6 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
1-2-3 DISAPPOINTMENT!!!, March 4, 2008
This review is from: More 1-2-3 Magic Encouraging Good Behavior, Independence and Self-Esteem (DVD)
Odds are a number of viewers of the Rachel Ray Show have flocked to see this DVD after the 1-2-3 Magic book was mention on the show today.
Have you ever gotten sick from a particular food, then felt ill anytime you saw or smelled that food again? Well, I had a similar experience today, but not to food. My daughter and I have been sick today, so while she colored, I took the rare occasion to watch a little TV. A guest, Beth Lisick who [as a part of her book about various "self help" books] of the Rachel Ray Show touted the childrearing approach of the "1-2-3 Magic" program. I actually had quite a visceral reaction with my heart racing.
In the Fall of 2005, the local school district had a Behavioral Management course for parents of special needs children. About half of us had children on the Autism Spectrum. The foundation of this course was 1-2-3 Magic.
The premise of 1-2-3 Magic is if your child does something that you don't want, you say, "That's1." If they do it again, you say, "That's 2." If the child does it again, you say, "That's 3. Take 5 and go to your room." where the child is supposed to spend 5 minutes thinking about what they've done, then apologize. To most kids with Autism, a time out (which this is) is a reward. So, 1-2-3 Magic teaches them that when they don't want to be around people (or participate in class {since they used a variation of this in school}), they can just scream, throw something, etc. and they get the reward of being alone.
The school district's Behavioral Management course included the video of 1-2-3 Magic that showed dramatizations of 1-2-3 Magic in use. One of the dramatizations involved using this method to ignore a threat of suicide. When your child threatens to kill themselves, yes, it might be an empty threat, but to assume that a child is not serious about killing themselves is catastrophically dangerous!
To be fair, I've met a couple of parents that think the 1-2-3 Magic program works. However, the larger majority of parents that I've talked to tend to laugh and/or roll their eyes when 1-2-3 Magic is mentioned. The most common statement that I hear is "My kid(s) just counted." By the way, our daughter did that too. By the end of 1-2-3 Magic, our daughter's behavior was totally out of control (including 3hr tantrums), and I believed that she would never get any better.
Thankfully, in April 2006, we discovered the Son-Rise Program and our lives have been altered for the better...and our daughter is amazing!!!
Since Lisick's appearance on Rachel Ray may have brought you here, it should be stated that in Lisick's book, reading the 1-2-3 Magic section of this book on the web, the Lisick's intrigue with 1-2-3 Magic seems to be born of her admiration of the charm of Dr. Phelan whom she talks about having sparkling eyes.
I recommend reading "What You Can Do Right Now to Help Your Child with Autism" [...] by Jonathan Levy. It doesn't cover all of Son-Rise, rather ten specific techniques. A number of parents who have read Levy's book, have stated that the approach works well with their typically developing children also.
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