Both boys have escaped from here five or six times between them,
and we've had to have the police involved, helicopters,
police dogs...
They were just escape artists.
The boys were diagnosed with autism when they were two and a quarter.
It was quite evident there was something not quite right,
erm, with them.
You'd come home from work and there's no response. Mm-hmm.
Mark would just come in, "Hello, boys,"
and they would just ignore him.
I got nothing back from them at all.
We didn't feel they loved us, did we? No, no.
And they didn't have any emotion, interaction... No expressions.
So we just cared for them, loved them and fed them,
and that was our life.
You go through lots of emotions.
You feel guilt, you know, that it's something in your genes.
Is it because of your age?
You look for all kinds of reasons, because you feel it's your fault.
They wrecked everything, soiled everywhere, threw up everywhere...
Everything that could be broken and twisted and snapped was done.
They'd just trash the place - just pull it apart.
Everything had to be screwed down.
Screwed down and up high.
Both boys have escaped from here probably
five or six times between them,
and we've had to have the police involved,
helicopters, police dogs...
And that's why we needed such a high fence all round... Yeah.
..because they were just escape artists.
Every professional advised us, but most of all for them, it's...
To put them into... Into residential...
So, it wasn't just experts, it was also friends and family.
And we did, we went and had a look at two residential schools,
and you can't get any lower than that as a parents -
to go and find an alternative place
for your children to live.
And we talked and talked and talked, and we both just couldn't do it.
We just could not give them up.
HE YELLS INCOHERENTLY
Jacob and Samuel, they're like any other child.
They want to fit in with society. They want to do everything right.
To say to them, "Come on, boys, do it this way,"
they can't, and it's almost cruel.
Conventional teaching in schools is that the boys
are doing inappropriate behaviour,
so we've got to show them appropriate behaviour.
So what the Son-Rise Program...
What we're taught is we have to enter their world,
and by entering their world, we're going to get their trust,
and so we literally copy what they're doing.
The Son-Rise Program is
a relationship-based therapy,
so it's about an understanding
that autism is primarily a socio-relational disorder.
Autism is about a person's difficulty being able to
connect and interact and form relationships with another person.
Our approach is going down to, sort of,
the root cause of what is going on for that child.
It was an absolute eye-opener, because the people who were
teaching it had a direct involvement with autism.
Cos autistic children are well known, you just...
you just can't get eye contact.
The first time you will never forget,
because they've never done it before,
and I was at the table, and I was just joining him, spinning... Spin!
..and suddenly he stopped spinning, and just looked up,
and looked straight into my eyes,
and there was a look on his face as if to say,
"You know what I'm doing. You're with me."
It was a wonderful experience, and you never forget it.
And then, of course, you're now in their world,
and over time you, kind of, slightly change the activity,
and without them knowing, they're copying you.
We're gradually bringing them into our world.
And things start to happen that experts said was impossible,
and would never happen,
but we've been experiencing miracles.
So much for looking at me. That is amazing!
Get ready. Going to do another scratch!
Hey! Thank you for looking back. Nice!
I've seen them change
in quite a profound way, in terms of their ability to
follow instructions,
the level of calmness that they have,
their desire to want to try to communicate...
Raaargh! Achoo!
I was told the boys would see you, me,
no different than, say, the postman,
but now I can see they love their mum.
I can't deny it. They come up to me.
They cuddle, they kiss... They cuddle, they kiss...
They interact.
The future for Jacob and Samuel, since the Son-Rise Program,
is limitless.
We've got two little boys now who are loving, and they interact,
and they're caring,
and they're part of the family.
Every expert said that would never happen, it'd be impossible,
but now we've got our boys and they're coming back to us.