Andrew is married to Anne and they have three small children; Matthew aged 4, Daniel aged 2, and new arrival Timothy James.

Matthew was diagnosed September 2004 with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and this has made an enormous impact on Andrew’s family life, and career.

A week after the diagnosis was given Andrew and Anne heard about Son-Rise (a play therapy pioneered by the Autism Treatment Centre of America)    http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org   and immediately decided that they would use this approach and run a Son-Rise program for Matthew.

Son-rise

Son-Rise is a child-centred approach based on an attitude of love and acceptance, drawing the autistic child out into an understanding of the world around them and inspiring in that child  a desire to interact and communicate. It involves many hours of one-to-one interaction in a distraction-free playroom, first “joining” the child in their world by copying their actions in a non-intrusive way until the child is able to take an interest in another person.

Andrew and Anne felt happy about this program which reflected their own feelings that Matthew was a special child, not a problem, and that this could be a marvellous opportunity for the whole family. They began to implement the Son-Rise program in a very part-time way in February 2005, having built a log cabin playroom in the garden, and after attending a five day intensive training course.

The positive results in Matthew’s ability to make eye-contact, interact with others and begin to speak clearly have been an enormous encouragement.

Impact on Andrew’s career

In July 2005 Andrew resigned his full-time contract with the Northamptonshire Music Service, teaching in schools, in order to help direct and participate in Matthew’s Son-Rise program. Andrew is still an instrumental teacher mainly in the evenings, runs a community band called NOW and Learn in Bands Music Tuition for school children but devotes his mornings and some afternoons to Matthew’s autism treatment programme.