] about Autism: "Bill Cosby and Toni Braxton speak out on the epidemic affecting 1 in 150 children. As autism cases soar, what's behind the rise?" I'm not that familiar with the show since we don't have cable. Do people call in or just email? Anyway, this is a golden opportunity and we need Son-Rise people to contact the show.

Here are the two contacts that I've found:
Question for guests: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.lkl.html/
An example of a question to pose would be: "When innumerable children have completely recovered from Autism and still others surge well beyond their prognosis, using Autism Treatment Center of America's Son-Rise Program®, why isn't the media and the autism community, in general, talking about the amazing, life affirming Son-Rise program?"

Comments: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12
If anybody knows of a phone number for Larry King Live, please let the rest of us know. It would be great if a Son-Rise family could call in and talk about their success! It would be fantastic if Raun, could call in and speak about Son-Rise!!!

We need to do this for all those families who are struggling and have no idea that Son-Rise is an option!

Thank you all for your help in this endeavor!!!

Peace be with you!---Nicole

The episode is airing tonight on CNN at 9pm EST. If you can call in with a question or comment, email in your questions before the show, or post a comment on the website after the show, using your experience and knowlege of Son-Rise, we would really appreciate it. It may just work!

Larry King Live CNN/Cable News Network
Washington, District Of Columbia County; DMA: Washington, DC (008)
Mail: [Same as street address]
Phone: (202) 898-7690
Fax: (202) 898-7686
Street: 820 1st St NE, Washington, DC 20002-4243
Home Page: www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live
Email: larry.king.live@turner.com

Tracy Baisden, Publicist

Hello everyone,

Though our contact with you may be sporadic, we often think of all of the people who have touched our lives in many ways. Frank and I have come to find that our purpose and priority in life is to help Veronika pass through her journey into Autism and reach her full potential (be that full recovery or not), but to also, help the other families impacted by Autism. A few weeks ago, the CDC announced that 1 in every 150 children has Autism. The media seemed stunned by this, yet we were not. We have seen many families in our community struggling with this condition and the lack of support. What did astonish us was the recent news reports of electric shock being used as "treatment" for children with Autism. We naively assumed that the barbaric and ineffective method of shocking children was a horror from Autism's distant past. We are dismayed by the way the media is handling this issue, so I am asking everyone reading this (regardless of what state or country your in) to please take a few minutes to do something that costs nothing, yet will help Autism families all over the world.


A few years back, PA Gov. Rendell attended a fundraiser for the Autism Treatment Center of America's Son-Rise Program® hosted by the Westphal family. Kyle Westphal completely recovered from Autism using Son-Rise®: http://www.kylestreehouse.org/video1.htm and was featured in Discovery Channel and Fox News segments. Recently, CBS's "60 Minutes" aired a segment on Autism after the CDC announced the 1/150 statistic. We expected a news organization of the caliber of "60 Minutes" to have presented a broad based segment on various treatments that are helping children. Instead, they focused on one treatment approach that has been used for many decades, without a significant improvement to the child's life, much less recovery.


If Gov. Rendell can take time out of his busy schedule to support an Autism treatment [Son-Rise®] that has helped children all around the world, why can't the media take notice? When Frank and I went to the Autism Treatment Center of America, we met parents/grandparents/teachers/etc. from 23 different states and 10 different countries. After years of other therapies that left us feeling despondent, Veronika has changed so much in the last 6 months since we started Son-Rise (in the areas of verbal communication [spontaneous sentences instead of one word], eye contact [up to 30 seconds uninterrupted], demeanor, etc.) Veronika, who battled us nightly not falling asleep until between 2-4:00 in the morning, now goes to sleep consistently at a reasonable hour, and get this, she decides she is sleepy and wants to go to bed. We don't have to tell her to go to bed! That's amazing!!! She's happier than I've seen her in years, and so are Frank and I. Before Son-Rise, just to get a dental check-up, Veronika would typically have to be restrained in a mesh wrap thing (like a cocoon) and have cartoons playing in front of her face...recently she had a dental check-up without restraint or cartoons, and was pleasant and cooperative...the dental hygienist commented that Veronika was "like a whole different girl", the hygienist even got a spontaneous hug from Veronika. This has had a phenomenal impact on our family's quality of life!


So, I am asking everyone reading this to please take a few minutes out of your day to write a quick note requesting that the shows that are listed below do a story on Son-Rise® and the Autism Treatment Center of America. Even if you never watch one of the shows listed or TV at all, please contact them any way. I have provided the contact info. Size of the email doesn't matter...the shear volume of emails [if we all take a little time out of our day to do this] should make a huge impact! One more thing, in my letter to "60 Minutes" while I alluded to the boy being trained to touch is ear, head, etc. gave no eye contact, I forgot to mention that as they reported using eye tracking technology indicates that children with Autism naturally look at people's mouths instead of eyes, yet this boy, whom Dr. Sally Rogers had taken the "in your face", "forcing interaction" approach for nearly a year, now didn't look anywhere near her face...at one point choosing to look at a wall...and not the wall behind Dr. Rogers, but 90 degrees to the side of her...from a human interaction stand point, in my opinion, this kid was staging a full scale revolt, and no one in the room including Lesley Stahl seemed to notice.

If you are not sure what to say, here is a short letter template from which to work:

Please forward this to anybody else that you think would be willing to take a few minutes to help children with Autism all over the world. The media has a notoriously short attention span, so we hope to keep emails coming to these shows into April -- "Autism Awareness Month".

