Raun Kaufman on Autism and Son-Rise
Former CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America Raun Kaufman was the first recipient of the Son-Rise program, developed by his parents in response to his childhood diagnosis of severe autism. Though his diagnosis was presented by doctors as incurable, the Kaufmans, who had recently engaged with the 1970s human potential movement, remained hopeful with the understanding that if they decided the situation was hopeless, it would become so. They engaged intensively with their son, joining in and participating with his autistic repetative behaviors (against medical advice), seeking to create rapport. As Mr. Kaufman began attending to and engaging with his parents, they then used that hook to challenge him and teach necessary interpersonal and communication skills. Today the son-rise program offers an alternative to the dominant applied behavior analysis model which seeks to treat autism by first addressing the autistic child's difficulty forming relationships rather than their odd behaviors. The Center offers intensive parent training in the son-rise intervention model (as parents - not professionals - deliver this care) from their Massachusetts campus. Having been developed by non-scientists outside the university, the efficacy of the son-rise program has not been established with clinical trials. However, Mr. Kaufman suggests that recently resarch has been occuring which will shortly be published.
(review, feed)
London School of Economics: Public lectures and eventsPhase Three of the Global Crisis
As countries adopt competitive exit strategies from the global crisis Paul Mason surveys the political economy of a flat recovery. He argues that mainstream economics have still refused to draw the lessons of asset price bubbles and situates the divergent recovery, east and west, within a long-wave explanation of the crisis. Paul Mason is the award-winning economics editor of BBC Newsnight, covering an agenda he describes as 'profit, people and planet' and author of the Idle Scrawl blog , which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2009. His first book, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. This event marks the publication of his latest book Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.
(review, feed)
Entitled Opinions
Héctor Hoyos on Roberto Bolaño
Héctor Hoyos holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from Cornell University. He was born in Bogotá, where he studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad de los Andes. He is preparing two book-manuscripts, entitled Beyond Bolaño: The Global Latin American Novel and El deber de la travesura: César Aira y la crítica cultural. His interests include visual culture and critical theory, as well as comparative and philosophical approaches to literature. Professor Hoyos has published scholarly articles on García Márquez, Roberto Bolaño, urban fiction, and the late thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
(review, feed)
KQED's Forum
Protests in Egypt
We get the latest on the protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for nearly three decades. We'll also check in with members of the local Egyptian community to get their reactions to recent developments.
(review, feed)
