Son-Rise has so many incredible aspects to it. You know from reading the Son-Rise page on this website that Son-Rise is attitudinal. It is deeply rooted in love and respect for the child. We take on an entirely new perspective with Son-Rise. We work from a "Yes, thank you" premise, regardless of what might come our way. Everything is an opportunity! We learn to ask "What do I want?" instead of "What's possible?" We do this simply because "What's possible?" is a limiting, where "What I want" is expansive. If we are to fully embrace and believe in Danniah's limitless possibilities then we need to harness that belief and translate it into action.
We dream about the future to maximize the outcome of the present moment.
It really does matter what we think. Was it Buddha who said, "We are what we think?" Children have attitudinal radar. If you're angry, frustrated or annoyed...busy, harried or hectic they will want to move away from you, even if you have impeccable techniques. Have you ever talked to someone who is not listening? Maybe they are reading something or doing something online while you are trying to talk to them? You know that experience well, I'll bet. Kids have the same feelings, they know when you are not feeling loving. Kids with autism have heightened attitudinal radar-it's a bit like a blind person who has a keener sense of hearing. You can't fake it because they just know. This is certainly true of our Peanut. Long before I ever attended Start-Up I would say "It's all about energy with her!" Danniah has this uncanny ability to sense the very core of someone and she can do it in less than 15 seconds. If you are thinking about the 16 things that you need to do, or if you are frustrated or angry when you are next to Peanut, she is guaranteed to tell you a firm, "Goodbye!!" while waving. She is also very likely to become grumpy herself to boot. On the other hand, if you are present in the moment and you are loving, calm, open, playful, animated or silly--any one of those things-- she will be your new best friend. As Bear's says, "Attitude! Attitude! Attitude!
We dream about the future to maximize the outcome of the present moment.
It really does matter what we think. Was it Buddha who said, "We are what we think?" Children have attitudinal radar. If you're angry, frustrated or annoyed...busy, harried or hectic they will want to move away from you, even if you have impeccable techniques. Have you ever talked to someone who is not listening? Maybe they are reading something or doing something online while you are trying to talk to them? You know that experience well, I'll bet. Kids have the same feelings, they know when you are not feeling loving. Kids with autism have heightened attitudinal radar-it's a bit like a blind person who has a keener sense of hearing. You can't fake it because they just know. This is certainly true of our Peanut. Long before I ever attended Start-Up I would say "It's all about energy with her!" Danniah has this uncanny ability to sense the very core of someone and she can do it in less than 15 seconds. If you are thinking about the 16 things that you need to do, or if you are frustrated or angry when you are next to Peanut, she is guaranteed to tell you a firm, "Goodbye!!" while waving. She is also very likely to become grumpy herself to boot. On the other hand, if you are present in the moment and you are loving, calm, open, playful, animated or silly--any one of those things-- she will be your new best friend. As Bear's says, "Attitude! Attitude! Attitude!
Son-Rise teaches some basic CBT principles: Stimulus > Beliefs > Response. So, something happens, our beliefs determine how we experience it the stimulus and we respond based on that experience. So, for example if a child is not talking yet, that isn't bad. It's just an experience. I'll give you a powerful example from our lives. Peanut was nonverbal for three years. She would say an occasional word but it would always disappear. We worked with a classical homeopath for a while and finally she began saying single words. In a fairly short period of time she had a fairly large number of single words. It was delightful to hear her request "Juice!" "Elmo!" But after more than a year, we still pretty much there. After attending Son-Rise and learning techniques for moving language forward, I came home determined to implement them. I realized that I worried that maybe she couldn't do more than she was already doing. She seemed to have mush-mouth on the moments where she would try to say three words at a time. We've heard theories around frontal lobe dysfunction, absence seizures, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome Variant...there were all kinds of things that created doubt in me around her ability to develop language. Maybe some of it was me. When I really looked at my own attitude it occurred to me that she was very likely reading my doubts and responding to my expectations (or lack thereof). Couple that with the fact that she was getting every last need met by saying just one word at a time...why would she say more? So, I arrived home readjusted my belief system, harnessed my 3Es (energy, excitement, enthusiasm) and really dove in with all my heart and soul and had an absolute BLAST Son-Rising language out of her. In one week (five days, actually) she was saying things like, "I want chips, Mommy, please." "Let's go beach!" "I want take a bath." Son-Rise works.
When children are motivated they have incredible capability.
Now you can see more of why we are so excited about this program. It's fun, it's loving, it's respectful, it feels good and it works. We can't wait to see what happens next! How about you?
There is no such thing as false hope.
With Gratitude,
Monika
PS--Thanks to my good TMR buddy Saint, I've added an email subscription link on the right of the blog. We'd love to have you come along for the adventure of a lifetime!
When children are motivated they have incredible capability.
Now you can see more of why we are so excited about this program. It's fun, it's loving, it's respectful, it feels good and it works. We can't wait to see what happens next! How about you?
There is no such thing as false hope.
With Gratitude,
Monika
PS--Thanks to my good TMR buddy Saint, I've added an email subscription link on the right of the blog. We'd love to have you come along for the adventure of a lifetime!