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{{Short description|Home-based program for autistic children}}
{{Distinguish|Son Rise}}
'''Son-Rise''' is a [[home-based program]] for children and adults with [[autism spectrum disorder]]s and other [[developmental disabilities]], which was developed by campaign manager Barry Neil Kaufman and his wife, Samahria Lyte, for their son Raun, who was diagnosed with autism and is claimed to have fully recovered from his condition.<ref name=Kaufman>{{cite book |author=Kaufman BN |title=Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues |publisher=HJ Kramer |year=1995 |isbn=0-915811-61-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sonrise00barr }}{{self published inline|date=November 2017}}</ref> The program is described by [[Autism Speaks]] as a "child-centered program that places parents as the key therapists and directors of their program".<ref name="autspeaks">{{cite web|url=http://www.autismspeaks.org/treatment/sonrise.php |title=Autism Speaks, "The Son Rise Program" |access-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809104544/http://www.autismspeaks.org/treatment/sonrise.php |archive-date=2010-08-09 }}</ref>

Parents are trained at the Kaufman's Autism Treatment Center of America, the division of The Option Institute in Sheffield, Massachusetts that teaches The Son-Rise Program. There, the Kaufman family and their fellow staff members teach families and professionals how to be aware of their attitudes—a core principle of the therapy—for bonding and relationship building, as well as creating a low-stimulus, distraction-free playroom, so the autistic child can feel secure and in control of the [[Sensory integration dysfunction|over-stimulation]]. Parents and facilitators imitate an autistic person's exclusive and restricted [[stimming]] behavior until the autistic person shows social cues for willing engagement. Then encouragement for more complex social activities is done in a non-coercive way. If the autistic person moves away from social interaction, the facilitator gives the autistic person their space by using [[parallel play]] to gain the child's or the adult's trust. To encourage skill acquisition, the program uses the autistic person's particular motivation for learning.<ref name="autspeaks"/>

The program's developers claim that if the parents learn to accept their loved one without judgement they will teach themselves to interact with others, and that this will allow them to engage in social interaction because they chose to learn the skills.<ref name=Kaufman/><ref name="Houghton et al 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Houghton |first1=Kat |last2=Schuchard |first2=Julia |last3=Lewis |first3=Charlie |last4=Thompson |first4=Cynthia K. |title=Promoting child-initiated social-communication in children with autism: Son-Rise Program intervention effects |journal=Journal of Communication Disorders |date=September 2013 |volume=46 |issue=5–6 |pages=495–506 |doi=10.1016/j.jcomdis.2013.09.004 |pmid=24209427 |doi-access=free }}{{primary source inline|date=November 2017}}</ref> A 2003 study found that involvement with the program led to more drawbacks than benefits for the involved families over time, though there was a strong correlation between patterns of intervention implementation and parental perceptions of intervention efficacy.<ref name=Williams2003/> A 2006 study found that the program is not always implemented as it is described in the literature, which means it will be difficult to evaluate its success and failure rate.<ref name=Williams2006/>

==History==
[[File:Raun Kaufman.JPG|thumb|upright=.6|Raun Kaufman]]
In the 1970s, Barry and Samahria Kaufman created the treatment modality for their son, Raun, who had been diagnosed with severe autism. However, it remains unclear if Raun Kaufman had ever been autistic. Among the five clinics who evaluated the boy in New York State—each describing him as "socially withdrawn and uncommunicative", it was only the sixth clinic that felt he was autistic.<ref name=Herbert>{{cite journal |url=http://www.srmhp.org/0101/autism.html|title= Separating fact from fiction in the etiology and treatment of autism: a scientific review of the evidence |vauthors=Herbert JD, Sharp IR, Gaudiano BA | journal= Sci Rev Ment Health Pract |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=23–43 |year=2002 }}</ref>

In 1976, Barry Neil Kaufman published ''Son-Rise'', a book recounting his son's claimed recovery, which he [[Self-publishing|self published]] in 1995 with the title ''Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues''.<ref name=Kaufman/> The book was adapted into a televised [[docudrama]] film, called ''[[Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love]]'' and aired on [[NBC]] in [[1979 in film|1979]].

