Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love (1979): Cast & Plot

Raun was born “like all, perfect” to Barry Kaufman and Suzi Kaufman. As Raun grew, he could only see certain things and sometimes hear. He also lost a couple of words he had been taught. He had 12 out of 13 symptoms of autism. Medical professionals were pessimistic about Raun’s condition.

The only options offered to the Kaufmans at the time were either institutionalization or a behavior modification program that employed aversives, such as spanking and electric shocks. His parents also witnessed young children being locked into cabinets by clinicians; other children had their hands tied to the back of chairs to suppress their hand-flapping, a self-stimulatory behavior common to autism.