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Although the life-affirming and, oftentimes, \"miraculous\" work of the Kaufmans and the Son-Rise Program staff has generated worldwide acclaim and respect, it has not been without controversy.
Some people question the premium the Kaufmans place on the value of the parent as a helpful and powerful participant in their child's life. Some challenge their championing the child as the teacher and guide through their own education. Most significantly, the Kaufmans, in their work with their own son and with others, defied the prognoses of experts and demonstrated over and over again what others termed \"impossible.\"
Since many of the families taught by the Kaufmans have achieved astounding breakthroughs (a dying child lives, a mute child speaks, a functionally retarded child flowers into a near-genius), the Kaufmans and their dedicated staff continue to believe in the limitless possibilities for each and every child. \"As long as a child is alive, there is hope,\" Samahria Kaufman has stated unflinchingly in public forums throughout the world.
\"I know of nothing more wonderful,\" Barry Neil Kaufman has written in Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues, \"than trying to help love a child back to life. We are happy to be hopeful; it gives us joy, energy and the will to try to help when others turn away.\"
To accuse these people of generating \"false hope\" is to ignore the results of their work and to undermine what could help other children flourish. The Son-Rise Program staff are the first to insist that doing a Son-Rise Program is no guarantee of any results. It is merely the beginning for a parent who chooses to say, \"I want to try to help my child in spite of all the evidence, and want to do it with love and acceptance.\"
Who would want to extinguish such a noble and inspiring decision made by any parent about any child? Who would want to play God and say, \"Nothing can help; therefore, don't try.\"?
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