This is the place where we update you on our Son-Rise Program at home to help inspire growth for our son with autism. This is a program founded on acceptance and unconditional love... Not only is Remy growing, but so are we through this amazing journey. We invite you to join us every step of the way.
We had our first consultation with Gerd, our Son-Rise Teacher, via Skype on Labour Day (one and half weeks ago). It has help tremendously with all volunteers and myself in the Play Room.
Here's a clip of Tara happily playing with Remy. He started off very attached to his fish, but by the 3rd part of the session, Remy totally joined in with an activity Tara made up using his motivation: the fish. She called it "Sort and Mix-up" - absolutely fabulous!
So great to see all our beloved volunteers again this past week.
You may or may not have learned that our son, Remy, has been diagnosed with autism since age 3. Now at 5 years old, he is still mostly nonverbal, still needs to be toilet trained and has difficulties interacting and communicating with others. Remy also lives with multiple sensory issues that lead him to exhibit “odd” obsessive compulsive repetitious behaviours such as ripping. To date, we have tried ABA, Speech therapy, Occupational therapy, BioMedical Intervention (supplements and special diets), as well as allergy treatments.
Last Fall we decided to give the Son-Rise Program® a chance. The Son-Rise Program® was founded upon unconditional love and acceptance was started by two loving parents Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman to reach their autistic son in his world. www.autismtreatmentcenter.org for more details, or visit www.remysroom.org for more information about us.
Alex and I plan to travel to the Autism Treatment Center of America this Fall (Alex in December and Kim in November) for more training that will help us work more effectively with Remy to help him through his autism.
In order for us to attend these training sessions, we must come up with $4700 USD ($2200 Start-Up Program for Alex, and $2500 New Frontiers for Kim) plus travel costs. Of course, we will personally carry as much of this as we can, but with a single income, many debts to repay and child care expenses, we need some help. Therefore, we are asking family and friends who can do so, to consider helping us with the expenses associated with these trainings.
Kim's New Frontiers Program starts November 13th, 2011 and Alex's Start-Up Program commences December 4th, 2011. Typically programs are paid for one month to two weeks prior to program start dates, so your rapid response will really help.
It is not our intention to place you in an awkward position, and we assure you that we fully understand and respect the fact that you may not be able to help financially at this time. However, if you can, we greatly appreciate it!
Whether or not you can make an optional donation at this time, would you please consider forwarding this letter to as many friends, colleagues, family members and contacts who would appreciate this opportunity to help our beautiful Remy?
Please drop us a line! We would love to hear from you regardless if you can donate.
Thank you for taking the time to read our note. We truly appreciate your thoughts, prayers and support.
(please email or call us for our mailing address should you need it)
WAYS TO HELP
Make a straight donation via PayPal (transation fee of 2.9% + $0.30 will be deducted from your donation), cash or cheque. Please go to http://remysroom.org, and you'll find the Donate Button on the Right Hand Side.
Tell others about our cause by sharing this letter via email, Facebook (on your profile, and even better if you could send direct messages) and other social networks.
As you know, Alex and I are planning to attend training sessions in Massachusetts this Fall (Alex in December and Kim in November) so that we can more effectively build upon on Remy's current Son-Rise Program.
This blog post is about our SPARE CHANGE CHALLENGE FUNd Raiser! :)
SPARE CHANGE CHALLENGE:
FUNd raisig for Remy's Room
Want to feel good about giving without spending any extra money?
If you drink coffee/tea or buy a bag of chips/candy bar regularly, would you consider donating that money toward more training for Remy's Room?
Gather a group of friends together who want to consume less coffee, chips, sweets or other less-than- healthy snacks to take this FUNd raising challenge! You'll feel GREAT about giving, and you'll feel excellent that you were able to do it by just consuming less coffee or less-than-healthy snacks. Best of all, you make this a FUN challenge between friends, colleagues and family. You'll have each other as support. Remember to have a great time with this!
