The Son-Rise Program

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Economic recovery:

Recovery from cancer:

Recovery from alcohol/drug addiction:

All positives, and I can think of tons more. But to recover from anything, the original state would have been undesirable. As in disease, or sickness. The state of autism isn't necessarily negative, or undesirable.

My severely autistic son is whole as he is. He needs some help to learn things, but ALL 6 yo do. It's just usually not called intervention when they go to school. When we use negative language that suggests that the state of autism is as bad as, or equal to a disease we open up a pandoras box where a lot of bad negative stuff can happen to autistic individuals, based on the viewpoint that society hold of them.

But that's really beside the point, as far as my reply to CockneyRebel.

Basically, people with autism aren't perfect. And to reject everything with the word "recovery" in it (whether or not it connects the term to the term autism) is, well, rather silly, in my opinion. It's either being too literalist about the word "recovery" or too much "I'm perfect".

That's how I see it, anyway.

Nobody is perfect, Normal isn't perfect so you pointing out that we are not perfect makes no sense to me.(considering this does nothing to make your point)

Yeah, I'm a little confused, Cockney WAS using the term in reference to autism. And, self-improvement, or realizing one's flaws is not necessarily considered recovery.

Hm, a lot of this does sound pretty dubious to me. I agree with the post about it being aimed more at parent's benefits than the actual chidren's. What if those walls they're so eager on tearing down are vital for interpreting and living in the world?

I initially came on to this forum because my son has Aspergers, and I feel sad for the difficulties he has with relationships of all kinds, which is why I registered as 'despondent'. Because of his difficulties, I have just started a dating/friendship site for people on the autistic spectrum, and wanted to see if I could find anything similar out there.

Whilst on the forums, I have replied to a couple of threads that I thought I could help with. I just happened to have attended a Son-Rise seminar, and was very impressed with what I heard, so I thought I'd share it. My girlfriend, who is a teacher, was very impressed, and so was my son's teacher who specialises in special needs. I myself have some psychology training, and had already implemented some remotely similar methods long before I ever heard of Son-Rise. If anybody doubts the potential of these methods, you should come and see the difference in my son when he's with me, and when he's with his mother.

Why am I still despondent? Because I'm divorced, his mother is the main carer, and she's not interested in anybody's methods but her own (which is simply to ignore him).

So if anybody reading my post doesn't believe the program has any potential, then that is of course your decision. If the odd person feels insulted, or feels the need to be rude, please don't direct that at me, because I do believe, and I'm only trying to help. I have no hidden agenda, just a desire to pass information that I think may be useful.

I do apologize if I offended, but you have to understand from our POV. You have a very low post count, and decide to post about a program designed to 'help' us. What most of us want is to be accepted as we are, not changed, or given help designed to save us from ourselves.

You also have to remember that as aspies we communicate differently. If you put forth info about a program we're going to analyze it, and offer opinions on it. So, I may come across as blunt, or even rude, and I will apologize if I crossed the line, but all in all it's who I am, and how I communicate. This is one of the few places that I feel I can do that without editing myself, and worrying about others reading in between the lines to something that's not there.

I am glad that the program helped your son. I hope that you get something worked out with your wife to where the situation is happier for you all. I will however, stand by my previous opinion on the program. Best Wishes, and I do mean that sincerely.

Correct, no one is perfect. But, we are talking specifically about those with autism. I'm responding to the B.S. idea that people with autism don't need to grow up, improve themselves, become a better person, emotionally heal, etc. Responding to the idea of avoiding anything called "recovery", with the note I made earlier that recovery is pretty broad. Quoting me without quoting that context doesn't change the fact that what I said was said within that conversational context.

Ok Serenity, thanks for that. You seem to be an intelligent, articulate woman, who gets on well in life, so I can understand your point of view. I think that I would be exactly the same in your shoes. Unfortunately, my son does not find life easy, which is why I am always looking for ways to improve his confidence & social interaction. He is my inspiration for starting this dating/friendship site, as I know from experience that he's not the only Aspie out there who would love to find friendship and romance. I realise there's probably similar stuff on the web, but I don't feel these sites are safe enough (too many horrible people looking to take advantage of others), so I have decided to check the identity of everybody registering. As somebody who has experience in the community, I'd be really interested in your take on such a project. Thanks again.

I'm not perfect by any means, but that doesn't mean that I should be forced to be fixed, if I don't want to be fixed. Life is hard enough, as it is. Just let me be myself, and be the way that I'm wired to be, instead of making me into something that I'm not. There are too many perfectionists in the world, today, and that's what drives me crazy. I'm not defective, I'm different and different doesn't always mean inferior, and besides, you can't cure something that's not a disease.

One more thing. Nobody is perfect, whether they have a disability, or not.

I'm going to listen to The Kinks, for the next 24 hours.

Thank you for letting me be myself, again.

Cure us?

You are absolutely right, nobody is perfect, and nobody should be forced to be fixed. Some people want to improve on their imperfections, whatever they may be, whilst others are happy just as they are. Of course that then opens up a whole new can of worms about who defines what an imperfection is.

No it doesn't.

It is just the idea of 'fixing us', be it for the better or otherwise, is offensive because autism isn't a disease. It's who WE are. The idea of fixing us IS removing who we are, and that makes me feel NTs think they're better than we are mentally.

Seems to me that parents of children with autism aren't wanting to "fix" their children. They are wanting what all parents want. For their children to develop and grow.

I think as adults with autism, or Aspergers, or just traits, it's easy to forget that, with kids, autism is not simply a difference, it's a developmental disorder.

Every single one of us who posts here has verbal abilities. Every one of us is able to communicate in words. And the vast majority of us, I think, use speech. Why is it wrong, then, when parents of autistic children want this same thing for their children?

Not the only example of something that parents want for their autistic children that we, here, pretty much all have.