There are a few socialization therapies out there, but none so original, time-tested and successful as The Son-Rise® Program, which is based on the work of Barry (Bears) Neil Kaufman and his wife Samahria at the Autism Treatment Center of America in Shiefield, MA. If you are familiar with Theory of Mind in psychology circles, you'll understand why socialization therapies work better by forcing integration of the child's total environment. The Kaufman’s began their work with their own severely autistic child over 25 years ago. Back then few resources or words of encouragement were available to parents of children with this disability. Helpless many parents turned to state-run institutions to raise and care for their children. In this environment, the Kaufman’s figured out a unique way to deal with the challenges that their child was having.

The Kaufman’s approach was based on total acceptance by the parents, care-givers and volunteers of themselves and of the child whom they wanted to help. In this process, rather than assigning a belief to a behavior (this is “good” “bad” “wrong” etc…) we try to become appealing to the child we are trying to help, by entering into their world, and showing them that we accept them they way that they are. Instead of pushing the child to conform to preset expectations and norms, we try to look at things from their perspective and encourage them to form special bonds with us.

Part of the Son-Rise® Program's focus is based on attitude. Rather than seeing a special needs child as a curse or punishment, we perceive them as a gift. Rather than see our “situation” as an unfortunate predicament, we see it as wonderful opportunity to show a child just how exciting our world can be. By using Energy, Excitement and Enthusiasm (the 3 E’s) when working with our children we are given many opportunities to invite them into our world and have them find us and the things we call “reality” appealing.

These Son-Rise®Programs has not only been successful for the Kaufman’s child, whom defying all expectations and myths about autistic children and adults, graduated from a top Ivy League University, was in fraternal organizations and has had serious and meaningful relationships, but has also benefited in a very real way thousands of families across the globe. The ATCA has worked with 20,000 families and the Son-Rise® Intensive Program® alone has helped over 700 parents see a 92% improvement in their child’s use of language, a 90% improvement in the child’s attention span and a 92% improvement in the child’s eye contact.

Today, their son Raun K. Kaufman is CEO of the center, and you can watch his video at their website.

Often, the hardest part of working with Son-Rise programs is finding volunteers. We help families find volunteers for their Son-Rise programs through internships and our connections in the local communities. If this is an option you wish to pursue, please let us know.

Floortime, a vital element of the DIR/Floortime model, is a treatment method as well as a philosophy for interacting with children (and adults as well). Floortime involves meeting a child at his current developmental level, and building upon his particular set of strengths. Floortime harnesses the power of a child’s motivation; following his lead, wooing him with warm but persistent attempts to engage his attention and tuning in to his interests and desires in interactions. Through Floortime, parents, child care providers, teachers and therapists help children climb the developmental ladder. By entering into a child’s world, we can help him or her learn to relate in meaningful, spontaneous, flexible and warm ways.

Children with special needs usually have processing differences that make it more difficult for them to master the foundations for relating, communicating and thinking that come relatively effortlessly to children without special needs. Therefore, a comprehensive treatment program needs to provide intensive opportunities to practice these skills. Components of a DIR/Floortime program include:

1. Parents do Floortime with their child, creating the kinds of interactive experiences that help the child master the developmental milestones.
2. Professionals, such as speech, occupational, and physical therapists, special educators and psychotherapists, work with the child using techniques informed by DIR/Floortime principles to deal with the child’s specific challenges and facilitate development.
3. Parents work on their own responses and styles of relating to their child with regard to the different developmental milestones in order to tailor their interactions with their child in a way that optimally supports emotional and intellectual growth.

Deborah Hayden first began to develop PROMPT (PROMPTs for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) in the late 1970's. Since then, PROMPT has continued to evolve. In the 1970's , the systematic manipulation of tactual-kinesthetic-proprioceptive input to oro-motor structures for changing speech targets was begun with children who presented severe motor impairment. These children did not respond to traditional treatment approaches that rely predominantly on auditory and visual input. The development of PROMPT treatment for them was grounded in theoretical and clinical perspectives that cross several disciplines concerned with physical, mental and social development.

