Thank you for replying. I'll check out the websites.If you use the sides search engine , you might find my recent take on RDI.
I just went to one of their two day workshops. But to summerize: I think
it is a great concept but I am very put off by how it is run as a money
making business. The books are good but the workshop is basically a two
day informertial where you will be 'encouraged' to sign up for their 4 day
workshop and hire their consultants - all at very very steep prizes. If
money is of no concern I'd say go for it but I also think there are things
out there that are very similar (if not better) to RDI . Also - RDI is basically
a dressed-up and trademarked version of DIR/Floortime which has many
excellent pratitioners all over. An RDI consultant actually receives pretty
minimal training and will be kind of hit or miss. If you are looking for a
developmental program that addresses cognetive social defecits, I like
this one:
http://www.socialthinking.com[/
URL">
It is common sense (read the FAQ) and accessible and affordable.
RDI has it's own website if you want to check it out:
http://www.rdiconnect.com
Welcome to the site!!!
Hi,
I am new on the board. I have been browsing through all the board/information and I am so excited to have found this great communication forum.
My son is almost 4 and was diagnosed with PPD-NOS in March. He is in speech and OT. I have heard a few things about RDI. Does anyone here do this therapy. Any info about it would be appreciated.
...and now, The Gutstein machine has found another way to make money off of parents participating in the program. They have developed/launched their new operating system. It is a MUST have in order to receive/update objectives between you and your consultant. Fees range from to a month for the service. I am currently enrolled in the free trial period but do NOT see that it is worth the money. So, now we either commit to buying new equipment in order to updload videos and pay the monthly fee ( includes video transmissions) or just forget RDI with the consultant and see how we can do this on our own.
As much as I agree with the theory behind it, I am becoming more and more skeptical because of the huge price tag that is going along with it. They have crossed a line IMO with this mandatory subscription to their operating system.
Darla
RDI is expensive. It seems like everything related to ASD is. However, RDI really has helped my son's behavior towards us and is helping him socially in school were I think is the most important since my son will be in mainstream and will need all the tools possible to deal with social pressures and developing relationships at school. Once they are at school they really have to deal with alot of dynamic situations that I feel ABA does not teach. Fortunately we REALLY like our consultant and she has been incredible. She did tell us about these fees when we started so luckily we had it all budgeted out. The expensive part of RDI is the RDA assessment. Now that we are past that we pay 8 for video review and 8 for consulting. 8 is actually cheaper than the OT he receives at a clinic.
I do agree that the database is difficult and sometimes I feel I have no time to look into it.
I have the books and I do the exercises with my kids. I've never taken the course or seen a consultant because none are available in my area. I'm sure a consultant would be appalled at my way of doing things, but whatever I'm doing right or wrong, it works for me and Sam.
My goal was to connect with Sam and have him feel a connection with me and his family (stepdad and little brother) I wanted him to look to us for love and support and in a year of reading the books and doing our own thing I can see the change in Sam. He accepts comfort from dh and me, shows concern for his brother and is a good friend to those who accept him. He seeks us out rather than spending his time with lego. He even told me he loved me more than Bionicles. We're working on him being able to say, "I love you, mama", and the RDI addresses this in a simple game. I don't doubt I'll hear these words uttered someday soon. RDI made sense to me,works for me, and, other than the cost of the books, is free.This is just my experience
If the cost is factor (when isn't it!?) you could just try the exercises in the book and see if it works for you and your child. I haven't had the RDI police at my door -yet
mama to Sam 8 yrs PDD NOS OCD ODD PPD and Alex 2 yrs We implemented RDI in our full time VB/ABA program..the book we used was called " Relationship Development Intervention for children, adolesence and adults..we just picked out some joint attention & eye contact exercises to do with her and it blended it with the ABA style of reinforcing her too...the book was not hard to decipher to me and seemed to be built on common sense principals. Look on Half.com to find the book cheaper or ebay:) Good luck! I think RDI is an interesting concept in hands of a money hungry family. It has been changed to a pure business. We have our consulatant (who in turn is very upset about RDI becoming a business) and it is a few of months that we have started it. It is too soon to judge about its effectiveness though. ETA: Beside RDI and floortime ( http://www.icdl.com ), I also recommend to have a look at the following web site. There are a lot of articles that you will find very helpful: http://www.jamesdmacdonald.org/Articles/MacDonaldStart.html
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