Raising sums for Son-Rise
Ruari Burton, a four year old autistic boy from Braid Crescent, St Andrews, Scotland, said “sneeze” while at the Autism Treatment Center of America in Massachusetts, the home of the Son-Rise program. Karen Burton, Ruari’s mother, is reportedly “overjoyed” at the “confidence” her son has gained, according to an article in today’s The Courier.
Ms. Burton, “a single mother who gave up work to care for Ruari full-time,” was able to bring Ruari to the Massachusetts center thanks to funds (approximately $16,768.79) raised by her community.
I am excited to hear about the good experience Ruari and his mother had at Autism Treatment Center of America. In the past week, I have read more than a few stories of families taking an autistic child to Autism Treatment Center of America, and—more specifically—about their raising funds in their community to do so.
I am wondering why stories about an autism family and the Autism Treatment Center of America seem always to be accompanied by a request for donations, in not small amounts.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Uncategorized
6 opinions for Raising sums for Son-Rise
Ballastexistenz
Jun 7, 2006 at 9:27 am
Something has always rang false, or rather “rang heavily marketed”, to me, about all of that particular family’s attempts to make money off of all sorts of situations.
Kassiane
Jun 7, 2006 at 10:22 am
What she said.
And while I don’t doubt a lot of kids have made progress, I think that what happens in large part is FAMILIES make progress towards giving the child an environment they can succeed in. It’s much easier to learn new skills when the people around you have the attitude of “Whatever you can do today, tomorrow, and forever doesn’t matter because I’ll love you regardless” than it is when you feel BROKEN. It’s an expectations thing, too.
And most people don’t need to spend that kind of cash to learn about love. Even if they want to use the approach, careful reading of the book should do it.
….and I don’t believe in cure, either. I believe in “enough skills gained to be successful in mainstream society”, but that isn’t cure.
Confidence is good. Wonderful. But isn’t that just a product of the environment? Heaven knows that at the late age of 16 I gained confidence, and at 21 even more…because the environments (gymnastics and a homeless shelter of all places) expected things of me that no one had before. And they expected me to be good at them. And lo and behold, I was. I didn’t need to pay tons of money for that…
And I ALWAYS end up rambling on your blogs!
laurentius-rex
Jun 7, 2006 at 11:48 am
Cognitive dissonance isn’t it, if something costs a lot either in money or effort it is valued more, even if it is a load of donkeys do do’s
Can’t remember the resercher now, but it was something about fraternity’s and the harder the initiation ritual, the more the fraternity is valued.
My paintings are priceless you can’t buy them(cos there is no market which is besides the point) but as a struggling artist there is no way I would sell myself short for little more than the price of a decent frame, I would price my pictures in the thousand pound plus bracket, cos who would take them seriosly as art otherwise :)
Susan
Jun 7, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I am NOT a fan of Son Rise. It has ALL the trappings of a scam. It has even been listed on some cult-watch listings.
The minute I received my incredibly heavy, glossy packet replete with photos of “experts” in expensive suits, I knew something was amiss.
Then, when I saw the pleas for money and donations, and how to get others to donate to yourself, and how they would counsel me long distance (on how to get there) for a hefty sum per hour…I shut it all out.
Seems as if they combine the worst of Madison Avenue advertising with the rabid self-help movement, to create a wonderful financial opportunity for themselves at the expense of desperate parents.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 7, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Much appreciate the rambling—-we would like Charlie to do community service and help others, too. I do think it is our small family unit that has “progressed” together, in understanding and much more.
Laurentius-rex, have you images of your paintings online?
Lots of autism education/therapy/treatments do not come cheap, it is true—-it would feel very wrong for us to solicit funds for Charlie’s needs; we have been lucky in this regard. I have just read more than a few stories about families using Son-Rise and holding fund-raisers—-seems a susupicious connection.
Autism Vox » Son-Rise Rises Again (2)
Jun 28, 2006 at 11:00 am
[…] In yesterday’s Raising Sums for Son-Rise post, I noted that many articles about the Son-Rise program also talk about how an autism family is raising large sums of money to finance the program. Yet another such article appears in today’s Observer News. […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: