weez75

Hi just wondering how popular the son-rise program or any other home based programs are over there? have 14 years experience playing and having great fun with autistic children and would love to carry it on when we come over.

Ta

Jaycee1

My friend works in a resource base for pupils with ASD which is attached to a mainstream school. She has not mentioned Son-Rise. However, she did say where she is in Perth is very far behind using the ABA 'touch' method which is so demoralising She hounded the principal to use PECs (picture exchange communication) and he has taken this on board and now the pupils communicate with PECS.
I'm not sure if I saw a program on t.v about Son-Rise : is that where you play in a room until the child notices you?
J x

weez75

yep kind of its all about making the child feel safe and secure with you, we imitate the child in any of their repetitive behavior and with loads of love and acceptance we slowly build tiny bridges across to their world and try to 'woo' them out of their world but only on their terms and in their time, it's an amazing program that doesn't promise to 'cure' autism but does help the child reach their full potential while keeping them extremely happy , i have been lucky enough to be part of several programs which have all on different levels been extremely successful so i would still love to be part of it over there maybe i should get the team in America to raise awareness in o z
anyway enough of gushing !!!!

quoll

Not AFAIK one of the programs being pushed here. There has been a huge pressure from parents to have ABA programs going and some education departments pay lip service to that. Most school programs seem more eclectic and, if anything, TEACCH based. Any other programs have generally been watered down to accommodate group teaching. I would have thought that PECS would be standard practice in any autism classroom - it is widely used in ACT special schools and classes.

You will find that there are austism specific units in most states, some run by the local austism association (as in NSW) in collaboration with the ed department and others just part of special education provisions in government education. When you come, be sure to bring all reports including statement of diagnosis from the specialist/team and copies of all assessments which have been done, including one of adaptive behaviour - that will save you a bit of time and angst when you get here. Different states do assessments for special ed provisions in different ways but the more information you have the easier it will be.

Wendy

You might be able to get some info from here: http://www.autismsa.org.au/

WHIPPERSNAPPER

Im glad you love your job and want to continue working in this field. I have worked with austisic children and loved it and may look at getting back into that line of work once over in oz.