Its focused use of tactile-kinesthetic input was influenced by the early work of scholars and practitioners who explored the tactile system in the neurological organization of normal and diseased brains and embraced its use in the clinical treatment of motor disorders including speech articulation. As PROMPT evolved over time, it was influenced more broadly by scholarly work that included the neurobiological, the cognitive-linguistic and the social aspects.

Taken together, these multiple theoretical perspectives stimulated questions about:

1. how motor systems typically develop
2. how dynamic interaction and equilibrium among whole body systems affect speech, language, and social interaction
3. how damage to the neuromotor pathways can unbalance the motor speech system and affect physical, mental and social functioning either directly or indirectly. Answers to these questions have led to much broader conceptualization of the speech production process than is described typically in the literature.

PROMPT's multidimensional approach to speech production disorders has come to embrace not only the well known physical-sensory aspects of motor performance, but also its cognitive-linguistic and social-emotional aspects.

During the 1980's, the first empirical studies of PROMPT's treatment efficacy were done. These studies led to the development of the first manual describing the technique of PROMPTing. In 1984, the first publication describing PROMPT appeared (Chumpelik (Hayden), 1984). It described the technique and use of "surface" tactile PROMPTs. They provide input about place of articulation, the amount and type of muscular contraction, movement transition and timing needed to produce speech sounds. At the same time, the issue of how a 3 - dimensional "intraoral" target movement system might affect co-articulatory reality began to be explored. This exploration focused on how phonatory, mandibular, labial-facial and lingual movements worked interactively in speech production and on how these subsystems could be re-balanced using tactile input to develop clear speech.

Also in the 1980's, collaborative research began with Paula Square whose research at the University of Toronto focused on acquired speech dyspraxia in adults.

In the 1990's , standardized assessment protocols were developed, and PROMPT treatment refined. VMPAC showed that development of the speech subsystems (i.e., mandibular, labial-facial, and lingual control and sequencing) was consistent with the hierarchical, interactive model of the Motor Speech Hierarchy. Children with normal and disordered speech developed motor control, flexibility and integration of the motor subsystems as age increased, although the disordered group was slower to develop than was the normal group.

With respect to PROMPT treatment in the 1990's, emphasis began to be placed on the concept of "planes of movement" (vertical, horizontal, anterior-posterior) used in co-articulated speech, and on how these movement planes become coordinated in normal speech. Attention was given to how much motor control was needed to produce words (i.e., a lexicon) in either one or more movement planes. PROMPT treatment was refined with respect to selecting speech, language, and social interaction goals.

The empirical validation of PROMPT as a clinical approach continues into the current century.

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) was developed in 1985 as a unique augmentative/ alternative training package that teaches children and adults with autism and other communication deficits to initiate communication. First used at the Delaware Autistic Program, PECS has received worldwide recognition for focusing on the initiation component of communication. PECS does not require complex or expensive materials. It was created with educators, resident care providers and families in mind, and so it is readilyused in a variety of settings.

PECS begins with teaching a student to exchange a picture of a desired item with a “teacher”, who immediately honors the request. The training protocol is based on B.F. Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior so that functional verbal operants are systematically taught using prompting and reinforcement strategies that will lead to independent communication Verbal prompts are not used, thus building immediate initiation and avoiding prompt dependency. The system goes on to teach discrimination of symbols and then how to put them all together in simple sentences. In the most advanced Phases, individuals are taught to comment and answer direct questions. Many preschoolers using PECS also begin developing speech.

The system has been successful with adolescents and adults who have a wide array of communicative, cognitive and physical difficulties. The foundation for the system is the PECS Training Manual, 2nd Edition, written by Lori Frost, MS, CCC/SLP and Andrew Bondy, PhD. The manual provides all of the necessary information to implement PECS effectively. It guides readers through the six phases of training and provides examples, helpful hints and templates for data and progress reporting. This training manual is recognized by professionals in the fields of communication and behavior analysis as an effective and practical guide to one of the most innovative systems available.

PECS is especially successful if appropriately combined with elements of behavior analysis. The manual offers many suggestions on assessing reinforcers, teaching strategies, fading prompts and other issues. The authors encourage PECS users to create an environment that enhances and encourages communication through the use of the Pyramid Approach to Education. The manual briefly outlines the Pyramid and how it can be established in various settings.