ANNIE MONTAGUE: We were told they should be institutionalised.
MARK MONTAGUE: But we’ve been experiencing miracles.
COMM: In Kent, a detached house stands surrounded
by high fences and padlocks.
COMM: But the Montague family aren’t trying
to keep people out, they’re trying to protect their twin boys Samuel and Jacob.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: The boys were diagnosed with
autism when they were two and a quarter. It was quite evident there was something not
quite right and with them. You’d come home from work and there is no response. Mark would
just come in, “Hello, boys” and they would just ignore him. I got nothing back from them
at all, didn’t feel they loved us, did we? MARK MONTAGUE: No, no. They didn’t have
any emotional interaction, no expressions. ANNIE MONTAGUE: So we just cared for them,
loved them and fed them and that was our life.
COMM: As the boys grew older, their behaviour became more destructive.
MARK MONTAGUE: They wrecked everything and
soiled everywhere, threw up everywhere, threw food, smeared food. Everything that could
be broken and twisted and snapped was done. As our house is being utterly trashed every
day of the week and you could have nothing.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: Because of the boys' behaviour, we couldn’t have any furniture. Everything
had to be screwed down. MARK MONTAGUE: Screwed down and up high, just
trash the flat, just pull it apart. ANNIE MONTAGUE: Both boys have escaped from
here probably five or six times between them. We have had to have the police involved,
helicopters, police dogs. MARK MONTAGUE: And that’s why we needed
such a high fence all round, because they are just escape artists.
COMM: Despite trying to find help, they were
told time and time again that their sons’ behaviour would never improve.
ANN SCOTT: The first time I ever came into
the family and met them, I remember walking in and my first sight was seeing Annie, she
was sobbing her heart out and it was a social worker telling her to put her boys into an
institution. MARK MONTAGUE: Every professional advised
us, but most of all for them. They… ANNIE MONTAGUE: Put them into…
MARK MONTAGUE: Into residential. So it wasn’t just experts, it was also friends and family.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: And we went and had a look to residential schools and you can’t get
any lower than that as parents to go and find an alternative place for your children to
live. MARK MONTAGUE: We talked and talked and talked
and we both just couldn’t do it. We just could not give them up.
COMM: Determined to keep their family together,
Annie and Mark began looking into treatments for their sons’ autism.
COMM: They came across a pioneering treatment
called The Son-Rise Programme. Unlike other methods, it was designed by parents
of a severely autistic child.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: You were skeptical.
MARK MONTAGUE: I was, to be honest.
MARK MONTAGUE: But I went to along to support Annie.
JACK MASON-GOODALL: The Son-Rise Programme
is a relationship-based therapy. So, it’s about an understanding that autism is primarily
a social relational disorder. Autism is about a person’s difficulty being able to connect
and interact and form relationships with another person. Our approach is getting down to the
root cause of what is going on for that child. MARK MONTAGUE: That was an absolute eye opener,
because the people who were teaching it had a direct involvement with autism.
COMM: One of the main techniques of the programme
is to stop trying to change the children’s autistic behaviour and instead join in with
them. Mark and Annie immediately saw results.
MARK MONTAGUE: The autistic children are
well known, you just, you just can’t get eye contact. The first time you will never
forget because I have never done it before and I was at the table and I was just joining
him spinning and suddenly he stops spinning and just looked up, looked straight into my
eyes and there was a look on his face as if to say, “You know what I’m doing. You
are with me”. It was a wonderful experience. You never forget it.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: And then, of course, you’re now in their world and that over time kind
of slightly changed the activity without them knowing, they’re copying you. Gradually
putting them into our world.
MARK MONTAGUE: And things started to happen
that experts said was impossible, would never happen. But we have been experiencing miracles.
JACK MASON-GOODALL: I’ve seen them change
in a 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.
COMM: The Montagues were initially told their
boys would never speak to them, but since The Son-Rise Programme, they have started
to communicate very slowly.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: I was told the boys would
see you, me, no different than say the postman. I was just a person that would help them and
feed them, don’t expect to get anything back. But now, I can see they love their mom,
I can’t deny it. They come up to me, they cuddle, they kiss.
MARK MONTAGUE: They interact.
COMM: Now Annie and Mark are hoping to raise
money to attend a further course in America, which should help them see even more improvements.
ANN SCOTT: I think any parent should aspire
to be Annie and Mark. I couldn’t tell you what they have gone through. They have never
once given up on their boys. They’ve kept their family together.
ANNIE MONTAGUE: To any parents who find themselves
where we were ten years ago, who’ve maybe recently been given a diagnosis - don’t
listen to all the doom and gloom. MARK MONTAGUE: Every aspect of their life
and ours too has been massively improved. That’s not an exaggeration. We have got
two little boys now who are loving, they interact, they’re caring, they are part of the family.
Every expert said that would never happen, would be impossible. The future for Jacob
and Samuel since The Son-Rise Programme is limitless.