Autism Treatment Center of America Forum

[Snowcloud]

Hi,

I am currently actively seeking volunteers (4 people have shown initial interest, but some have not gotten back to me after I sent them further information). Now, I'm just wondering if I should bring up or how I should go about telling potential volunteers that my son likes to be naked in the playroom. He's five years old, so it was okay to my last volunteer, but she did mentioned that if he were older, she would have been uncomfortable.

would you suggest I not bring this up until they have met my son?

Thank you. Looking forward to your feedback. Have a wonderful day!

[BeckyDamgaard]

Hi,

Wow, it's fantastic to hear about how much you have done in trying to find a team to work with your beautiful son!

I would definitely want to meet my prospective volunteers and get a feel for the type of person they are first of all before giving them more information about your son (such as the nakedness). As a program leader, you will want to be the one to decide if your volunteer seems open and interested. As you know, The Son-Rise Program is a loving, non-judgmental approach and having people in your team who are open to that approach will be the first step. There is no need to tell your volunteers every little detail about your son until they are willing to learn more and come to meet him in person.

If you like them and they have shown you to be open and interested in the program, I would then tell them that you are working on your son wanting to wear clothes and he hasn't quite gone along with it yet! Ask them how they would feel if he wanted to be naked in their session. If they would be comfortable with it then great! Job done! If they say they wouldn't then I would simply ask them why? If you can understand why then you could educate them more about the Son-Rise philosphy and explain that his challenge is relating with people, so therefore we are going to give him as much control as possible in the playroom so we can help create predicatbility in his life. This will help him learn to want to connect with and trust people in a deeper way. Ask them if they are willing to change their view. if they are not open to changing it then it's best that that particular volunteer does not work in your program anyway.

I wish you all the best!

Warm regards,

Becky Damgaard - Son-Rise Program Teacher