Has anyone heard of RDI therapy?? There are expensive trainings for parents in this, but I think you can do just as well by getting the book Relationship Intervention Therapy and doing the exercises with your child.  I think it's GREAT for young kids and their parents. You might try eBay to get a copy cheaper. The more posts I read about therapies and all, the more I realize what a wonderful OT we have. She really has introduced my child to every aspect of this as well. We do exercises out of an RDI workbook in OT. They are fun, interactive and suprising! We did one with baby Averi when she would not go near other people a while back. It did help lots! I just found this link and was reading through the site, but this is a totally new approach and was wondering if anyone has tried it?? http://www.rdiconnect.com/default.asp  We did one exercise with a crawling tunnel. The OT would put something inside of it that she liked and we would show her . She would crawl in to get it and I would be at the exit end of it and greet her as she made her way out. We would repeat this several times with myself at one end(the exercise says either parent) then as they get better you put another person instead of the parent at the other end to greet her. At first when Averi saw that it was not me at the end she just sat in the middle for a while. Then later she realized in order to get to me she had to go to other people or at least near them. Also at the OT visits at first Averi would not let anyone touch her so the OT would come nearer and nearer to me as she spoke to me and I held her. Then the OT would put her finger on Averi and lightly rub her arm as I held her and do it more each time. The OT did this while never making eye contact with her and continuing to talk to me. Then we started putting her on the floor and I would slowly creep away from her a little at a time, as I moved away the OT would move closer to her. Now it is amazing Averi walks into the clinic and walks all over inside. She will even go with the other therapists. This took about 6 mos. or so. The exercises I am speaking of come out of the book: RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION WITH YOUNG CHILDREN social and emotional development activities for Aspergers,PDD,and NLD by: Steven E. Gutstein and Rachelle K. Sheely(level one) It is easy exercises that are fun and involve the parents mostly. There is also another book (level 2) for older adolescents/teens.Tzoya, that was my first question, how much it costs??  That's the biggest problem right now. I know he needs so much help, but I just can't afford it, and the older he's getting the harder it is for me to deal with his behaviors. Just this morning I woke up to liquid soap all over the bathroom and in the playroom. I know he probably did it cuz he liked the sensory input it gave him, but it's not fun to face messes the minute you rise to your day!!  This is his last week of day camp and I'm scrambling to find him something to help him.  I'll search for the book, seems much easier and economical. Thanks!I have heard really great things about it and even notice the results in my friends kidsYes!  I read a book on it....this is how to get your child to engage with you...use a jack in the box to get more eye contact....use balloons to them to bring it back to you....use lil stuffed animals to get them to "trade"...turn taking.  I won't do the "hot potato" with AJ as we are still working on hot and cold.  [QUOTE=Traci] The more posts I read about therapies and all, the more I realize what a wonderful OT we have. She really has introduced my child to every aspect of this as well. We do exercises out of an RDI workbook in OT. They are fun, interactive and suprising! We did one with baby Averi when she would not go near other people a while back. It did help lots![/QUOTE]   What was that? How did you get her to go near other people? Madison is scared to go around people she doesn't know. She's gotten better, but I would love to find something to help her through this. The typical steps for RDI: 1) Read the book (Relationship development puzzle) 2) Watch the Video ( 5 hour video by gutstein) 3) Have a consultant to do the assessemtn and prepare a therapy plan. 4) You will be working with a consultant for 6 months to go through various stages of therapy.  The whole thing will cost around $3000.  I have already done 1 and 2 above I am going to work with a consultant in September. Plus, I am also going for the parent seminar (additional $2000).   RDI seems to have really benefited some people.  There is an midatlanic yahoo group (which is quite active group) and you can get lots of information on RDI by joining this group.   You might also try to put together lots of activities that feed into his sensory system -- a "sensory" diet. Using Play Doh, sitting in water (bath tub, baby pool) jumping, trampoline, tug of war, being rolled in a blanket tightly, bubbles, fingerpaint, Goop -- do the messy ones outdoors.  Get in a bathing suit yourself and wash all of you off under the sprinkler. If you can do some of the RDI exercises, that will be a bonus.  Next week, start Camp Mom.  Forget about all but the basic chores and enjoy yourselves!  And let us know how it goes.  Creativity and stamina are probably more important here than buying into programs (although A LOT more work, which is why the pre-done programs are so popular).  If you can, make Camp Mom structured (on a schedule) just as regular camps are. Use pix to show DS the schedule every day.
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