Stories about Funding from
Parents and Professionals
Mom finds a way to fund her own RDI® Program, and then offers to help others.
I represent the National Companies, also known as Team National. National Companies, Inc. is a ten-year-old multi-million dollar direct sales company located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. National is the only member of the Direct Selling Association that markets a benefits package. Our benefits package (which is like a membership that any individual, family or company can buy), allows anyone to save a substantial amount of money on more than 30 different products and services in over a dozen industries. Based on group buying power, our members enjoy similar savings as a Fortune 500 company on such things as home furnishings, new and program vehicles, communications, fine jewelry and more. We have personally saved on a memory foam mattress, air travel, long distance phone service, auto insurance, printer ink cartridges, and dining out, among other things. With the earnings from sharing this concept with just a few people, we have been able to pay for our RDI® Program consultant, including 2 RDA's and several months of ongoing support through home visits and video reviews. I am willing to donate 100% of my commission from each sale referred to me through the RDI® Program scholarship fund, as well as any and all bonuses which result from those sales. The commissions range from $25 to $100, and the bonuses range from $1,000 to $1,500.
Here is my website address: www.bign.com/ranaburr
When you get there, the best button to explore what is offered is the one that says "benefits/services" on the menu to the left. One of the most exciting savings area right now is our factory direct furniture, which you can see by using the benefits/services button, clicking "Home Products" and then selecting "Team National Factory Direct". If you want to participate in the benefits package and help the RDI® Program Scholarship Fund at the same time, just mention "RDI" in the "Comments" box on the form.
Rana B.
Las Vegas, NV
Funding Success Story
My husband works for a large, self-insured corporation in Delaware. After
struggling for nearly six months with the insurance company, I called the
woman in the employee relations office of my husband's corporation. I
figured she would have more pull than I would and I was right. I explained
autism to her and provided her with a list of what my three year old son needed and what he
was getting. I talked to her about the cost of his care if he didn't
progress, versus the costs if he progressed to regular education. She
agreed that RDI® was necessary for him to succeed. She called the insurance
company and negotiated a program where our RDI® Program is totally paid for. The
trouble, it seems, was classification. There is no CPT code for RDI®. Now,
it's broken down into a language development component, a parent therapy
component, a child psychological assessment component, etc. Long story
short, they are paying for all of it and have pledged to continue doing so
for the duration of my son's need.
Robin I.,
Delaware
Single Mom raises $5,000 to train a local Certified Consultant
I am currently a Consultant-in-Training. About three years ago, a mother, Lori Straley of East Dorset, Vermont, wanted to find a Certified Consultant in our area to work with her son. (At that time, there was only one in New England). She approached two recycling stations and asked if she could put out containers to collect returnable bottles and cans to 'benefit autism'. In about a year and a half, she had raised a significant amount of money. She then approached me, the Speech Language Pathologist who worked with her son at the public school, and asked if I would be interested in attending the training. I was so excited! She continued her recycling campaign, and by the time I was applying to get into the Certification Program, she had raised $5,000! The remainder of the funding was actually provided by her mother. This is an amazing story, because this is a single mother of two children who does not work. She was so committed to getting an RDI® Program Certified Consultant, that, for, I think about three years, she went to the recycling centers, gathered the bottles and cans, and cashed them for their deposit. Now that's desire!
Lisa M.,
Wallingford, Vermont
Consultant-in-Training provides scholarship for Parent Seminar; High school sister starts fundraising club.
As a Consultant-in-Training, I recently did a project and raised $1,000 for a family in Boynton Beach, Florida, to go towards the 4-day Intensive Parent Seminar. I raised the money through local gyms, speaking at a local Rotary club ($400 alone from the Rotary), and word-of-mouth from friends and family. Now my younger sister who is in high school is starting a club at her high school called "Autism Empowered" to raise funds for local families in Palm Beach County (Florida) to attend RDI® Program Seminars. The club is in the beginning stages of finding sponsors, recruiting students, and brainstorming fundraiser ideas. The plan is to pick one local family who has a child with autism and wants to attend a parent seminar but can't afford it, and send the proceeds to the Connections Center in their name as a scholarship. It would be awesome to get other consultants/ schools to do the same.
Kristin, H.,
Florida
Mellanby Autism Foundation provides scholarship to train Consultant; Private family pledges annual help.
