A Parent’s Assessment of Son-Rise

When it comes to autism, one thing is most certainly true:  Parents are desperate and frantic to help their children.  This has been true since before autism rates began to skyrocket in the 1990’s.  One of the oldest programs in existence is the “Son-Rise Program for Autism” which is offered through the Autism Treatment Center of America (ATCA, as it’s known).

Who is the Son-Rise Program?

It’s a group of folks who live and work at the Center, a 100-acre compound in Sheffield, MA, in western Massachusetts.  Several buildings are set in a wooded, remote area, with meeting rooms, training rooms, and living areas.  The proponents of the Son-Rise technique are Bears and Samahria Kaufman, along with their son Raun.  According to the website, Raun, was diagnosed as severely and incurably autistic. Although advised to institutionalize him because of his “hopeless, lifelong condition,” the Kaufmans instead designed an innovative home-based, child-centered program in an attempt to reach their little boy. The Kaufmans’ unique program, which marked a complete departure from existing methods of treatment, transformed Raun from a mute, withdrawn child with an IQ of less than 30 into a highly verbal, socially interactive youngster with a near-genius IQ.

The program has several other folks who live/work at the ATCA compound, performing training and doing other tasks related to the mission.  You’ll see them in some of the Son-Rise Youtube videos.  It began in the 1970’s making it nearly 45 years old at this time, far older than most any other autism program in existence.

What does the Son-Rise program promise?   

The unmistakable promise is that if you use this program, you child will completely recover from autism.  This is the message of the program itself, which touts that Raun “bears no traces of his former condition.”  It’s also the message of the 1970’s movie that bears the name The Son-Rise Program® – A Miracle Of Love (available to watch for free on Youtube).  The movie tells the story of the Kaufmans and concludes with a lady telling Raun that he emerged from autism, and that Raun “was born perfect.”  Videos on the site have titles such as “Fully Recovered From Autism: Jake’s Son-Rise Program Journey.”  These messages give you the hope that your child with autism can also emerge perfect, with a full recovery.

The website is clear, however, that there are no promises or guarantees.

What sort of Evidence Supports the Son-Rise Program?

In a word:  testimonials.   The ATCA website is replete with them.  Videos (slick productions on their website & YouTube channel), written statements without names.  A lot of hype and excitement, but nothing that can be independently verified.

What is missing from the testimonials about the Son-Rise Program are full names, locations, and ways of reaching out to verify these stories.

Another disturbing fact about the Son Rise testimonials is that they are generally taken from you while you are in Sheffield, MA, at the program, not a year or more afterwards.

What does Son-Rise Therapy Look Like?

Put simply:  The approach focuses on loving your child, and joining him in his world.  By showing your love and acceptance, your child will see that you love him, and then allow you to lead him out of the world of autism.  If your child is rocking back and forth, or spinning plates, you should join in with these actions as well, rather than discouraging the stims.   What this looks like is to bring your child into a “playroom” shut off from distractions.  This should be done for most of the day:  no exit from the playroom except to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom.  The ATCA actively encourages parents to take their kids out of school to pursue this play-based therapy.  The ATCA  also discourages other modes of treatment, such as ABA therapy, which it claims is akin to making kids into robots.

Therapy goes on for several hours per day, of course.  You are encouraged to be happy and enthusiastic with your child.  “Thank you for Looking at me!” is an exclamation that is used a lot, to encourage eye-contact and the child’s improved attention.  Main techniques include wearing silly hats, speaking imaginatively, and trying to make the time fun when the child shows interest in you.   When the child is withdrawn into a stim or self-isolated, then you should join the child by doing the same thing that the child is doing.  You’ll need to recruit several volunteers to help with this program, as nobody can play constantly for the entire day.

Having had nearly 20 volunteers over the years, I can say that most of these people are big-hearted and willing to help.   Some are trying to get in community service hours (as required at certain school programs for teens).  These folks deserve praise for giving their unpaid time to strangers for the purpose of helping a kid to recover from autism.  The downside is that volunteers tend to be unreliable, and we have never had a volunteer work with us for more than a few months, which is not enough time to really learn the Son Rise program.  And we’ve had incidents in which a volunteer showed up and was an elderly lady with a car completely filled with trash, and other such situations that are clearly unacceptable.  Would you really want anyone to work with your child with autism, who cannot speak for him/her self?

The Kaufmans promote the Option Method, a self-help movement built on the idea that people can change their feelings by changing their beliefs.  If you truly love your child, you can lead them out of autism.  And of course, the un-spoken threat is that if your child does not recover from austim, then you don’t love your child enough.

Sounds Great!   What does it Cost?

Tens of thousands.  Most of the programs are a week long.  There is the startup program, and then several follow ups.  The tuition is a bit over $2000 per parent per week.  This does not include transportation costs, so for an out-of-area couple to go for a week would cost at least $5,000, just for the first session.

