Re: Re: Re: Son-Rise, Number of staff?

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Posted By A Son-Rise Message Board Participant on December 17, 1999 at 12:16:38:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Son-Rise, Number of staff? posted byAutistic and proud on December 17, 1999 at 09:49:09:

: To put the cost into another sort of perspective, I work at a school for children with autism in the UK, which I think is not only excellent but positively extraordinary in its respect for and commitment for the pupils there. It provides an amazingly high teacher-pupil ratio, with some children having full-time assistants of their own (I was hired specifically to do one-to-one sessions of play/work with several children who it was felt would benefit), music therapy, TEACCH visual schedules to help make things comprehensible and predictable, and a multi-sensory room.

: And how much do parents pay for this? Nothing - it's a local state school (even the multi-sensory room was funded by charitable donations).

: I know that schools like this are rare (far too rare). But it shows that you shouldn't assume that education for autistic kids "naturally" has to have a huge price tag attached.

Wow, that is the kind of school I would actually want to have the opportunity to look at as an option. Unfortunately, those very rich porgrams do not exist where we live. And the amount of time I would have to spend campaigning for something like that here would take away precious time I could be spending working with my son.

I have learned several things about schools, however. Even the very best of programs in the public school system do not have the consistency that you get when you have a parent based program. The school is not year round, and many of the teachers change each year. It is also not for the full day, and we have found that by combining a playroom with school or as some parents do playroom for most of the day, the child is involved nearly full time.

Another uncontrollable component of school is that you do not have any idea who will come into the class, or any say about the class composition. Last year our son started in a program that had a very rich environment, with six kids, a teacher and three aides. About two months before school ended a boy came in who had severe ADHD, and the teacher really was not equipped to work with him. Before you new it, the classroom turned into a playpen. There is really nothing a parent can do to change that situation but to take your child out, and then where are you? I was so happy we had Son Rise to fall back on during the summer.

I believe that a good school setting can be a wonderful supplement to a home program, if the child is ready for it. Many of the parents of children represented at the Son Rise Program do not feel that their children would do well at school, and they find the Son Rise Program to be the best for their child. No school can provide the one to one attention that a child has on the playroom.

My feeling is that the school districts should be more familiar with Son Rise. It is far less costly than the type of setting you just described or the one my son was in last year for them, and far less costly than applied behavioral analysis, mainly because it is parent directed and many of the facilitators are volunteers. The savings would be enormous.

There is no school program where there are so many meetings (we have one every other week) and continual feedback to each person working with the child as Son Rise. At school, we have annual meetings with the whole group to decide what the program will be for the next year, and occasional individual meeitngs with the teacher and others who work with our son, maybe every other month. There is really not a coordinated approach where we discuss the issues that are most important to our son at that time.

In my son's case, it is hard to know what would have happened without his Son Rise Program, since we cannot go back and replay the time and have him out. I truly believe, though, that he is able to do much better at school than he would have without the program, and in the end this will only help the school system. They really should enable and encourage willing parents to run Son Rise Programs, since it will make their task much easier. Working together, instead of feeling denying the benefit of Son Rise, will only benefit the child. Isn't that the goal?

Thanks for your thoughtful input.

Doug

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Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Son-Rise, Number of staff?

Comments:: : To put the cost into another sort of perspective, I work at a school for children with autism in the UK, which I think is not only excellent but positively extraordinary in its respect for and commitment for the pupils there. It provides an amazingly high teacher-pupil ratio, with some children having full-time assistants of their own (I was hired specifically to do one-to-one sessions of play/work with several children who it was felt would benefit), music therapy, TEACCH visual schedules to help make things comprehensible and predictable, and a multi-sensory room. : : And how much do parents pay for this? Nothing - it's a local state school (even the multi-sensory room was funded by charitable donations). : : I know that schools like this are rare (far too rare). But it shows that you shouldn't assume that education for autistic kids "naturally" has to have a huge price tag attached. : Wow, that is the kind of school I would actually want to have the opportunity to look at as an option. Unfortunately, those very rich porgrams do not exist where we live. And the amount of time I would have to spend campaigning for something like that here would take away precious time I could be spending working with my son. : I have learned several things about schools, however. Even the very best of programs in the public school system do not have the consistency that you get when you have a parent based program. The school is not year round, and many of the teachers change each year. It is also not for the full day, and we have found that by combining a playroom with school or as some parents do playroom for most of the day, the child is involved nearly full time. : Another uncontrollable component of school is that you do not have any idea who will come into the class, or any say about the class composition. Last year our son started in a program that had a very rich environment, with six kids, a teacher and three aides. About two months before school ended a boy came in who had severe ADHD, and the teacher really was not equipped to work with him. Before you new it, the classroom turned into a playpen. There is really nothing a parent can do to change that situation but to take your child out, and then where are you? I was so happy we had Son Rise to fall back on during the summer. : I believe that a good school setting can be a wonderful supplement to a home program, if the child is ready for it. Many of the parents of children represented at the Son Rise Program do not feel that their children would do well at school, and they find the Son Rise Program to be the best for their child. No school can provide the one to one attention that a child has on the playroom. : My feeling is that the school districts should be more familiar with Son Rise. It is far less costly than the type of setting you just described or the one my son was in last year for them, and far less costly than applied behavioral analysis, mainly because it is parent directed and many of the facilitators are volunteers. The savings would be enormous. : There is no school program where there are so many meetings (we have one every other week) and continual feedback to each person working with the child as Son Rise. At school, we have annual meetings with the whole group to decide what the program will be for the next year, and occasional individual meeitngs with the teacher and others who work with our son, maybe every other month. There is really not a coordinated approach where we discuss the issues that are most important to our son at that time. : In my son's case, it is hard to know what would have happened without his Son Rise Program, since we cannot go back and replay the time and have him out. I truly believe, though, that he is able to do much better at school than he would have without the program, and in the end this will only help the school system. They really should enable and encourage willing parents to run Son Rise Programs, since it will make their task much easier. Working together, instead of feeling denying the benefit of Son Rise, will only benefit the child. Isn't that the goal? : Thanks for your thoughtful input. : Doug