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For the most complete information about RDI® please visit the Connections Center website.
rdiconnect.com
About the RDI® Program:
RDI® is a program for educating and coaching parents and teachers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and others
who interact and work with the child. It is a ‘mission oriented’ program. This means that it is not wedded to
any specific techniques. The mission of RDI® is to develop the most effective methods to remediate those specific deficits
which impede people on the autism spectrum from productive employment, independent living, marriage and intimate social relationships.
Remediation is a gradual, systematic process of correcting a deficit, to the point where it no longer constitutes an obstacle
to reaching one’s potential. Remediation is a developmental process. It involves addressing early areas that, due
to the neurological disorder, were never mastered. We search for the period in development where the child “hit a wall”
and was not able to progress further. We go back and build competence from that point.
Ongoing evolution is critical if we are to help increasing numbers of individuals on the autism spectrum to attain a quality
of life. The latest findings from developmental psychology, autism research are carefully ‘engineered’ to provide
clinical methods that improve effectiveness. Continual program evaluation critically determines which program components are
effective and highlights areas of necessary modification.
RDI empowers families and those who are primarily involved in caring for and educating the child. The bulk of resources are
invested in preparing parents and teachers to act as participant guides, creating daily opportunities for the child to respond
in more flexible, thoughtful ways to novel, challenging and increasingly unpredictable settings and problems. Both fathers
and mothers are essential participants in the treatment process (Current estimates of father’s participation in RDI™
are over 90%).
Preliminary research indicates that RDI is a powerful, effective means for increasing children’s capacity and motivation
for experience sharing, as well as their flexibility and adaptation. Parents engaged in RDI overwhelmingly report significant
improvement in their own quality of life, as well as the lives of their “non-affected” children.
Real-world competence emerges from children participating as active, but junior partners; “apprentices,” who are
carefully guided by parents and other adults. Guides have access to a comprehensive system of over 1,100 developmentally
staged objectives, which they use to carefully provide increasingly complex problems and challenges. Guides help the child
capture and stockpile critical memories that build an experiential repository of success in gradually more complex environments.
Parents are taught to re-think their daily lifestyle, structuring activities throughout the day to provide safe, but challenging
opportunities for discovery.
What is RDI?
• Systematic, long-term remediation of specific deficits that define autism spectrum disorders
• Preparing parents to act as participant guides. Restoring the critical early guided-participation relationship damaged
by ASD
• Creating numerous daily opportunities for the child to respond in more flexible, thoughtful ways
• Helping children capture and stockpile critical memories that build a repository of competence, in gradually more
complex environments
RDI parent training is implemented through the following methods:
• Small-group, intensive parent education
• Customized, balanced remediation planning, emphasizing a bio-psycho-social model
• Individualized consultation sessions with parents
• Consultant modeling, role-playing and guiding parents
• Regular review sessions
• “Novice” parents obtain support from “veteran” parents
• Regular video-taped review of samples of parent-child performance in the home
• School staff training and consultation (when appropriate)
∗Content based on the RDI® Program Developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein and Dr. Rachelle Sheely.
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