Southport Baptist Church
The SonRise Ministry

A young autistic boy called Jordan is making huge improvements using an approach called Son-Rise. In 2008, Southport Baptist Church supported fundraising efforts to raise autism awareness and get Jordan's family to the SonRise Institute in America for advanced Son-Rise training. Autism affects 1 in 166 children. Fifteen years ago it was 1 in 10,000. Whichever way you look at it, it's on the rise.

Having tried several mainstream approaches such as repetitive learning and early intervention, it was clear we were losing Jordan. We then discovered Son-Rise, which was developed in the States in the 1970s by a couple who successfully worked with their autistic son. They documented their techniques and this became Son-Rise. Parents from many countries head to America to workshop their issues and receive training to establish a home-based program to help their own autistic children.

What makes Son-Rise different is that rather than attempt to make the child conform, to become “normal”, Son-Rise seeks to understand why the child withdraws, and over time, offers a lifeline. The autistic child is smart. They know how to look after themselves. When things get too much, they withdraw into a safe place, shutting themselves off from this world that they can’t understand.

Son-Rise accepts this and says it’s okay. Using a gentle approach we join the child in that safe place. More than mere imitation, we genuinely try to participate in their world. We have spent hundreds of hours walking around the room with Jordan or endlessly flipping through magazines. Little by little we have gained Jordan’s trust and are now able to gently encourage and teach him other things.

We have been ‘doing’ Son-Rise at home since May 2005, for up to 70 hours each week. At the start, Jordan did not speak, couldn’t do anything for himself and didn’t play. He did not respond to his name and did not converse. He was really in his own world. He is so much more “with us” now. We can talk with him and it is obvious he understands. With limited speech he can tell us what he wants. He is fully toilet trained, plays at the playground and chases his brothers around the house. He is improving each day. Watching Jordan slowly emerge from autism, has been like watching a flower grow. Very slow, but with beautiful results.