Initial Call Feedback

Dear Brian

Thank you so much for your time over the telephone. It was important to be able to share our experience, plans and hopes for our son. It was equally vital to speak to someone who has successfully negotiated the path that we are aiming to follow. Having spoken with you, I am confident that you will prove to be an excellent Counsellor/Mentor for our family.

I am excited about our prospects and still retain a great hope that we will 'recover' this very precious boy. We appreciate that all should be treated as individuals and of course you never know who will respond typically to the therapy but we have adopted the popular saying 'NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED' as our motto, we feel there is nothing to lose and so much could be gained.

When I attended a Son-Rise lecture in September 2007, I was sceptical about what I was going to hear but after hearing Raun Kaufman speak, I dared to believe in the possibility of my son's recovery (I always thought it could be done but now I was actually believing it). It still took time to get my head around what was required and of course we have continued working very hard on his current therapies with the guidance of his dedicated therapists and we have been making slow progress.

In the past few days, we started with some of the strategies as instructed under the Son-Rise programme. I understood the principles behind these because of some work we were already doing but in just a couple of days some amazing things have happened: he is enjoying drinking more from his beaker, seems to be eating better and we have had a couple of almost stress-free teeth brushing sessions by making this a fun and animated part of his routine. Fun wasn't just for playtime, many aspects of his day could be approached in this way.

I also imitated his 'stimming' by spinning around and 'twiddling' my fingers and when he observed me, he started laughing, in fact we both fell about laughing so much. It was really uplifting to REALLY FEEL what seemed like a spontaneous connection with my boy rather than one that had been forced through and it appeared to be due to venturing into 'his world'.

I think what the programme is offering will go well with his existing therapy of working on his strengths and interests thus not only increasing his desire to communicate & interact or helping him overcome his sensory issues but also helping him acquire various skills. It is early days and who knows where this journey will lead us but I do know that if I do not give this programme a go then I would be limiting Koko's chances of 'recovery'.

Should you wish to share my testimony with others then please know that I fully authorise the Son-Rise programme to use the contents of this e-mail. I am looking forward to Start-Up in February and will keep you in the loop about how we get on. Thanks again for your phonecall and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.

Kind regards,
Funke Laseinde

Related Pages:

Autism Spectrum Disorders - Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Who has Attended The Son-Rise Program®
The Autism Treatment Center of America™ Message Board