Other avenues include a weeklong session where you bring your child, and also opportunities to have Son-Rise trainers come to your house for a few days to train you and your volunteers.  They even have an online training course you can take at home.  Prices vary.  Some families have spent as much as $50,000 on the ATCA programs over the years, some even more.  Families are encouraged to fund-raise, crowd-fund, and do whatever it takes to get the tuition available.  After all, what could be more important than the future of your child?

What do other people say about the Son-Rise Program?

If you only look at the Son-Rise program’s website (https://autismtreatmentcenter.org/), you’ll probably join other parents in thinking that it’s the best hope for your child.  There is much enthusiasm in the program, and the website and materials look very professional.

If you really want to evaluate something, you need to look at it from multiple angles, ESPECIALLY critics.  Here is what was I found from three prominent accounts about the Son-Rise program:

1.  Brendan Borrell wrote THIS very insightful piece for Slate in 2017.   It’s worth a read.  Some of the highlights include the quasi-religious nature of the Son-Rise program, its rigidity, and its focus on absolute loyalty to the Kaufman family.  It mentions the budget of the ATCA, which was about $6 million a year back in 2017.  It also demonstrates how lacking the Son-Rise program is in serious evidence for its effectiveness.  The Son-Rise program has no proof beyond testimonials by people who are not fully named (other than Raun Kaufman).  Attempts to study its effectiveness are nearly non-existent, which is shocking for a program that is over 40 years old.  No evaluation of how families are feeling about it years after attending the training, and whether they believe their kids are better off or worse.  The Son-Rise program is also willing to sue others who are infringing on their turf, as this Slate article describes.  Hardly the behavior I’d expect from an outfit dedicated to helping our disabled kids.
2. The Autism Community in Action.  This is in contrast to other Autism related programs that exist in this world.  TACA, which I support heartily, is generally free.  They might charge you $5 for their guide, or $75 to attend a conference.  You get access to other parents at local groups that are generally free and run by parent volunteers who earn nothing.  At TACA, we name names.  Anyone who wants to reach out can often call other parents for support, or for ideas.  The import of this is that I had a talk with Glen Ackerman, one of the founders of TACA, a few years ago.  He’s a stand-up guy and husband to the heroic Lisa Ackerman.  He has met Raun Kaufman.  Glen’s opinion was that the Kaufman family was in it for the money, and that they do whatever they need to in order to get that money.  It was refreshing to hear a direct criticism like this.
3. Craig Schulze.  Finally, if you really want to hear an honest review by two parents who went through the Son-Rise program, read the book “When Snow Turns to Rain“.   In it, he describes how he and his wife experienced the program in the early 1990’s.  He was taken in by a “place that advertises miracles” (p. 88).  He notes, however, that only Raun Kaufman, and an un-named Mexican boy, are the only children who Son-Rise had claimed to ‘cure’ at that time.
4. Schulze describes how every staff member at Son-Rise is involved in a ‘conspiracy of celebration’ and bears an extremely sunny disposition.   He was hard-pressed, however, to pay the $4500 a week in tuition.  He writes: “there’s a ton of overhead here, even if they are paying their staff squat.”   He makes the best critique ever of the Son-Rise program (pages 95-97), when he argues:  “How likely is it that a child who makes minimal eye contact and has serious receptive language deficits is picking up subtle cues from the behavior of others” when they are ‘mirroring’?   The Schulzes are asked to give a review before they even leave the ATCA compound.  They go home to implement the program for about 6 months, giving it their all in every way possible, before realizing that it did nothing to improve their son.

What do you think, Brian?

If you know much about me, then you know that the only way I talk it to tell the truth as straight as I can.   Here is the truth that I see, based on my wife’s attempts to work this program for Matthew starting back in late 2015 to the present.

• The Son-Rise program is not a cure for autism.
• There is no good evidence for the Son-Rise Program, and indeed the ATCA actively discourages the collection of accurate data, relying instead on testimonials that it controls.
• The founders, mostly the Kaufman family, are completely dedicated to making as much money as possible, and supporting their lavish lifestyle on the 100-acre compound in western Mass.  This overshadows everything that concerns the ATCA and the Son-Rise Program.  Why else would they sue other people to try to stop them from helping kids (see the Slate article, above)?
• All that being said, Son-Rise does encourage you to love and cherish your child, and to play with your child in a happy and enthusiastic way.  Clearly that is good.  Son-Rise has a few techniques that seem to work, somewhat.  I believe that the Hanen program for autism, is more effective than Son-Rise, and you can learn it pretty well  implement Hanen through buying a $10 book.  I also learned quite a bit from it by attending a free parent training that was held locally.
• Son-Rise offers a simple solution to a complex problem.  It ignores the medical issues that underlie autism.  It focuses solely on its behavioral therapy, and the attitude of those who work with the child in the playroom.  Son-Rise is good, in that it emphasizes love and acceptance of your child, and the hope for a better future.  It’s bad because using one approach, the Son-Rise playroom approach, will not work by itself.  Son-Rise lies to parents claiming that it’s the only true path.  I also do not approve of the message that if you don’t follow Son-Rise, and pay tons of money to the ATCA, then you’re a bad parent who wants your child to end up in an institution.

Brian, March 2020.