RDI for 3 years old and other interventions ??

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RDI ( relationship development integration program ) for 3 years old children with ASD explained ?, and other interventions ?? may be good online autority readings ?

Sorry, only know about it at the synopsis level
http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism ... ention-rdi

We tried RDI and found it to be incredibly expensive, a lot of it wasted on infomercial, and not really that different from traditional ABA when done properly (their point about ABA speaks to it when done badly.) If you do a search on it, you'll find my posts.

Are you in a situation where you can't get outside help? That was the part we found most helpful with RDI, not the online course, and in hindsight it worked well because the social worker specialized in autism. When we found other professionals who specialized in autism but used more traditional therapy, not only did our insurance cover it - but we got further, faster.

I would suggest looking into DIR/Floortime if you are trying to promote more engagement with the world. Probably the best thing to do is get to know some parents in your area and find out who is really talented. Some providers end up taking bits of ABA, RDI, Floortime, etc and creating their own mix.

I agree. If you find good professionals, ABA is a good intervention and you can learn and do therapy yourself.

I only had to read the first few lines of the synopsis: "... a system of behavior modification ..."

Any therapy that seeks to modify behaviour might be good for the parents, but I don't see how it could ever be good for the child. It's treating the symptoms, not the cause.

That's a misinformed comment. You think teaching my nonverbal child to request what he wants is not useful to him? Behavioural modification is the science behind how we've done that. The word behaviour in this instance has a different meaning than the lay term.

The thing is autism is not a behavioral issue, so a lot of psychological damage could be done by a behavioral modification program, the kid might feel like everything they do is wrong. So I don't think behavioral modification is a good form of therapy, you can't very well punish the autism out of someone which is what I imagine some of those interventions might attempt to do.

I agree with nostromo: it is a matter of semantics, and how the therapy is applied.

I mentioned in another post about Helen Keller and the methods used by Anne Sullivan to help her communicate - basically, she did what many ABA therapists do: connect the word with the thing or the action, until the connections start to make sense. This is technically modifying behavior: teaching any child to communicate rather than just acting on impulse is modifying their behavior.

It isn't the same as plain old operant conditioning, and if it is, that's a good sign they are doing it wrong. It's a system where you analyze behavior to try to understand it, and then find the best course of action to respond to it. However, many schools in particular use Functional Behavior Assessments (one step in the ABA process) as a way to "get students to behave." In googling for one, I saw FBAs for "student gets out of his seat" as a target behavior to reduce. This seems less about helping the child and more about controlling the environment for the teacher.

So, where an outsider to the classroom may find that the child benefits from getting out of their seat, or needs some kind of sensory device for support, or should be allowed to sit differently, or simply needs the rule of staying in your seat explained in a way that make sense to them, these teachers focus only on whatever it takes to reduce the target behavior, and miss the point entirely. In those cases, I agree with Sweetleaf and Reynaert that, misapplied, this isn't a system that either helps the child or works well.

However, if ABA and FBAs are used to understand the child and see to it that his or her needs are being met, and that he or she understands what is expected, it's a very useful tool with kids who have difficulty communicating.

Yes, if you look at the child's behaviour, try to analyse the causes, and respond to the child, then you're doing the right thing for the child. I would call that emotional reciprocity: treating the child as equal-but-different, instead of forcing it to conform to the norms of the majority.

But I disagree that these therapies are "teaching a child to communicate". What they're doing is "teaching a child to communicate in the way that corresponds with the social norms". These children are already communicating, it's just that most people fail to see it.

And almost every *practical* description of these therapies seem to involve modifying 'unwanted' behaviour such as your example of "student gets out of seat", or the most well-known of flapping hands.

As a rule of thumb: if the therapist is trying to 'reduce' a behaviour, then that is a bad therapist and you should get your child away from them. Yes, even if it is self-destructive behaviour. IMO, a good therapist will try to find out the root cause for the behaviour and try to work with that.


