Fred, "face referencing" was one of the first signs to us that the RDI activities were actually working. As with your girls and many ASD kids, he appeared more or less NT, but really stood out when it came to noticing other people. He never noticed (or appeared to notice) new people in our home, for instance. Now, when a new person comes in, he references me like crazy. And he has started, in the past few weeks, even going up to that person to check them out or have a tickle. He even now shows interest in random kids (like at playgrounds or stores.) A total miracle to this mom.
I don't ever want to come off as an RDI pusher, but it is totally amazing to see how RDI helps ASD kids wake up to the world of people. IMO, it is a complete myth that ASD people/kids don't know how to engage socially. Or can't. They definitely can, but many need to be taught and given lots of encouragement. RDI is also not something only little kids can benefit from. It's principles can be applied and be beneficial at any age.
And RDI is wonderful for the whole family. It's great parenting, great family living.
Thanks - I did! I liked the one where the apple sauce spilled and he was startled and immediately look up at you- that was really neat. My girls seldom look at anyone when they're talking, especially when something's startled or scared them. It's the thing that I notice about them that stands out the most next to their NT peers. NT kids are *always* checking out the faces of their parents to make sure that what they're doing is 'ok'.
For example, there's a little girl in the neighborhood, same age as the girls, and I was talking with her dad the other day. She was bored, so she starts walking away, but when she's walking, she says, "I'm going to find some acorns". It was a statement, but if you observed carefully, she kept her gaze fixed on her dad's face until he said, "ok", or something - so, it wasn't as much a statement as a declaration of intent, and then she looked to her dad's reaction to see if it was "really" ok to do.
My girls either wouldn't tell me what they were doing (they'd just do it), or, they'd say, "I'm going to find some acorns" while running away, never looking back. For them, it really is just a statement. They don't need any approval or reassurance and it certainly never occurs to them to gauge or reaction to what they intend to do.
I did see this behavior a little bit in Evie the other day, so she *can* do it. We have a little plastic slide in our backyard, and she was out back with a cup of juice of something. She said that she was going to go down the slide, but she probably figured that going down the slide with a cup of juice was not a good thing, and she *did* check my reaction as she climbed the steps - she kept looking up at me and her expression made it look like she expected me to tell her to stop.
This is one of the few times I've ever seen either of them doing this sort of thing - most kids do it constantly.
Anyways, I'm rambling, but the girls would seem much less autistic if they were less independant with their actions and actually seemed to care about what other people's reaction to their actions. This would help immensely with their ability to function in life - if they could learn that other people's feelings/thoughts/emotions are something that they should attend to, and that it is appropriate to modify one's own behavior to (within reason) to conform to the expectation of others. Even if this is a skill that they have to learn by rote, it'd still be beneficial, but if it becomes innate and intuitive, then it'd be really, really beneficial for them in helping them form and sustain relationships of any kind.
This seems to be the sort of thing that RDI would really help out with - given what little I know about it - and your video sort of affirms that.
Hi Peep,
Is there a comprehensive assessment and skills tracking tool (something like the ABLLS) for RDI? There's a skills tracking chart in the back of one of the RDI books, but I'm wondering if the consultants have something with a little more "meat".
Hi Fred,
Jeeps, I am so not a skills tracking person, so I have never gotten into this with our consultant. Perhaps MaureenMo ("social component" thread) would know the answer.
I hope you enjoyed my videos!
Someone asked me recently what the difference between RDI and ABA is. I said:
They are both behavior-reward models, at heart. The difference is the goal.
In ABA, the goal is that the child would follow the instructions, learn the activity and do it. In RDI, the goal is that the child learns how to interact with people (and happily.)
The activity is just the framework around which interaction is built. In this particular activity, Alex is getting practice reading my facial cues and body language. He is learning to adjust to slight variations in social situations. He is developing his sense of what turn taking is. He is watching another participant (brother) and reacting to brother's part in the game. He is developing positive episodic memories of interacting with mom and brother so that he will seek out more interaction - not just re-act when asked to.
RDI is essentially a program wherein the parent learns how to take his child through the "typical" (AKA NT) child social development steps, many of which he did not go through the first time around. For instance, the activities I posted focus on the "patterns and regulation" step that babies go through starting at around 5/6 months. e.g. Baby drops toy from high chair. Mommy picks it up. Baby drops toy. Mommy picks it up. Baby drops toy. Mommy puts it on mommy's head. One day baby laughs at this and they both move on to a more involved pattern and variation. Through this, in the thousands of little moments that baby and mommy (or trusted adult) spend in such play, baby learns a lot about interacting with people. Since many ASD babies/kids do not perk up at this activity or respond to it, they miss the lessons involved.
