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RDI® Stories from Other Countries

RDI® in Singapore:

"I do not know which I am happier with–his academic knowledge or his wanting to share with me."

When Kenneth was diagnosed at age 3 and a half years, I was presented with a 3-page list of service providers: doctors, speech therapists, occupational therapists, help centers, daycare centers, preschools and what-nots. I remember getting into the car after our 2-hr doctor appointment and started making calls. In the car! Right after Kenenth's diagnosis! And by God's grace, one of the people I called was Bimal Rai, then an RDI® Program Consultant-in-training•. And he was available to see us!

Being medical professionals, my husband and I are only too aware of the limitations of medical science. What we read up on autism therapy was not encouraging. We are also very aware of the danger of losing the plot in the pursuit of treatments. Therefore we tried to keep in mind that Kenneth should be as happy and natural as possible, that he should not be overloaded with a barrage of treatments, and that he should develop in his own time. In fast- paced, achievement- oriented, cookie-cutter Singapore, the last goal is much harder than you think.

So why did we choose the RDI® Program? We decided it sounded good enough: the video clips looked good, the Autism, Aspergers: Solving the Relationship Puzzle book put forth logical and convincing arguments, and most importantly, it is in line with what we want for our little boy. So we decided to try RDI® for a year.

It's been about 9 months now, and boy, what a time we are having. At its most basic, the RDI® Program forces us to spend time together. And mind you, it's time spent interacting, not working. Reviewing the videos made me so much more aware of the subtle undercurrents going on in my interaction with him. I have a new understanding of him and vice versa. His level of trust in me has gone up.

And Kenneth? He's still a happy little boy. But he's added more dimensions to his personality: learning to speak in sentences, showing a caring side, being able to relate events that happened earlier. Recently, he discovered the Mandarin words he's been learning have an English equivalent and he excitedly showed me his new knowledge. I do not know which I am happier with–his academic knowledge or his wanting to share with me. Of course he's still a work in progress, just like all of us.

And what am I going to do when the year's up? It's a no-brainer–continue doing what works.

Many thanks to Hui Boon & Mark, Singapore, for their story.

* Bimal Rai is now a Certified Consultant.

"We noticed an emotional connection that we had never felt before."

[As educational psychologists] in the past, when we carried out interventions with the children we work with, what we noticed is that they were very good at picking up skills and at a rapid pace. Some were able to carry out academic tasks well beyond other children their age. However, in spite of the acquisition of these skills, we knew that something was still missing.

After families started to switch to the RDIŽ Program, we started to notice a very different type of change in the children. We noticed an emotional connection that we had never felt before. When we watched them in activities with their parents, the activities started to take a backdrop and there was genuine sharing not only with parents but often they would look over at us to share how they were feeling at that moment as well. We noticed that the children were really thinking, not just recalling things by rote. They also started to show consideration as to how we responded and we could feel their interest in how we felt and for some even in what we were thinking. We could see that difference in some of the children in the manner in which they greeted us where they were genuinely glad to see us as compared to those that were prompted or cued by their parents to greet us.

Two of the children happen to be classmates in the same school. We recently found out that they would share with each other their family's experiences when they met up with us. One of the boys came in excited and eager to tell us what his friend had shared with him about what the family did during their last visit!

Certified Consultants, Bimal Rai, M.A. (Educational Psychologist), and Genevieve Chua, M.A. (Educational Psychologist) are our first Certified Consultants based in Singapore.

Southeast Asia:
Think about it, the possibilities are endless for RDI in the mall!!

What do families in South East Asia have in common? Shopping, shopping and more shopping! Even when we don't buy anything, we just love to go to the Malls. Part of it is due to the heat there, because many families don’t have air conditioning at home. The malls are designed to have everything in them, so once you are in there, you can buy things, eat, play games, grocery shop, watch movies or even go swimming!!! When families started the RDI Program in Asia, most of them wanted to know 'RDI things' to do at a mall. So off we went to explore the mall possibilities!!

Parents learned very quickly that a close zone of connection is a must when doing RDI® in a mall, partly because their kids already have their own agenda in the mall, and partly because a mall is a highly distracting environment. Usually parents must begin with holding their children's hands, but quickly they can expand the zone of connection by holding a bag, backpack, or plastic bag together. But since "malling" is such a culture here, we need to be able to find ways to incorporate RDI® objectives. For example, walking is such a great opportunity to establish regulation, especially when we add chanting in. Once regulation is established during walking together, parents can practice experience-sharing communication and initiating joint attention. A few tips for initiating joint attention: first, obtain the child's attention by getting down to his or her level and instead of using many spoken words, slow down and use facial expressions and eye gaze to share your perception. For example: "Hey look!" (wait for the child to orient towards the adult, and continue to share what you see), "there is a new shoe store!"

Other fun things to do together at the mall: learning to ice skate together, sharing a cone of ice cream, window shopping, trying to eat sushi (even when you both hate sushi, think of the opportunities for face-to-face emotion sharing), getting groceries, carrying bags of groceries together, looking for the car in the parking lot, shopping for Dads to upgrade their wardrobe and trying a new place to eat. Think about it, the possibilities are endless for RDI in the mall!!

Certified Consultant Maisie Soetantyo, B.A. is based in Sunnyvale California, but travels regularly to her native Indonesia to work with families there.

Australia:
Simplified Cricket and Rugby Games

Several of my families have been working on regulation and complementary roles and have started involving their children into simplified cricket and rugby games pretending to be teams like the Waratahs (New South Wales rugby) or the Brumbies (Australian Capital Territory). In cricket, they play for Australia and take roles of being the players in the team, e.g. bowl like Shane Warne or bat like Adam Gilchrist. I have seen children and their parents having so much fun. The whole family can get involved. In rugby they score a 'try' and in cricket they try to 'hit a six.'

Libby Scherrer, B.A., Dip T (Early childhood), G.D.E. (Special Education), was the first Consultant to become certified in Australia, which was in September, 2004.