As a tangent: I believe that a lot of these therapists could learn a great deal from Cesar Milan. In case anyone is not familiar: He's supposed to retrain dogs that are misbehaving, but what he actually does is twofold: First, he communicates with the dog on an equal level (it's amazing how quickly he can get through to even the most misbehaving dogs). Second, he teaches the *owners* how to behave around their dog. And especially that last one is crucial. Now, I'm not saying that children are like dogs in any way, what I'm saying is that as soon as you start approaching someone on a level of equality, and try to see *their* point of view, you get a hell of a lot farther with them. So, IMO the therapists should be working far more with the parents than with the children. But I fear a lot of parents want a solution where they hand their autistic kid over to some professional, while they go on with their lives, and expect to get a 'better' child.

I think that is true with some autistic children, but wouldn't you agree that there are autistic children who, like Helen Keller, don't understand what communication is at it's most basic level, or how to go about it? I will admit, I don't have experience with profoundly uncommunicative autistic kids - but I don't believe that you can say that all people communicate, either: communication is a two-way street, requiring both taking in information and giving it out.

Now, in terms of kids on the AS end of the spectrum, clearly they are communicating to some degree - but the deficit is not solely that they don't follow social norms. In my own family, all three of us are guilty of barfing up huge gobbets of communication and taking in nothing - oftentimes we have only half of the two-way street. While, yes, the world needs to be more socially tolerant of us being weird - we also need to learn to be open to what other people jave to say.



The best help we've gotten has focused on us; in general - with the exception of DS's social skills class where he's with a group of kids and some therapists - we go, often without him. I can't speak for everyone, but I doubt that the majority of parents who come here for information are looking for a "better child" or a quick fix.

I can't comment on others situations, but my son is completely non-verbal, he doesn't point, he didn't make eye contact, he can't yet in any way answer yes or no, he does not nod or shake his head.

His lack of communication was to the point he had to 'learn' to audibly cry. If he hurt himself he would sit there with tears rolling down his face, completely silent, unmoving, seemingly without expression.
A friends child sat at school quiet and 'well behaved' in the corner with both bones in his arm broken only noticed by the mother picking him up seeing the arm on a funny angle and not being used.

Think about it. Then think some more.

These are severe communication deficits where the child does not know the normal way to communicate, it essentially affects their quality of life not us the parents. I can pickup on his non-verbal communication e.g. I can determine his feelings, and many things by watching him, and thats fine and its important and extremely useful but the rest of the world can't do this and can't be expected to.

We taught my son to use PECS and are now working on the iPad through standard 'behavioural modification' principles, small steps at a time, reinforcement etc. He can tell us what he wants now within the limits of what PECS or Icons are available to him, but we still can't get him to answer a simple yes or no.

'Eliminating flapping hands', give me a break! I love him flapping his hands, its communication that says he's excited/happy.

I agree with momsparky, the therapist that has been THE biggest help to us is the one who has spent a significant amount of time teaching me and my husband things we can do to help our child be more comfortable in his world and how we can better understand some of his behaviors. I also agree that the majority of parents on this forum are not looking for a quick fix. If they are, they dont stay here long because they find out that the solutions we talk about here take time and effort. So hang out, get to know us. We are in this for the long-haul!

I know the various therapies have been controversial in this community, and some of the videos I've viewed have made me uncomfortable. My son is high functioning and I have not needed to go that route. But I've noticed something over the years: adults and older children able to speak for themselves are saying that behavioral therapies have helped them. Which means, one word that makes some of us uncomfortable shouldn't stop us from realizing some of these therapies are making life better for some people with ASD. I think you always have to be careful selecting your specialist, and be involved in setting goals as well as the selection of techniques to use, because there is room for abuse or just bad practice, but no one should be throwing the figurative baby out with the figurative bath water, because there are positive results happening.

I can't speak to RDI specifically, this is just about the general concept.

dear renaert, what is wrong of combining emotional reciprocity with the child with teaching him the way of the world ? he will be living in this "communicating world " , and after joining the masses , he can , and will, indubitably have to the chance for a better " emotional reciprocity " with the rest of the world .

any good informed free online readings on ASD ??