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Posted ByAutistic and proud on December 13, 1999 at 10:01:13:
:The son-rise programme would not be in existence if the Kaufmans were only interested in money because they would never have been able to free Raun from his world
Clara Claiborne Park, in her book "The Siege" on bringing up her autistic daughter (now an acclaimed painter), comments on the book "Son-Rise" while describing one professional who she found particularly helpful:
"There were miracle recoveries, to be sure, and well-publicized ones - a recent book tells the story of a child who could have been a stand-in for Elly, restored by good therapy to intelligence and affection. No doubt it happened. Miracles do. But I was in the presence of one too wise to claim she could chart the processes to bring them about ..."
I know first-hand of plenty of cases of "miraculous"-seeming progress. I've seen one boy who was non-verbal and violently hyperactive, who less than two years later was talking in sentences, reading, writing, and composing his own books on the class computer. I know one adult who was assessed when she was first diagnosed as having an IQ of 40 and who the doctors predicted would never read, write or speak; she now has a university degree.
These things happen, but none of the teachers or parents involved have ever claimed that it gives them the right to set themselves up as experts or promise to teach others how such results can be achieved.
The point is that if children make amazing progress, that's wonderful and it should be studied, but it doesn't automatically put their teachers/parents beyond question or mean that anything they do is right.
: : I am really sorry to hear that you have taken this focus for your term paper. It seems you have missed the point. Getting wrapped up in the money side really does a dis-service to our special children and the families who have worked so hard to help them.
I don't think any organization ought to be above critical examination. The autism field is full of people who are out to exploit parents as well as people who are truly dedicated and altruistic (and many people who are somewhere in between the two), and an attitude of healthy scepticism is the only way in which they can be sorted out. It's refusing to ask questions that does a disservice to children with autism and their families.
There are many people working on interactive, child-centred methods of teaching autistic children (such as Melanie Nind and Dave Hewett in the UK) who are not charging huge sums of money for their teaching. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for someone to ask questions about Options fees. Maybe there are good answers; but that doesn't mean that the questions shouldn't be asked in the first place.
: : To those of you who are interested, Ihave decided to narrow down my term-paper and see what the motives of the Son-Rise program are.
I think this is a question which should be asked of every organization in the autism field. If Options really is functioning ethically, then there's nothing to be afraid of in Samantha's investigation, and people shouldn't be so hostile to the idea.
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