Buddy is our new son-rise volunteer. In the first video, he is on the job training and this is only his second session with Nathan. Prior to the video, Buddy was asked to “join” Nathan for the first 30 minutes. That is, echo whatever Nathan says, wether it was meaningful words or just the most crazy string of words he has ever heard before. After that investment in relationship building, Nathan was ready to interact with Buddy. Nathan asks Buddy to spell for him. Watch Nathan ask Buddy several times to assist him spell and watch how Nathan expresses his comfort, through body language, despite Buddy being with a new volunteer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ww8bRDBSVo
If Nathan was left alone, he would so easily regress further into autism. That is why it is so important to fill his hours with son-rise hours. To highlight my point, I took a video of Nathan, intentionally not doing any son-rise with him.
If you don’t have the heart to love and accept special children, especially when they are behaving differently from how you behave, this video is not for you.