Our facility, St. John's Mercy Child Development Center in St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a grant from the Mellanby Autism Foundation through the "Giving Back Fund," to pay for my certification. We also have a family who has a grandson with autism, and they have pledged a certain amount of money each year to benefit families we work with who have a child with autism.
Barbara A. Duckett, M.A., CCC-SLP
St. Louis, Missouri
Families join together to provide scholarship to train local Consultant
I was working as an educational assistant for a child in a Nanaimo public school, when Dr. Gutstein did his first 2-day Introductory Workshop in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Two mothers from from Nanaimo were going to attend the workshop, one who was the parent of the child I was supporting. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to attend and I was lucky enough to go in her place. When we heard Dr. Gutstein speak, we were beside ourselves with excitement! On our return, both families started discussing how they could start RDI®. There were no Certified Consultants on Vancouver Island or even the whole of B.C. then.
Yet the families still thought it would be more beneficial for them to have a local Consultant, rather than for both of them to travel for RDAs [assessments] and then to do long-distance consulting. So they offered me a scholarship to become certified! I still can't believe it. We split all my certification expenses three ways, and one of the families became my "supervision family." Both families have really appreciated having someone local, because I have been able to provide home visits. Through these home visits I was really able to see their environment, the child's relationship with their siblings as well as their parents, and their day-to-day lifestyle; and I was able to help them simplify and tailor their home situation to reduce the stress on the whole family. This was critical in providing a strong foundation for their RDI® Programs. It became a win-win-win situation for all of us!
Sharlene Wright, E.C.E.C.
Nanaimo, British Columbia, CANADA
"Our School District agreed to fund our Son's RDI® Program"
On the recommendation of the Child Study Team, our School District has agreed to pay for our 9 year old son's RDI® Program for the next school year. This includes an initial RDA™, video tape review from our Certified Consultant and a follow-up RDA™. Our son had been attending an ABA school (costing the District about $40,000 a year) and prior to that had graduated from an ABA home program as part of early intervention. Our son's grades always showed he was quite bright academically and he had learned many rote skills in his ABA Program, but he was missing the non-verbal communication, referencing, regulating and especially a feeling of competence in the dynamic classroom!We started using RDI® Program principles about a year and a half ago and also had some RDI® objectives written into our son's IEP, but it was hard for the school to implement them and it was also hard for us to work on RDI® with our son because he would come home from his ABA classroom so stressed! (Therefore, we also decided to homeschool him this year.) Nevertheless, the school was impressed with the progress our son HAS been able to make with his RDI® Program so far.
Our goal is to remediate our son's autism so he can be in the least restrictive environment and eventually, so he can live independently as an adult. We feel the RDI® Program is the best way to achieve this. When we first approached the Child Study Team about this, they didn't really understand the concept of remediating autism. They had much lower expectations for our son than what we wanted for him. Over the months we talked about this, I helped educate them and bring them up-to-date. I sent them many informational articles-- on current autism and brain research, how the RDI® Program is based on this research, the differences between compensation (which our son had done for so many years in his ABA program) and remediation, the RDI Program studies, etc. The Child Study Team finally agreed because they came to see what the RDI® Program was offering us which the ABA hadn't ever been able to give to our son, and the District could also see the considerable cost savings. We think this has turned into a win-win solution for everybody: our family, our school district, and most of all, for our son.
A dedicated RDI® Mom of 4 children,
USA
Government Programs also help Families
A consultant in Florida, also wrote: "I have one family (in Florida) who has had some of their RDI® Program paid for by a local charity organization in their area, and some paid for through McKay scholarship via private schools which serve the purpose of alternative education if the child did not benefit from public school setting." In California, several of the Regional Centers fund RDI® Program services.
In Canada, one consultant from Ontario, wrote, "many of my families receive SSAH (Special Services at home). It usually varies per child--anywhere from about $2,000 - $5,000 per year and many of the families use some of this money to pay for RDI® Program services." In British Columbia, families can use the direct funding they receive from the B.C. government (up to $20,000 per year for diagnosed children under the age of 6 and up to $6,000 per year for children ages 6 through 18) for RDI® Program services provided by anyone on the Registered Autism Service Provider list, which includes at least one RDI® Program Certified Consultant as well as Dr. Gutstein at the Connections Center. And in Alberta, an Appeal Panel recently ruled that RDI® Program services should be funded for a 6-year-old boy through the Family Supports for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) Program.
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