Here's How The Challenge Works:
1. Get a group of people together to join you (this is optional, but SO much more fun!)
2. Decide what you would like to donate (i.e. the equivalent amount of a cup of coffee a day for a week).
3. Decide when you want to start and end your challenge.
4. Everyone fills out their own pledge. Here are a few examples:
"I, Coffee Drinker, pledge to donate the dollar equivalent of 5 Starbucks Coffees to Remy's Room."
"I, Chip Eater, pledge to donate the dollar equivalent of 5 bags of Ruffles to Remy's Room."
"I, Candy Gobbler, pledge to donate the dollar equivalent of 5 Mars Bars to Remy's Room."
The above are just some examples. You choose what (and how many) you want to give up and for how long.
5. Have a jar/box for the money. When it comes time for the usual coffee at 2PM, for example, just put the money for the coffee in the Challenge jar instead.
Talk to you friends about how you feel. Are you happy? Are you still thinking about the coffee? Are you experiencing detox? Think positively about what you're doing! Hug each other, laugh and share.
Drink some water or eat a fresh apple (celery or cucumbers) to replace the coffee or snack.
At the end of the Challenge, you're ready to make your group optional donation! There are three options: (i) the jar as is with all the change inside, (ii) write a cheque, or (iii) donate via PayPal (major credit cards accepted). To donate through PayPal, you can find the Donate Button at http://remysroom.org.
Just let me know you want to do this, and I'll email you Pledge Sheet since I don't know how to attach that yet to blog posts.
Kim's New Frontiers Program starts November 13th, 2011 and Alex's Start-Up Program commences December 4th, 2011. Typically programs are paid for one month to two weeks prior to program start dates, so your rapid response will really help.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I look forward to hearing from you really soon.
DH and I recently took the kids on "vacation" to visit family. How naive to think that I was going to get some quiet time to file my nails and write a postcard to a friend.
During our "vacation", Remy's ripping ism escalated. He became very protective about his obsessive compulsive behaviour to the point of ripping public and private plants within reach. He was physically restrained by adults to stop this behaviour only to be answered with a loud whine or cry of unhappiness.
Somehow got a hold of "hidden" toilet paper
Since we've returned home in the last few days, we've also tried to put away all papers, paper bags (anything he could rip) out of sight. Of course this is rather difficult as the little guy is very intelligent. He ripped out the sticker part of some magnets so that he could rip them. He also found business cards, brochures that we had on the fridges, photos and of course plants to rip.
Now, we really love our plants. They're like pets to up, part of the family. So, what do you do when your son compulsively climbs up the kitchen counter to rip leaves of the vine of a hanging plant? Well, DH said that he was ready to let go. Some of the plants we had had for years, some I propagated from seed (which took several months). "Kim, just take them outside." He was right. At least if our plants were no longer in our house, they wouldn't be threatened with sudden shred.
Dressing up our beautiful plants
This gave me an idea. I took Little Sister downstairs to make a donation box, and I put some string on some Remy's Room cards. This was an opportunity to spread awareness about our Son-Rise Program to help our son. DH said that we should just give away the plants, and I didn't argue with that. My purpose of the donation box was to give people the chance to help if they wished. In my experience, people really want to help others, so I wanted to make it possible.
I spoke to the plants, thanked them for being with us for so long and blessed them. It was now their turn to attract their new owners who would care for them and enjoy them. Three of these plants were avocado trees that I had propagated from pits of organic avocados, which took months to sprout.
It was a relief to see these plants be picked up by caring passersby (whom I had never met before). It was a similar feeling when we had to give away our cats because Remy was too rough with them; we just wanted our plants to go to a loving place where they would be safe and taken care of.
Awaiting new homes
I just went upstairs to collect the remaining plants since it's dark now, but DH had already done so. The remaining plants are on the curb still awaiting their new owners to pick them up. But DH decided to take the donation box back in. To our delight (and surprise), there was $17.09 of OPTIONAL donations. I feel great gratitude and reassurance in my heart that people are loving and want to help.
Thank you for your Optional Donations!
Tomorrow, as it is the day after Labour Day, is a new day - the start of a new routine for our Son-Rise Program®. Thank you all for your support. May you enjoy this beautiful day!
