Guest guest Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 No, but I am doing the Son-Rise program which is similar and possibly more intense (from what I can tell). > > > Has anyone had RDI training for their child and if so, did your > school pay for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 15, 2004 Report Share Posted October 15, 2004 We are doing an RDI program for our son with autism in addition to a Verbal Behavior program. Our school did not pay for it. I know that Dr. Gutstein, the program's author, has recently published a study of RDI's efficacy with children with autism and those results are very encouraging. It seems like you can get funding better when there is some objective data to back up the program. The data is posted on the RDI website. We may approach our school district now that we have some numbers to which we can refer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 , Relationship development intervention. I've tried to describe it somewhat in recent posts. It's really an amalgamation of a number of approaches, including OT, speech therapy, ABA (somewhat modified), etc. At the heart of it is a teacher-apprentice relationship between parent and child and therapist and child. The " teacher " role is that of a mentor and coach. It is not an overtly dominant or authoritative role. He or she is benevolent, fun, spontaneous, reassuring and yet surprising. The child learns to trust the teacher, and this trust blossoms into confidence to meet the world and all its uncertainty head-on. In theory, anyway. The case studies are pretty compelling. The early stages of the therapy look a bit like OT, really, except that there is more emphasis on coordinated movement in RDI and less on agility or mastery. Interconnectedness and responsiveness are paramount. As students progress, speech therapy concepts are stirred into the mix, as is the RDI equivalent of social stories -- encoded memories of discovery and success. Teachers help frame these memories. They guide their apprentices to making discoveries based on a loose lesson plan. And they help to spotlight or encode the moment of discovery by giving it a name that will enable the apprentice to remember it whenever the name is said. For example, if mom and dad take their ASD child to visit a strawberry patch and discover that its too late in the year for strawberries but that there are some great pumpkins to choose from, the discovery would be " well we didn't get what we planned on, but what we did get is pretty neat " and the encoded name would be " pumpkins. " That way, each time the child thinks about pumpkins, he or she will hopefully think about how life sometimes throws out wild cards but that this isn't such a bad thing. The child also learns about seasons and how and when particular plants grow. It's pretty interesting stuff. I can see how ABA therapy could be used to complement this, particularly with more complex tasks. ABA therapy heavily utilizes social stories and stresses preparation for social challenges by showing photographs or illustrations, speaking about expectations in advance, etc. So in the case of the pumpkin patch, the parents might know that they will find pumpkins instead of strawberries in that patch, but decide that their son's stated desire to pick strawberries isn't such a disadvantage and can be capitalized on. But rather than prepare their son for a particular crop, they can read a book with their son about how seeds grow and how farmers collect and sell their crops. That way they minimize anxiety but preserve the element of surprise critical to RDI success. Does this make sense? Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? I wonder if parents get used to being on their toes like this. T. At 10:54 PM 5/2/2005 -0500, you wrote: >: > >What is RDI therapy? > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 All, Could someone please back channel me with information about RDI and how to find this therapy? Thanks, Mal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Hi Mal, I have been doing RDI with my son for the past year and seen nice progress. You can get info online at www.rdiconnect.com . It is Dr Gutstien's site and has a lot of info, including who are the certified specialists in your area. This site also has access to past transcripts of chats with both Dr. Gutstien and Dr Sheely. Parents also post lots of helpful tips and activities that can help others. The books that I have, Autism/Aspergers:Solving the Relationship Puzzle, and Relationship Development Intervention with Young Children has also given me some insight. What I have been able to get out of this so far from my son is eye contact that is not prompted...he looks to my eyes and face for clues/for answers (yes or no) it has helped him greatly in understanding non verbal gestures, and my child who always ran ahead of me without any direction or focus..can now walk side by side with me (again without anymore prompting) and if I stop short and he walks ahead, he will stop and wait or walk towards me if I motion to him to come back to me. He now also can get excited about completing a craft project with me or his brothers (he is 6 years old)... We play treasure hunt and he is completely involved and interactive...and connected. He has also been much more involved in real play with his brothers and sometimes even seeks and initiates play with them. In our case, RDI is helping a great deal, so I would totally recommend researching it, and trying it out. The intervention is expensive, but I find that the books and the website, the parent info and the chat transcripts are very informative and helpful...hope this helps...good luck! [ ] Re: RDI All, Could someone please back channel me with information about RDI and how to find this therapy? Thanks, Mal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Mal, We have seen wonderful result, too, with both of our children. As said, it is definitely not cheap. If you find a good provider they will usually work with you financially. Ours did. Where do you live? I may have a good reference if you're on the West coast. > > All, Could someone please back channel me with information about RDI and how > to find this therapy? Thanks, Mal > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 The best introduction to RDI is to view the DVD produced by the Connections Center. Whilst it is somewhat out-of-date as the intervention is constantly developing, it is an excellent summary of both the theory and practice. The DVD is quite pricey, but I did hear that it was sometimes available in libraries in the US. (Can't confirm that as I'm in the UK). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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