Episode 215 - Jennifer Celeste Briggs - Parenting Differently, Autism, Finding Balance and Being Enough

Jennifer Celeste Briggs has a BA in English Literature from Swarthmore college. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two daughters. Her daughter Sarah has a genetic anomaly and autism. When Sarah was four, Jenny decided to run a Son-Rise Program for her, calling it Sarah-Rise, and training at the Autism Treatment Center of America.

The Son-Rise Program is a loving child-centered approach to helping those with autism and other challenges connect socially, verbally, and through increased eye contact. Organizing hundreds of hours of therapeutic play time for Sarah, Jenny trained and coordinated multiple volunteers who contributed their love and creativity to the venture. Jenny started a blog to share the experience of Sarah-Rise and has heard multiple times that her words were helpful to others dealing with life struggles.

Jenny wants to help parents feel understood and to spread the word about The Son-Rise Program. She hopes that her words bring comfort, joy, and inspiration to readers whatever their challenges and journeys may be.

Sarah is a feisty and determined four-year-old with autism and a unique genetic blueprint. Her mom Jenny is equally feisty and determined, which leads to clashes and strife but also leads to phenomenal connection and progress as Jenny runs a Son-Rise Program for her, calling it Sarah-Rise.

The Son-Rise Program is an approach to working with people with autism to foster social connection. It provides intensely loving, focused one-on-one therapeutic play time, meeting Sarah where she is and never stopping her repetitive behaviors. Sarah’s language explodes, her eye contact intensifies, she plays games, plays imaginatively, uses the potty, eats healthily, reads, and writes.

Playing with Sarah is deeply rewarding for the volunteers who spend time in the Sarah-Rise room. While Jenny sometimes doubts herself and criticizes her parenting, she also explores new pathways to gentleness, joy, and laughter. She celebrates Sarah’s successes, marveling at the depth of love and creativity that her volunteers bring to the scene and stretching her own creative self. Accompany Jenny from Sarah’s birth through the decision to run Sarah-Rise, and follow the years of Sarah-Rise, pretending that markers are flowers and number flashcards are snowflakes. Have your heart warmed and your socks knocked off by this momentous journey.

“Watching Sarah Rise is equally informative as it is inspirational, gracious as it is gutsy. A beautifully written story filled with hope, integrity, and pure emotion, Briggs intimately invites her reader to experience the unique heartbreak and joy that comes with mothering a neurodivergent child.”

-Sherry Sidoti, author of A Smoke and a Song: A Memoir

https://www.watchingsarahrise.com/

https://movember.com/

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https://dadspace.ca

music provided by Blue Dot Sessions

Song: The Big Ten https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/258270