The RDI® Professional Training Program

Autism Certification and Training Worldwide

The RDIconnect® Online Training Program is a unique educational program available for professionals with credentials in a broad range of professional backgrounds and specialty areas.

Completing RDIconnect® Professional Certification will enhance an individual’s qualifications, their knowledge of autism spectrum disorders and the train them in the practicalities of implementing an RDIconnect® Family Consultation Program.

About the RDIconnect® Family Consultation Program

Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®) offers programs for individuals on the autism spectrum, or other developmental difficulties.

RDI® programs teach parents how to guide their child to seek out and succeed in truly reciprocal relationships, while addressing key core issues such as motivation, communication, emotional regulation, episodic memory, rapid attention-shifting, self-awareness, appraisal, executive functioning, flexible thinking and creative problem solving.

RDI® is a significant departure from traditional autism interventions, and does not simply seek to mask the condition with scripted conversations or rehearsed behaviors. Our model allows for neuro-cognitive changes to occur over time that provide the individual with the skills needed to navigate life’s challenges on their own. By developing this capacity for dynamic thinking, we open the door to the possibility of a greater quality of life that includes: reciprocal communication, genuine friendships, confident, independent living, prolonged relationships and meaningful employment.

The Role of Consultants in the Program

Unlike behavior intervention where the professional works with the child or young adult, we train the consultants to work with the parents; teaching them to be the guide and expert to their child. RDI® consultants are key to Relationship Development Intervention® in the lives of families.

A trained RDI® Consultant works with each family to develop an individualized set of objectives that may include simplifying the home environment, slowing down the pace of life, and balancing the entire family’s schedule and life outside of a special needs diagnosis. 

These trained professionals serve as a coach to parents in the following ways:

  • Providing education on developmental issues
  • Creating a systematic plan to implement goals and objectives for parent to learn how to be guides to their children
  • Guiding parents how to promote mental growth with their child in everyday life
  • Learning to observe and analyze themselves, their child and the state of the guiding process
  • Teaching parents when and how to insert new cognitive challenges into activities
  • Monitor progress
Who is Training for?

RDI® consultants come from a variety of backgrounds and are currently serving in 31 countries worldwide. Our consultants come from a broad range of professional backgrounds, including but not limited to:

  • Psychologists
  • Therapists and Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • SLPs
  • BCBAs
  • Teachers, SE Teachers or School Directors

There are also a number of consultants who worked in other professions and then became RDI® certified after working with their own children and consultants.

Regardless of professional background, successful consultants are those who value child development and the important role that parents play in the lives of a child. 

Pre-requisites:

  1. Completed bachelor degree (any field) prior to applying
  2. Read The RDI® Book prior to applying
  3. Submit a completed Application for Certification to RDIconnect
  4. If you are a parent of a child with ASD, you must have worked with an RDI® Certified Consultant within the RDI® Learning Community for a minimum of six months and be able to receive a letter of recommendation from that consultant.
Overview of the Training Program

Button Pro Page-3Professional Training Course Part I: This course combines online and in-person coursework that focuses on the theoretical foundations of our programs as they apply to neural development, Dynamic Intelligence, communication, early childhood development, etiology and pathogenesis and myths vs. science. The following topics are covered through lecture, role play, analysis and discussion:

  • Autism Pathogenesis
  • Dynamic Intelligence
  • Goals and Objectives of The Family Consultation Program
  • The RDI® Learning Community and peer support
  • General consulting principles
  • Productive client communication: maintaining boundaries, scheduling, developing responsibility contracts, sensitive clinical interviewing, avoiding the ‘instant expert’ trap
  • Guiding opportunities: choosing activities, role authenticity, mindful decision making
  • Creating assignments
  • Framing, scaffolding and productive support
  • Regulatory patterns
  • Relationship Development Assessment

Button Pro Page-4Professional Supervision: During the supervision phase, trainees work with two families under the direct supervision of an RDI® Training Supervisor who guides and mentors them through 14 projects that take them through the practical elements of what was learned during the coursework.

Button Pro PageProfessional Training Course Part II: Advanced Seminar: This course expands on what was learned in the first professional training course along with what was experienced during supervision. It also focuses on how to create and be successful as an RDI® consultant. Some of the content includes:

  • Dyads
  • Personal accountability
  • Difficult cases
  • Marketing your business
  • Advanced FCP tools
  • Professional goals and planning
  • Ethics and Standards

Recertification:

Once a year consultants must apply for re-certification as outlined in the RDIconnect® contract. This allows you to demonstrate that you are maintaining quality work and the latest mastery of the RDI® protocol.

We know that you want more information!

And we would like to share that with you.

Request more information below to receive detailed information about autism research, the RDI® Program, and an invitation to meet with the professional training director to personally answer any more questions you have.

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