I've always approached talking about SPD by how it differentiated from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other conditions. But now that R has been officially diagnosed, it's time to switch gears and talk about ASD and SPD hand in hand.
But because there is a lot of websites and blogs out there with info on ASD, I feel I do not need to rehash them in this blog. I've also talked about before on how children with ASD also exhibit SPD symptoms and behaviors. So do read up on that if you like.
If you want to know more about the condition, please refer to the following links:
Now, I advise you to read up on ASD before coming back to read my review of a book I picked up over the weekend, because it'll be very helpful to understand what it is before I ramble about it, especially since I will be using some unfamiliar terms such as stimming.
Okay, we're good?
Let's roll.
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| Book Cover |
To start this review, let me state that I did not get this book for free. My husband and I bought it while we were at the Manila International Book Fair 2017. So I hope that will put some thoughts of bias to rest.
Also, as a disclaimer of sorts, I will state that all that will be written from here on are my personal opinions and are not, in any way, meant to be taken as gospel truth or medical advice. I am not a medical practitioner or a child developmental expert. I am just a former teacher, a simple mother, a possibly autistic woman with a child who has autism.
Raun K. Kaufman, the author of Autism Breakthrough, was born in 1973. He is the Director of Global Education for the Autism Treatment Center of America, with its program called the Son-Rise Program (SRP). The claim is that this program was instrumental in not just treating but curing autism in many of their clients.
In his book, Kaufman makes the claim that as a young boy, he was diagnosed with severe autism. Doctors supposedly have pronounced him beyond hope, that all his parents could ever do for him is to have him institutionalized.
The kicker? Kaufman goes on to claim that his parents then developed the Son-Rise Program, and that it is because of said program that today, he is totally cured of his autism.
I will admit that this was not the first time I saw this book. His claims of being cured of autism rang a bit odd to me. After reading his book, I will say that whether or not he was cured of said condition is not something I can say with total confidence. Do I believe him? I can't say I do. I can't say I don't. I've never met the man, I've never seen him as a child and how he behaved. I'm not in the position to judge.
I can, however, analyze his statements.
From the get go, Kaufman differs from a lot of commonly accepted autism information. He begins by stating that ASD is not a lifelong condition, and that ASD is not a behavioral disorder, but a social-relational disorder. And by that definition, the author has shown that he is not in total agreement with the techniques done in sessions of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
However, he does not go totally up front and says "ABA is bad, don't do it." Instead he conjectures that ABA sessions have different goals from SRP. When ABA focuses on changing behaviors, SRP focuses on building trust and a relationship with the child with autism. In the book's own words, "The children show us the way in, and then we show them the way out."
Kaufman continues on by encouraging parents to do the following:
- Join the child while the child is stimming (or isming as the author put it).
- Motivate or challenge the child when the child is done stimming as opposed to using reward-based techniques.
- Being creative in coming up with activities to encourage the child to socialize with the parent.
- Prioritize social skills over academic knowledge.
The author then goes on to talk about how SRP works, and that it works on the four fundamentals:
- Establishing eye contact and nonverbal communication
- Verbal communication
- Inattentive attention spans
- Flexibility
The rest of the book continues on with encouraging the child to be a "good try-er", advising the parents to have a small playroom or focus room where the child can go when overstimulated, on how to react when child with autism is having a meltdown, and the attitudes a parent must have for this to be a success.
There's even a chapter on how diet possibly affects autism. The appendix also includes a study done by ScienceDirect supposedly seeing favorable results with SRP. I will leave you to peruse and come to your own conclusions.
All in all, it was a very informative and quite an easy read. I don't necessarily agree with everything said in the book (I'm not too convinced that diet causes ASD, although I will say I believe some foods can affect moods or can make someone feel unwell, which then could lead to meltdowns etc.) but there were a lot of things said that make sense. Of course I agree that the best way to connect with your child is to understand and build a relationship. And you can't do that unless you're willing to join in to your child's world.
On the other hand, I don't advise taking the entire book as gospel truth. I do believe ASD is a lifelong condition. Unless there's solid evidence that proves otherwise, I will remain steadfast in that belief.
As for the program itself, a concern is that there's not enough research to prove the efficacy of SRP. Also, there have been claims that the SRP became more detrimental than helpful, so I suggest you look into that as well and come your own decision whether or not to jump into the program if you're thinking about it.
As for the program itself, a concern is that there's not enough research to prove the efficacy of SRP. Also, there have been claims that the SRP became more detrimental than helpful, so I suggest you look into that as well and come your own decision whether or not to jump into the program if you're thinking about it.
And that's the review of this book. I finished reading it with this thought. To be perfectly honest, I don't hope for the day R will no longer have ASD. Rather, the aim truly is to get my child with ASD to move forward, be independent, and live a fulfilling life with deep relationships with others, all for the glory of God.
And with that, I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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