information about visiting the Harpo Studios while we’re there. When I was on the site, I saw a link that said, “Season 25 - Who Do You Want to See Oprah Interview?” So I thought, what the heck...I’ll give it a shot, and this is what I wrote:
Oprah,
Every 15 minutes, another child is diagnosed with autism in our country. It is more common than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. Our son was diagnosed with autism at 2.5 years old. After trying all the traditional behavioral therapies and biomedical
interventions, we found the Son-Rise Program at the Autism Treatment Center of America.
The Son-Rise Program was developed 30 years ago, by 2 parents who wanted to help their severely autistic son, Raun. Barry and Samarhia Kaufman connected with Raun in his world first, through complete love and acceptance of him as he was. After forming a strong bond with Raun in his world of rocking back and forth and spinning plates for hours on end, they slowly challenged Raun to learn how to communicate and interact in our world. After 3.5 years, their
"mentally retarded son" made a full recovery from autism, and today, is a Brown University graduate, a motivational speaker and was the CEO of the ATCA.
My wife and I found this program and traveled to MA to learn how to run our own Son-Rise Program at home for our son, Ka'eo, Jr.
Just 5 months ago, he said less than 25 words, rarely made eye contact, and hardly interacted with me, his own dad. Today, he uses more than 150 words and speaks in 4 and 5 word sentences. He runs to give us hugs and kisses! He loves playing games like tickle and chase with me, and he'll cuddle with his Mommy for hours!
In the late or mid 70's Oprah actually interviewed the creator of the Son-Rise Program, Barry Neil Kaufman. Oprah was the co-host of another talk show and Barry or "Bears" shared his remarkable story and both hosts and the audience were quite inspired and moved.
The federal government has called autism a "national health emergency". Oprah, PLEASE, interview the Kaufman Family and let the nation know about this loving, respectful, and highly effective approach to helping our children recover from autism. We are LIVING this miracle right
now!
Mahalo Nui Loa,
Ka’eo Griffin
www.HawaiianSonRise.org