Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

This week we got 8hrs and 50min. We had a great moment playing with matching squares. Normally Sarah just likes to play with them bc of the texture and feel of the multiple squares and isn’t too interested in matching them, to put it mildly. This week she had increased attention and flexibility and twice… Read more »

We had a good week despite lower hours than some other weeks. We got 6 hrs and 40 min in a week that had an eye doctor’s appointment that took 2 hours (plus 2 hrs driving – eyes are fine) and and a dentist appointment (teeth are fine). Sarah did remarkably well with both appointments,… Read more »

Carl noticed upon his return from a trip that Sarah seemed more like she was trying to tell him things and to describe what she saw more than before. She had gotten her shirt wet while washing her hands and was saying “wat eh”. since she can say water well already I think this was… Read more »

I have been thinking that while the biggest thing we have changed in Sarah’s life is to add Sarah-Rise time, there are also many other people who have been providing lovely support and that I wanted to acknowledge them too. Sarah has a wonderful teacher and assistant teacher at her preschool. And every week Sarah… Read more »

This past week we again totaled 7 hrs and 40 min of official Sarah-Rise time. I had decided that one of our goals would be modeling nodding yes and shaking no, encouraging her to do the same. Monday morning Sarah shook her head “no” after I prompted her that she could say “no” instead of… Read more »

This past week was the first week with volunteers to watch Amy and I started training two volunteers to be in the playroom with Sarah. I train two more this week. I also evaluated Sarah using the developmental model that the Autism Treatment Center of America/Son-Rise Program provides. I had evaluated her over the summer… Read more »

We have now been back in the swing of things at home for about a week, at the level I was doing before the Christmas break. That means some days we get none and some days I get 30-60 min depending on Amy’s nap and Carl’s work schedule. This week I think I’ve had about… Read more »

I believe that even though this week I only got a few hours in one-on-one we are still making notable progress, in part because the Son-Rise ideas are behind more of my interactions all the time. I’ve been trying to get in an hour or so a day even when Amy is also awake; this… Read more »

Our Son-Rise (Sarah-Rise) room is mostly bare (with pink walls) and a bit of rug from our old house (rust/pink/brown) and a small white area rug. There is a big blue ball that Sarah bounces on with help, a small plastic table, an easle, and a potty. Her toys are up on the shelf in… Read more »

We have recently started doing the Son-Rise program with Sarah. As we are starting out we are aiming for at least an hour a day and sometimes more. It has mostly been me with additional time from Sonia and Carl. Even with this seemingly small bit of time each day we are already seeing progress…. Read more »