RDI consultants teach parents how to teach their ASD kids the many little lessons of social interaction, such as the one above.
The building block before this is emotion sharing. This is what babies and parents typically start with when baby "wakes up" to faces, usually starting in the first weeks of life. We started with emotion sharing games with Alex in January. Emotion sharing should always be present when we do our activities. When we/Alex learns one step, we incorporate that one into the next step, just as in typical parent-child interactions.
It is true that some of what RDI teaches, some parents of ASD kids already do naturally. It is very helpful, though, to have someone take you through all of the steps of child development and give you ideas and feedback about how to best teach them to your child.
Many people ask, what exactly is RDI? How do you do it?
Here is the answer to the first question: http://www.rdiconnect.com/RDI/default.asp
Here are three videos of our family, as we incorporate RDI into our everyday life:
This first video is Mommy baking with Alex. The point is to show how, after a few months of RDI, Alex is learning to turn to a trusted person (in this case, Mommy) for help and reassurance when things get rough. Many autistic kids/people get overwhelmed by people and do not naturally turn to them for comfort. This can be out of confusion and fear of the unpredictability that people present. Instead, some autistic kids/people turn inward, often to ritualized behavior or severe tantrumming in order to calm themselves. While not "wrong," this behavior can prevent many autistic individuals from becoming fully operational in the social world. RDI seeks to teach autistic kids, little by little, to become very familiar and comfortable with people and the very complex social world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xh3C738SN8
Thank you so much for this post.
I have been looking for some practical applications of RDI as we are trying to get our little guy into an RDI program at his preschool.
I have read upon the modality, but have not heard/read any real personal/recent materials and the therapists around here are not overly forthcoming with techniques.
Thank you for sharing this.
Bo -- Glad to see you back posting here. Alex is doing SO well. Keep us up on how things are going.
There's another current thread on RDI -- social component -- for those interested.
Also, Relationship Development Intervention is sold as a book, so parents who can't get access to the actual training can use the book for guidance.
Got it!
Thank you ;)
I think the beauty of the RDI approach (whether you do it on your own or through a consultant) is that it is the ONE program that I know of that systematically addresses the CORE issues of autism -- our kids' lack of ability to RELATE. That is what causes so many of them to NOT become independent adults, not lack of academic skills. I SO wish this program had been around when my son was little. I'm sure I would have paid anything for it. At age 16, he's fortunately developed many of these skills anyway, but I'm going back to the RDI book for some suggestions on ones we have to work on still. Is the RDI book you are refering to Relationship Development Intervention you mentioned earlier in the post? I would like to get that and start working on some things with Nikolas.Linda, here is the book that includes all of the activities. The book that 'describes' the program is here.
LOL - Abbie and Evie, despite having mostly filled their ABLLS assessment and despite being considered moderately high functioning, each FAIL Level 1, Stage 1! Guess this'll be a curriculum to pursue after they get through the ABLLS :)
That is very helpful thanks.
Fred,
If you get the activity book you could start just doing the activities with the girls in your leisure time. Most of them just feel like fun - there's not a lot of planning. Your going to be doing fun things with your girls anyway, you might as well be doing things that will help them build their areas of weakness.
We do some of the activities with Aidan and he thinks they are a blast.
Not every ASD child has the same issues as another ASD child. My PDD-NOS son ALWAYS looked to us for support and did not have to be told how to do that. Evenso, it's clear to anyone familar with ASD that our son is on the spectrum. It seems that kids with more issues understanding social interaction (like face referencing) get the Autism dx. Those with fewer issues in that area seem to get the PDD-NOS dx. Many of the AS kids I know, eventhough their language is age level, seem to have more of the social issues, too. So it may depend on where in the large category of PDD's your son falls.I think the thing that people interested in RDI need to understand is that, though it is costly, it is much better to have a consultant with whom to work. Not only do they guide you and your family through the stages, they are wonderful resources when new behaviors crop up. The activity book many of you have mentioned should not really be used like a step-by-step guide book. It provides ideas for activities for the various stages, but RDI is not nearly as neatly packaged as that book. The better book to read is "Solving the Relationship Puzzle". It breaks down autism's core deficiets (sp?) and how the RDI program aims to tackle remediating kids.
Fred, I thought it was funny that you said your girls failed stage 1, level 1. We as parents just get so used to our kids and the way the communicate/share with us. To see broken down what "skills" they miss puts things in a different perspecyive.
I love RDI. Our son has made tremendous growth, but there is a long way to go. Unlike other treatments, I truly think RDI is the only one out there that makes any sense. Our kids can, with the right guides and guidance learn the skills they miss and end up independent, fun, self-sufficient adults.