Anyone attending R D I ?

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Our developmetal pediatrician recommended that we as parents join RDI which is a procces of 8 stages that can take up to a year or 2 .It teaches you as a parent to work with your child . First you have to watch a video that takes up to 5 hours. Then you meet with RDI specialist to work together. Anyone else taking this RDI, does it work? do you recommend it?

I have never heard of it - but am always interested in new approaches. What kind of method is it?

People can check it out at:

http://www.rdiconnect.com/

It's suppose to be better than ABA behavioral therapy. Well we just signed a contract for 6 months where only the parents are trained and the child is only seen once at the office by the therapist. I like that they will train us.

We do RDI in our home and had a consultant for a year. It's fantastic - very positive and empowering for the family. RDI is relationship based, not skills based, as is ABA. RDI is respectful of the ASD child and fun for all. I have a lot more info and thoughts, so if anyone wants to hear me blab about this, just say the word!

I have some great blogs to recommend and some good sources of inspiration for RDI, as well.

Yes ! Please send me more blogs.

Great! Here's a little standard reply that I've developed when people ask me about RDI. since you're working already with RDI, some of it might be a review. Here's my intro to RDI, from my perspective, and some resources:

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Here is the RDI website


Our family does RDI and my son goes to an RDI-style preschool.

This is a very cool and family-friendly autism program. In RDI there are no therapists that "do to" your child. Parents learn and then mentor their children. This approach feels very natural, empowering and positive for the whole family.

Although there are some (older) books, RDI is not meant to be learned via books. RDI is by design a very dynamic and fluid way of parenting your ASD child in an everyday kind of way. The creators of RDI are moving into making RDI accessible completely via the Internet and RDI consultants. To learn pure (and fantastic) RDI, you would go this route, but personally, I think there is a lot of valuable RDI material that is free, from parents who incorporate RDI into their lives with their ASD kids.

I have not read one RDI book. RDI, written out, looks very static and confusing to me. RDI in action, looks like real life and is inspiring to me. So I haven't pursued the reading material (except for handouts and blogs!) My advice to you at this point, if you are just starting to learn about RDI, is to take a look at some "real life" examples of dynamic interactions. Get a good feel for what this is and incorporate this into your everyday life with your child(ren.) Cooking or baking together is an excellent activity that you probably do in an RDI kind of way instinctually. The only thing to keep in mind is to try not to give direct instructions, but steer him toward what comes next - infer to him. Cooking is also good because he must follow your lead. In RDI we encourage the apprentice to follow the mentor, so that the apprentice becomes accustomed to looking to people (who are dynamic and ever changing) for cues and not to rules (which are static.)

Far and away, far and away, far and away, I have learned the most about RDI from watching RDI in action. I think you can learn a lot from the RDI family youtube vids. Even if one's child appears different than the kids you'll see, you can get a good idea about how RDI works.

Here is a family that is very prolific and does RDI nicely:
RDI family in action

Here is a great blog by an RDI mom
Her blog is very well organized and updated a lot. Scroll way down the page and look on the right for "Relationship Developmental Intervention" and you'll find a wealth of posts - and some video clips of her teenage daughter.

Here is a great blogpost by another mom about getting started wtih RDI.



It only took me a year to understand this, but I finally did when I went to hear Dr. Gutstein in Atlanta last fall. The crux of RDI is the concept that no matter the functioning level of the ASD child, he has difficulty (to a greater or lesser extent) with his "dynamic thinking," which is thinking on one's feet, adapting to changes, especially in the social (very dynamic) arena. Generally, ASD kids do not have huge difficulties in academics, which are static (not changing) and in following rules, but have great challenges in areas where the rules/answers are not clear or non-existent. RDI seeks to help the ASD child/person strengthen his "dynamic thinking" abilities. Dynamic thinking is what enables us to be confident and successful when we are out in the world.

So in RDI we start with very elementary games that target the child's dynamic thinking. As the child progresses, we change the games and interactions to reflect his new abilities, but the intention is always the same - focus on dynamic (changing, interpretive) interaction, not static interaction.


When you begin RDI with a consultant, the first part is parents learning about slowing down, relaxing and just living life with your kid(s.) My RDI mantra is "Take it slow and take it in." So whatever you do, do not stress about learning it all and "doing it." There is no window of opportunity in RDI and there is a ton to learn. So relax and dip your toe in, see how it feels. You have a whole lifetime to learn more and bring this into your life, if you choose to.

thank you so much for all your info. It sounds like the best thing for our daughter. I as for me, I love that I will be taught to be her mentor. We live in Texas and there is going to be a conference from Dr. G at Houston Texas. I really want to be more involve before attending .

Great! There is a lot you can read online and then you will get more out of the RDI presentation by Dr. G. RDI is fantastic - lots of fun and so positive.