One more thing, I called "60 Minutes" and I found out that to get your email to get noticed, you should type in the subject line:
"Stahl Team (Autism)"
So, be sure to include that in your subject line of your email to "60 Minutes".

Here is all the contact info that I have gathered (feel free to add to it):
EMAIL: 60m@cbsnews.com
Remember, email subject line: Stahl Team (Autism)
PHONE: (212) 975-3247 If you call, it will take between 3-4 minutes by the time
you leave a voice message, wait for the maximum message length cue and select delivery preference; I picked "Urgent".
ADDRESS:
60 Minutes
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

Here are some other CBS News email addresses; you would make a different subject line of your choosing:
CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com {I wonder if Couric Team (Autism) might be a good subject line.
I had already sent mine by the time I talked to CBS, so I sent it a second time with that title to hedge my bets.}

Couric & Co: couricandco@cbs.com
CBS Evening News, Saturday and Sunday editions: weekend@cbsnews.com
CBS Sunday Morning sundays@cbsnews.com

Here is the contact info for CBS's competitors:

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: Nightly@NBC.com
Dateline NBC (their version of a 60 Minutes show): Dateline@NBC.com
NBC Today Show: Today@NBC.com
Weekend Today: WT@nbc.com
MSNBC TV: viewerservices@msnbc.com
ABC Prime Time: abc.news.magazines@abc.com
20/20: 2020@abc.com (Note: both 20/20 and Prime Time are their version of a 60 Minutes shows)
ABC Nightline: niteline@abc.com
World News Tonight: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html?cat=World%20News%20Tonight
ABC Weekend News feedback page: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html?cat=Weekend%20News
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?1
http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ireports/topics/forms/breaking.news.html
FOX News:
TO CALL FOX NEWS CHANNEL: 1-888-369-4762
TO E-MAIL GENERAL COMMENTS: Comments@foxnews.com
The Oprah Winfrey Show:
Note: This show is recorded in Chicago and Autism One http://www.autismone.org/homepage.cfm has announced its annual conference will be in Chicago & Raun Kaufman is one of the speakers.
Show ideas http://www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_showideas.jhtml
Email http://www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_reach_fromu.jhtml
O Magazine: http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/omag_wehear.jhtml
Dr. Phil Show: http://drphil.com/plugger/respond/?plugID=9163

Thank you all so much for your help in this endeavor!!! Peace be with you!---Nicole, Frank and Veronika

Gentlemen,

As a long-time viewer of your show, I would normally have unqualified positive comments regarding your investigative reporting. However, in this case I am horrified, disappointed and shocked at the irresponsible journalism displayed in your recent autism presentation.

My son is autistic. While the so-called "ABA" approach was effective for a short period of time - mostly to reinforce rudimentary developmental tasks such as potty-training - it did absolutely nothing to encourage cogent communication with another human being.

Zero.

The truth about ABA is as follows: The "special education" system is funding based. Educators are required to establish quantifiable goals to be met, using percentages, in order to establish some sort of measuring stick on the progress of a child. These goals and the baseline are arrived at during yearly meetings called "IEP's" - aka: Individualized Education Plan.

Thus, if little Johnny can point to his nose on command 70% of the time, the goal has been met and everyone can congratulate themselves as having achieved progress.

This paradigm is a complete canard. ABA simply bribes children to behave as instructed and nothing more. The child is not inspired to interact in any meaningful way; they are simply being trained as one would an animal to perform a trick for onlookers.

ABA treats children as objects.

My son was trained - through bribery with candy - to "appropriately respond" to such questions as "how are you today?" with: "I am fine, how are you?"

He had no concept of what "fine" meant in any meaningful sense. If the "trainer" were to say "what's up?" to my son, the response would have been silence.

Why?

Because that is not on the script he has been taught to memorize. The ABA approach does not generalize into the real world. It is simply a method by which schools can continue to receive funds from the state.

Now, onto the point: There *is* a way to get through to these children, but before you can inspire them to seek interaction in our world, it is crucial to first reach out into their world.

Autism is a world unto itself.

We have been following the Sonrise Program (Autism Treatment Center of America) for quite some time. My son, despite only living with us half the time - his mother refuses to cooperate - has made vast strides.

His perseverations and echolalia have gone from nearly constant to rare occurrences. Eye contact has gone from zero to almost 100%. That is a meaningful percentage. Where once he avoided contact, preferring to hide in his little world of videos and repetitive behaviors, my son is with us - constantly seeking interaction. Playing appropriately, calm, and in truth, often more focused than his twin sister, who is neuro-typical.

We have a staff of volunteers who work with him nearly every waking moment, obtaining feedback from his step-mother and myself on a continuous basis, as we lead our child through the transition from the confining world of autism to the reality we all share.

It takes work. Lots of it. Time, effort, training, commitment and most of all, parental BELIEF that autism is curable. My niece was clearly diagnosed with autism by a team of experts. She was removed from three different nursery schools for disruptive and frankly impossible behavior.

Just seven months of full-time Sonrise was all it took. This little girl has - in my view - absolutely no symptoms of her former condition and is fully mainstreamed. Sonrise works powerfully and permanently.

Do we pursue other strategies? Of course! My son is wheat, gluten, casein and dairy free. He is also under the supervision of a famous physician who has done a spectacular job of resolving my son's allergies - which exacerbate autistic symptoms.

However, the key has been Sonrise.

I invite you to bring your cameras into my home. There is no excuse for a television show with such worldwide penetration to act as an advocate for an ineffective treatment.

That is not responsible journalism gentlemen.

Gib Papazian
Hillsborough, CA