| Raun K. Kaufman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1970s |
| Occupation | Teacher Writer |
| Parents | Barry Neil Kaufman Samahria Lyte Kaufman |
Raun Kahlil Kaufman (born in the 1970s) is a teacher and writer who serves as CEO for the early Intervention therapy program Son-Rise.[1] Son-Rise is located at the Autism Treatment Center of America, a division of the Option Institute in Sheffield, Massachusetts, which is an independent non-profit organization that offers attitudinal training workshops for parents to help their children.[2]
Kaufman, at the age of two, was diagnosed as severely autistic with an under 30 IQ,[1] although questions have been raised whether Raun Kaufman was actually autistic before being treated.[3] His parents Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman refused to listen to professionals who said their son was incurable and hopeless; instead they created a home-based program to reach Raun. Subsequently, Raun is claimed to have recovered as a neurotypical person.[1]
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At the age of four weeks, Raun had an ear infection that was treated with antibiotics, which caused severe dehydration and a several-day hospital stay; doctors feared Raun would suffer permanent hearing loss. Raun eventually started displaying autistic symptoms and was later diagnosed as severely autistic.[4] Although the Kaufmans were advised to institutionalize their child because of his "hopeless, lifelong condition",[5] they began a program of their own, based upon the idea that their child was engaged in these behaviors for a reason that made sense only to him.
His parents tried to communicate with Raun not by overt attempts to force neurotypical behavior, but by imitating his endless rocking, plate spinning and other rituals, while gently introducing eye contact, speech and song for him to engage with if he would, until Raun, on his own, made direct eye contact with his mother during the treatment. According to the Kaufmans, during an intensive program, Raun's autistic behaviors vanished and he became a highly verbal, socially interactive child with a near-genius IQ.[5] By his parents' and his own accounts, he now leads a "normal" life.
Kaufman graduated from an Ivy League school with a degree in bioethics and was once the director of a children's learning center.[1][5] Kaufman's career has included stints with SCORE! Educational Centers, a tutoring program in the United States. He is the CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America (ATCA),[6] and is overseeing expansion of its treatment centers to the United Kingdom. In 1983, the Kaufmans founded the Autism Treatment Center of America to offer other parents the opportunity to learn how to create a play-based home program for autism spectrum children.
In 1976, Barry Kaufman published Son-Rise,[7] a book about his son Raun's "triumph over autism", which he revised and added further material to in 1995 in Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues.[4] An NBC TV Movie Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love based on the book was broadcast in 1979. The Son-Rise Program has been widely covered in the press; for example, the 1997 BBC documentary I Want My Little Boy Back followed the family of a five-year-old autistic boy treated by the program.[8]