The beginnings of the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®) program happened around 30 years ago, when Dr. Steven Gutstein and Dr. Rachelle Sheely began to ask some questions about autism, like “Why do intelligent, capable adults on the spectrum struggle to maintain independence? What is it about autism that sets people up to not be independent?”
In this episode of “Autism: A New Perspective,” Kat is joined by Betty Adkins, M.S., an RDI® Certified Consultant, RDI® parent, and developer of the RDI® Teacher Institute, to talk about RDI® and high school.
In part two of ‘Autism and Parent Empowerment with RDI®,’ Lisa and Kat talk about each of the ‘Three E’s of Empowerment’ and why they’re important, as well as their own personal experiences as RDI® parents and how RDI® empowered them to take control of their children’s growth, learning and futures.
In this episode of “Autism: A New Perspective,” Dr. Sheely talks about RDI® and parent empowerment. So many parents of autistic children find that they don’t know what’s going on with their child’s learning and growth – they don’t know what’s happening at the clinics or at school – and they don’t know the next step, or how they can help, and it leaves them feeling powerless.
Feeling anxious, especially when beginning autism remediation, is common among both children and their parents, but anxiety can have a positive side. It can often make us more responsive and more creative.
Wellbeing is defined as the state of being “comfortable, healthy, and happy,” a simple definition for something that, for many people, isn’t quite so simple. Life gets in the way of our self-care and our wellbeing, and this can be especially true for parents of children who have special needs.
RDI® can help all families, and your child can benefit from starting RDI® at any age, but the program is designed to promote growth, learning, development, and the ability to have relationships and perform necessary life skills, and, eventually, independence in adulthood. Your child can benefit from RDI® into their teen years and into young adulthood, if they are not yet ready for adulthood.
In this episode of Autism: A New Perspective, Kat Lee talks with special guest Dr. Sarah Wayland, an RDI® Certified Consultant and parenting coach, about raising autistic teens, RDI® and navigating high school on the spectrum.
Using functioning diagnostic labels on children and adults with autism is damaging to them. Dr. Rachelle Sheely, co-founder of RDIconnect talks more about it.
In this episode of “Autism: A New Perspective,” we continue the discussion about raising girls with autism. Kat Lee is joined by special guest Sharon Sargeant, an RDI® parent whose daughter is now an adult. Sharon talks about the difficulty of getting a diagnosis in the early 90s, trying ABA, and discovering RDI® when her daughter was 12 years old.