Today, Raun Kaufman is the Director of Global Education for the Autism Treatment Center of America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/contents/about_son-rise/professional-network-raun-kaufman.php |publisher= Autism Treatment Center of America |title= Raun R Kaufman |access-date=2014-06-18}}</ref> A 1997 BBC documentary followed the family of a five-year-old autistic boy treated by the program.<ref>{{cite web |title=I Want My Little Boy Back |year=1997 |url=http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=611 |access-date=2014-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155148/http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=611 |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Effectiveness==

There are no documented normalizations with older children, and it may be that success "depends on a certain level of intellectual potential".<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Jordan R, Powell S |title= Reflections of the Option method as a treatment for autism |journal= J Autism Dev Disord |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=682–5 |year=1993 |doi=10.1007/BF01046111 |pmid=8106309|s2cid= 13631429 }}</ref> Some professionals have questioned the emphasis placed on eye contact and its potential problems for some children.<ref name=NAS>{{cite web |author= Hauser C |title= The Son-Rise Program |publisher= National Autistic Society |year=2005 |url=http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=6558 |access-date=2008-06-04}}{{dead link|date=January 2014}}</ref> The consensus within the medical community is that there is no cure for autism and only a very few treatments have empirical evidence for improvements in symptoms.<ref>Lack of support for interventions:
*{{cite journal |last1=Aman |first1=MG |title=Treatment planning for patients with autism spectrum disorders. |journal=The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry |date=2005 |volume=66 |issue=Suppl 10 |pages=38–45 |pmid=16401149 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Francis |first1=K |title=Autism interventions: a critical update |journal=Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology |date=16 June 2005 |volume=47 |issue=7 |pages=493–499 |doi=10.1017/s0012162205000952 |pmid=15991872 }}
*{{cite book |doi=10.1007/3-211-31222-6_6 |pmid=16355605 |chapter=The effectiveness of interventions for children with autism |title=Neurodevelopmental Disorders |journal=Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementum |issue=69 |pages=101–119 |year=2005 |last1=Howlin |first1=P. |isbn=3-211-26291-1 |s2cid=21986640 }}
*{{cite journal |journal= J Autism Dev Disord |year=2008 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=353–61 |title= Social skills interventions for children with Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism: a review and recommendations |vauthors=Rao PA, Beidel DC, Murray MJ |doi=10.1007/s10803-007-0402-4 |pmid=17641962|s2cid=2507088 }}</ref>
A 2003 study found that involvement with The Son-Rise Program led to more drawbacks than benefits for the involved families over time, although family stress levels did not rise in all cases.<ref name=Williams2003>{{cite journal |journal= J Intellect Disabil Res |year=2003 |volume=47 |issue=4–5 |pages=291–9 |title= The Son-Rise Program intervention for autism: an investigation into family experiences |vauthors=Williams KR, Wishart JG |doi=10.1046/j.1365-2788.2003.00491.x |pmid=12787161}}</ref> A 2006 study found that The Son-Rise Program is not always implemented as it is typically described in the literature, which suggests it will be difficult to evaluate its efficacy.<ref name=Williams2006>{{cite journal |journal=Autism |year=2006 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=86–102 |title= The Son-Rise Program intervention for autism: prerequisites for evaluation |author=Williams KR |doi=10.1177/1362361306062012 |pmid=16522712|s2cid=22206988 }}</ref>

In 2009, United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority sanctioned The Option Institute for a misleading ad claiming Son-Rise as an autism cure. As of 2017, there was little evidence supporting the program.<ref>
{{cite news
|url=https://slate.com/technology/2017/09/an-in-depth-look-at-the-son-rise-program-an-autism-treatment-center.html
|first=Brendan
|last=Borrell
|date=September 22, 2017
|accessdate=February 23, 2023
|title=Can You Cure Autism?
|work=Slate
}}
</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://autismtreatmentcenter.org/ Autism Treatment Center of America]

{{Pervasive developmental disorders}}
{{Autism resources}}

[[Category:Autism-related organizations based in the United States]]

Son-Rise - Revision history

2600:1700:B331:50F0:B5A1:E7EF:D117:3609 at 20:22, 20 March 2025