Son-Rise Program and Autism Ranking:

Risks and Safety

Hazards

There are no known adverse effects of the Son-Rise program as a treatment for autistic children. However the Program has been criticised by a number of people over a number of issues. For example

The study by Williams and Wishart (2003) reported “Overall, the findings suggest that involvement led to family drawbacks as well as benefits, with pressures on the parents’ time being the most frequent drawback, and increased happiness in families still using the SRP a year after training being more common when the child did not have intellectual disabilities in addition to a diagnosis on the autistic spectrum and when few financial difficulties were caused by running the programme. The fact that a significant number of families did experience some areas of difficulty emphasizes the importance of intervention providers focusing on the needs of the whole family rather than solely on the child with autism.”

The ABA Resources website, accessed on 27 July 2016, contains an article by someone called Autistic and Proud who has made a number of criticisms of the Son-Rise Programe from the perspective of someone who is autistic.  They wrote, for example, “The constant claims about the gentle and ‘accepting’ nature of Options obscure the fact that for many children, being trapped in a room all day with a constant succession of people trying to interact socially and ‘bond’ with them, and, for example, seize every opportunity to make eye contact, may in fact be highly aversive and stressful. It's supposed to be gentle but actually, looked at from an autistic point of view, seems very intrusive. All children, especially autistic children, need respect for their space and a chance to have solitude when they want it, not to be ‘working’ all the time. “

Contraindications

There are no known contraindications (something which makes a particular treatment or procedure potentially inadvisable) the Son-Rise program for autistic children.

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Oct 2016

Next Review

01 Mar 2023