Nathan was always oblivious to our daily celebrations that “Papa’s here!”. He would stay were he was while his twin and younger brother would run to the door to greet Papa. Recently he would look for Papa during the day and say, “I want ‘Papa’s here!’ “. So when Papa gets home he takes Nathan on his lap and they enjoy making faces at each other. I love watching these bonding moments.
Nathan sometimes has echolalia or verbal “isms” – exclusive, repetitive behaviors. An example of which is saying “crystal” repetitively.
When he does verbal “isms” do you think that Nathan is trying to have a conversation with you and
A. Nathan is trying his best? Or
B. Nathan can do better?
If you chose “A”, you probably celebrate every attempt he makes and this will encourage him to try harder next time. If you chose “B”, do you recognize his hard work? or do you express your thoughts, almost saying “come on Nathan, you can do better!”?
I would prefer saying: Nathan is trying his best…and we can help him do better.
This video tries to express how Nathan might feel. In the first part, I play Nathan “isming” with the word “Crystal”. Kristine is asked to continue asking about what “Crystal” meant. She asks a series of simple questions, which to Nathan might feel like an interrogation.
In the second half of the video, Kristine is asked to join Nathan the Son-Rise way by repeating the word “Crystal”. I then try to express how Nathan might feel when we join him.
“Isms” help autistic children in many ways. They “ism” because:
1. It makes them feel better
2. It gives them control over the situation.
Nathan can never predict what you will tell him or ask him. It could be frightening for him. Remember how you were in your worst subject then all of a sudden, the teacher calls on you? That’s how Nathan might feel. For him to feel that he can better control the conversation, he will stick to one word, “Crystal”.
3. It gives them a sense of comfort.
If too many word are thrown at Nathan, it may become too overwhelming for him. As we have observed, he already needs a few extra seconds to process a question, what more a series of questions. The best way to relief the stress is to stick to one word, “crystal”.
4. It has a curative nature
While echolalia is seen as a sign of autism, it could simply be a prolonged phase that autistic kids have to accomplish before reaching higher levels of speech. Most kids will go through a brief, almost unnoticeable, phase of echolalia, which is important for them to recognize then understand new words. For autistic children, this phase may take longer but this is not to say they cannot go beyond this stage. While Nathan is enjoying repeating words, this may be creating new pathways in his brain that will become the highway to higher levels of conversations later on.
Bottom line: Celebrate his verbal “isms” by joining him. When he is ready, let’s challenge him to have conversations.
This week wasn’t a good week in terms Nathan’s sleep pattern. His schedule has gone crazy and last night he woke up crying.
We went to see Nathan’s Physical Therapist. Last time we saw him was a month ago. He said Nathan’s walk and posture has significantly improved. It looks like he has woken up new muscles in his legs. He asked my what kind of (physical) therapy I was doing at home with Nathan. He knows that I pulled Nathan out of school and other therapies to run a home-based Son-Rise Program for Autism. Maybe he had doubts that Nathan would do better if I kept him home. I said all I was doing was allowing him to do what motivates him, like climbing up chairs and tables and standing while spinning on the swivel chair. I say “YES” to all his wants and celebrate his improvements, big or small. He had a surprised looked on his face…not really conventional physical therapy. Then I pointed out the amount of time Nathan was standing. He must be standing and balancing for up to 80% or more of his waking time now. A lot of time used to be spent sitting before. Then he was enlightened. He said that in a few months, the newly awaken muscles will start to grow bulk and we will see even more improvements.
And that is the scientific explanation of how a neurological problem like cerebral palsy can potentially be cured…and so can autism…through a home-based Son-Rise Program!
A year and a half ago I was trying to teach Nathan to answer the question “What’s Mama’s name?” So I made the song “Do you know Mama Chris, Mama Chris?” to the tune of “Muffin Man”. I haven’t sung that song since. Just this week he just recalled the song. Then he’d say “Mama Chris” and look at me. I’d ask him what my name was and he’d answer appropriately. Sometimes, he’ll say “Mama Chris” look at me then say “Papa Gil…I want Papa.” It’s so amazing his he now longs for Papa. He’ll say “ want ‘Papa’s here!'” referring to the way we’d greet Papa when he gets home from the office.
Twin Son-Rise Miracles 