We have been doing the Son-Rise Program (www.autismtreatmentcenterofamerica.org) for 5 months. It has been incredible!!

Where we started:
He was echolalic, infrequent eye contact, no functional language, sensory issues, whining, no affection (didnt mind touch, just no initiating), no sharing toys, would hoard everything, no initiation of interaction, little interest in people beyond basic needs, no questions (did "where" questions after 2 weeks of SRP), only nouns for language, no humor (now simple contradictions and looks for reaction), rigid, ritualistic, did not share experiences with others (now seeks it out).

After 19 weeks of GAPS diet, Son-Rise therapy and Lutimax supplement

• Stims interactively and is in and out of interactions
• His interactive attention span ranges from 5-7 minutes to 1 hours depending on volunteer and day
• More verbalization with specifics, “where is the wooden train?”
• Looks while speaking 80% of the time
• He is using verbing and adjectives - “I am jumping” “He is running”, “I am pouring the water”, “grumpy camel”, “big/little/tiny/ circles”
• Shared enjoyment: using people as jungle gyms, grabbing hands and saying “come with me, daddy”, giving volunteers turns “Ms. Jaime’s turn”
• Requests and imitates emotional faces: he does happy, sad, and angry. Requests laughing face, and funny face
• Making jokes by calling volunteers wrong name or changing the Ms. and Mr.
• Asking about people and things “where is the wooden train?”, “what are you looking for?”, “what is in there?”
• Increasingly affectionate - wants to be touching while doing a task even a stim
• Learning delay continuing to decrease - teaches many people something learned earlier in the day
• Pretend play - draws in the air and on the carpet, uses a tote as a boat, used the slide as a train
• Drawing - now makes letters (all capital), A, V, W, M, X, Z, H, O, P, T, Y also wavy and curly lines, big and small zig zags, makes triangles and smiley & sad faces that include eyes, nose, mouth, head and hair
• Understanding of letter, especially initial sounds - “c” for “careful” and etc.
• Becoming increasingly conniving and mischievous - saying “laundry basket” when he wants to go downstairs
• Beginning to greet volunteer when arriving and leaving “hi Ms. Carol”, “bye Ms. Carol” also has told a couple of volunteers “love you”
• Follows two step directions easily
• Very open to new games and ideas after 2-5 introductions to them
• Occasionally initiates taking turns saying “Philip’s turn”, “mommy’s turn”
• Doesnt mind his sister and comments on her activities and says “night night Layla” “sleep well” and sometimes asks “where is layla?” when she is napping and says “Layla napping”
• Allows other to sing with him
• Sings and gestures the songs “head, shoulders, knees, and toes”, “if you are happy and you know it” and “patty cake”
• Waves frequently upon request
• No sensory issues at all!

He is 3.5 years old. Hope this helps!!

Speech has probably been the most beneficial to my HFA son and ABA has also played a big role in his progress. Exposing him to a "typical" classroom to encourage peer modeling and social interaction for kindergarten has also made a difference.

free form amino acids for nutritonal therapy, celexa and intuniv for pharmaceutical therapy, and social skills through drama therapy for social skills therapy.

Its all about ABA. ABA is the most effective.

The Autism Waiver in MD. Offers community and respite hours weekly. Edmark reading program. Vocational placements in the community.