Doesn't this look scary

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When I look at that picture I can't help but be scared by that guy putting hands on the child's head. If he keeps doing it even when picture is being taken, who knows how much more he did with their head before and after that. I know that RDI is supposed to "cure" autism, but don't at least some of us anyways agree that cure imeans damage?

What is especially frighteing is the way he has a friendly smile on his face, almost like he is a father of a kid. So it is like "lets relax and have fun" type of thing. It really reminds me of a facial expression of my grandfather when he was going to read to me a good book. So it is very deceptive because while his facial exprecion towards the kid says "lets just relax" what he really does is messing with his scull.

Look at this picture: http://www.rdiconnect.com/RDI/RDIstory.asp

It looks as though he is making the boy look at the camera by holding his head in that position. I doubt many non-autistic kids would tolerate that.
I also found the description of autistic people written by the side of the picture insulting.
Something was "tragically missing" ?

It doesn't look like he was simply holding his head. He seems to be touching specific places of his head. Plus, as you can see, he uses fingers. If he simply wanted to hold his head he would of used the whole arm. I mean he was clearly touching specific areas of his head.

The web site has all the earmarks of quack science--there are no details on the actual program, the success rate is unrealistically high, there are testimonials, there's blatant emotionalism all over the site...

Basically, this man is a salesman attempting to sell his products to desperate parents who want "normal children".

It just doesn't work that way: Autism means someone's brain structure is different; and trying to make them "normal" would be literally brainwashing them. (Teaching social skills, helping children overcome sensory difficulties, helping them understand communication, and that sort of thing, naturally, is necessary--without it, quality of life is so much lower than with it--but trying to make an autistic child "normal" just isn't going to work.)

Teaching an autistic child how to make up for the problems autism causes? Yes, definitely. "Curing" autism? Bad idea.

I also thought he was trying to sell something.

And what child would want to be touched by anyone not in their own family, and from what I understand of children and adults on the autisim spectrum they don't like to be touched very much at all. And there is no cure for Autisim, and who would want one for high functioning autisim anyway. Yes I know that some would, but you take away the high functioning autisim and you take away the persons being, the way they are, their essence, their personality. Does this make any sense? For an adult this would be devestating. For a child confusing.

It depends on how firm the guy is when he's touching the child, that's what I think.

If he were related and he knew the child well enough, that would be believable. If he didn't know the child and he was placing his hands on his head for no specific reason, I wouldn't believe that.

Creepy-looking shite, I'll give you that.

I was giving my two cents. I would say I'm absolutely right about my assumption.

One of the nice things about being an Aspie is being able to detect advertising bull, and after reading the stuff on this web site, my "bull meter" is going off pretty darned loud! I'm with Callista on that one! I also, too noticed that there are no details on what is actually done, and what it involves. That right there, brings suspision. To an NT, we probably sound like we're being paranoid, but to me, it's just being a smart aspie!

This site really plays on what I have dubbed "emotional lying" and is a common practice played out by salespeople, businesspeople, and the like that are trying to make you feel confident in something by puting on a big toothey grin, and shrouding true feelings. NT's are great at lying and pitching things, and this defnitiely fits the bill!

I knew something was up the moment I saw the pic. At this point, my Aspergers is apart of me. I've had it all my life. You take that away, and I'm only a shadow of what I formerly was. Thank God my parents never tried to make me 'normal' (whatever that means ), though no doubt that there were times they wished they could. It's happened to me...

Yeah this seems like BS, I think the best way to teach an Aspie of HFA social skills and how to have conversations is to get them some place they feel comfortable and give them "peer models" (NTs that are willing to talk to them and hang out with them), you know the way the avg. NT learns how to communicate with his peers. I agree with others that anything else seems to much like brainwashing (or I feel in more extreme cases treating them like a pet (thats what ABA is really when you think about it.))
ED

PS No, teaching social skills is not changing them any more then teaching the algebra is!

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First of all, the way he's touching the boy's head is pretty odd. And the boy also looks like he's scared and someone's forcing him to look happy. Yep, it definately looks real creepy.

He could just be an actor or model.