Are you looking for a fun volunteer opportunity where you get to play with an adorable and spunky 6 year old? Then Sarah-Rise is for you. Based on the amazing Son-Rise program, we are running a home therapy program for our special daughter and would love your help. Training is provided. We are looking for a commitment of two 2 hour sessions per week plus 30 minutes after one of the sessions for feedback and training. There is also a monthly group meeting. We are looking for loving, non-judgmental, energetic people who are open to learning new ways of interacting with children with special needs.
Son-Rise is an intensive one-on-one home-based therapy program where we work in a distraction-free room with Sarah, encouraging increased eye contact, language, and social connection through play and following her lead. It is an extremely loving and accepting therapy that has had amazing results with some kids. While we have no idea how far Sarah will go with this, the exciting part is how limitless our goals and desires for her can be. We can want everything for her but need nothing from her to continue loving her with all our hearts. We have been running our program for 1 1/2 years and it has already brought amazing growth. She went from being mostly non-verbal to saying 3-7 word sentences with increasing clarity. Her eye contact and attention span have improved dramatically. Her eating has improved in ways that I never dreamed possible.
Son-Rise is based on the work of Bears and Samahria Kaufman whose son, Raun, was severely and supposedly incurably autistic in 1974. They were told there was no hope but they decided they wanted Raun to know how much they loved him. Samahria began working with Raun in a small room, joining his repetitive behaviors, and celebrating each tiny flicker of his acknowledging that she was with him. They spent 3 years working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week with him. He recovered completely. This approach has been used to help many other children emerge completely from autism and other challenges. I have personally spoken to parents whose children were extremely challenged in varying ways and now are normal, typical kids. As I said, I don't know if this will be Sarah's story too but it doesn't hurt to try! To learn more you can go to
http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/
Reasons why it is awesome to be a volunteer in the playroom: For the time you are in the room you drop all baggage and judgements and joyously connect and play, stretching your creative self. You practice being energetically encouraging and happy no matter what. In fact, this is the way to be most effective. The Option process (the basis for the Son-Rise approach, explained in the training provided) helps you sift through any beliefs or baggage that might be getting in your way. So by helping Sarah grow and change, you also grow and change, possibly becoming happier in all of your life, but at least for the time you are playing with Sarah.
If you are interested please get in touch and I will provide more information and we can decide if this is the right fit for you. If you know anyone who might be interested, please feel free to share this with them and give them my contact information.
Thanks!
Jenny
412-421-0284
412-512-7036
jbriggs1@mac.com
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