A Reaction Paper on Barry Neil Kaufmans Son-Rise By Carlo P.

Carlon

Son-Rise is the true story of Raun Kaufman, a young boy who exhibited symptoms and signs of autism. He was unresponsive, would go limp when carried, and was fascinated with spinning objects. He acted both deaf and blind, and rocked or stared in silence for long period of hours. When his parents explored medical treatment, he was officially diagnosed to have severe autism and doctors have given up hope on him, even suggesting to his parents, Barry and Samaria Kaufman to institutionalize him and focus instead their energies, time and effort to their other children.

However, instead of discouraging them from seeking treatment for their autistic son, Barry and Samaria Kaufman took this as an opportunity to try out the Option Process in order to release their fears, discomfort, assumptions and biases about their son and his condition. They tried establishing connection with Raun by consistently spending time with him and joining him in his private world. They created a program at home which was centered on reaching out to Raun starting with the most basic deficiency of people with autism, eye contact. And miraculously, Raun emerged slowly from the bondage of autism. Eventually, Barry and Samaria Kaufman claimed that Raun was cured from his autism through the help of the Option Process they developed and implemented at home with the involvement of all family members. The

Kaufmans profound experience with Rauns healing led them to share and teach other people

the Option Process. They teach parents and caretakers how to design and develop their own SonRise program in their own homes and centers.

I found the book very inspirational and uplifting. The passion and commitment exhibited by Barry and Samaria and their children was unbelievable and amazing. Most people would just give up when faced with similar struggles but they persisted in the belief that they can cure Raun from his condition, and they were rewarded for sticking to their beliefs and values. It is a testament to the reality that love is a powerful motivation that can conquer all challenges. But my positive feedback about the book is limited to its being an inspirational story.

While most people find the book inspiring, full of hope and a cure even for autism, I am a bit pessimistic with some of practices and beliefs of the Son-Rise program as developed by the Kaufmans. First and foremost, their basic idea seems to imply that any problem or issue in this world can be solved by making a choice to feel happy about it. Even autism can be miraculously cured by just having to accept and show love to the autistic person. If the person is not cured, you probably had the wrong attitude. I personally believe that any human person when given the right amount of care and attention can transcend any obstacles in life. Even persons with autism can lead a happy and meaningful life. However, I also believe that there are limitations in each person, especially persons with autism and other disabilities. There are physical and neurological limits to what a person is capable of accomplishing and no amount of positive attitude, conscious choice and love can cure the realities of autism for that matter. I am not exhibiting a pessimistic attitude but scientific and medical researches until this time have not found a cure for autism.

The general agreement in the medical community is that there is no known cure for autism at the moment. While there are some who claims that the program works for them, still it does not cure autism but just improve the symptoms of autism.

Recent commentaries are doubting and questioning the veracity of Rauns real condition as an autistic child. There are some schools of thought who proposes that he was not really severely autistic as claimed by his parents. Others feel that the Kaufmans are misleading people by offering their treatment program for a fee but they are not able to present any credible scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the said program.

I do not want to be a spoiler and dampen the spirits of parents, families and persons who have loved ones with autism by discouraging them to try out the tips and techniques taught in the book as applied to Raun but I do not want also to give false hopes to people by promoting that the book Son-Rise is a cure for autism. Parents are overly motivated to try out any promising treatment and this in turn makes them vulnerable to any promise of cure for autism.