What is RDI?

“Look at me”….I don’t know about you, but each time I hear that I am transported back to my childhood, when I’m in trouble with my Mom.   I would come home and first thing I knew to do is NOT look at my mom….because well, gaze holds all sorts of emotion!!   Maybe if I did not look at her, she would think I did not see her and I could escape upstairs…yeah, you know how that ends!! To my surprise fast forward to when I became a mom and then for my second and third child,   a mom to two children with Autism…I found myself hearing some people tell me to instruct my child to look at me for any sort of eye contact.   I of course did just that for awhile…because like any mom, I wanted desperately to have my beautiful boys look in my eyes.   I felt as though there were two things standing in the way of me and my boys.   One was that they did not look at me and the other is they did not talk.( I will write on that next week J ) If they would just look at me….and ...

Our guest author this week, Sue Simmons, delineates the difference between dynamic and static intelligence in an everyday meaningful kind of way. Learn how you can apply some simple RDI principles to help foster more dynamic thinking in your family.   www.rdiconnect.com It takes only a glimpse of today's world to realize that we are living in unprecedented times. We flip from answering our cell phones, to sending email to friends, to writing to-do lists at lightning speed. Our minds can barely keep up with the demands of our fast-paced world - this requires us to be able to think in a truly "dynamic" fashion. Consider how incredible our brains are - imagine sitting on a beach, gazing at breathtaking scenery (ahhh). As you gaze at the sparkling water and sink back into your chair, you notice the soft breeze against your arms. Where does your mind go? If you're like most of us, your thoughts wander. As you look around at the people in your midst, y...

A brief introduction to Relationship Development Intervention® Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®) is based upon research in developmental psychology and the developmental psychopathology of autism spectrum disorders. The specific focus of RDI is to create a ‘guided participation’ relationship with caregivers, through which children develop competence in handling gradually more complex environments. The programme involves supporting families and caregivers/school staff in their roles as participant guides, creating daily opportunities for adaptive and thoughtful responding in the face of novel and increasingly unpredictable settings and unexpected change. Through participation in caregiver-guided continually more complex cycles of regulation, challenge and new regulation, the aim is for individuals on the autism spectrum to learn not only to tolerate, but also to enjoy changes and transitions. The RDI Program focuses on developing: ·       ...