RDI® Relationship Development Intervention for Parents

Where to Start?

As a certified RDI® consultant, I offer my services virtually for families, carers, educators, and organisations all around the world. I serve as a mentor and coach that supports and guides adults around individuals with autism and other developmental challenges.

Wherever you are in your journey, contact me to see how to get started with RDI®! Click here to book a free initial consultation to see if we are a good fit.

RDI starts with parents /caregivers.   

We believe that parents/caregivers/educators are the most important and influential people in child’s life. Making meaningful and lifelong changes begins at home with the child’s parents so that the remediation process take can place.

There is nobody who will solve
the problem. But there is a guide who will help.

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RDI Programmes coach parents and primary caregivers on how to:

1. Empower yourself to become a competent and confident guide for your child and their best role model

2. Understand your child’s learning style

3. Understand your role in your child’s life

4. Use everyday opportunities for connection, teaching, guiding and furthering you and your child’s growth

5. Overcome your own obstacles. These can include anxiety, fears, accepting the diagnosis, learning to slow down and do less in order to teach more, prompting on the right level (scaffolding), guiding a child, choosing the right goals to work on with your child, using the best strategies and staying consistent, and knowing how to respond to challenging behaviours or sensory stimulatory behaviour.

6. Support child to overcome their obstacles which may include improving communication, increasing motivation for learning and engagements, becoming more connected, increasing confidence, improving attention and engagement, better understanding themselves, flexibility, resilience, tolerating mistakes, practicing self-care, improving socially, developing self-regulation and co-regulation, improving reciprocity and relationships with others, and becoming more independent.

RDI goals, objectives and strategies and interactions are embedded in daily engagements, routines and activities thus, building memories of competence and fulfilment and increasing motivation to engage in our complex world.

Working with a Consultant

During weekly meetings I focus on a number of topics to empower you as a parent.

  • You will learn so much about neuroscience and child development as it applies to your child and situation.
  • You will have some time to be introspective and delve into your own behaviour and its impact on your own well-being, your child, and the family dynamic as a whole.
  • We will both actively work on goals identified from the assessment. The process is dynamic and moves and changes as your family grows and moves through life.

In you want to start RDI educational programme training, you must:

  1. Find a certified RDI consultant who will deliver the training for you.
  2. Book a free 30-minute initial consultation with me here to see if we are a good match.
  3. Book an RDI assessment with your consultant.

Now you are ready to start RDI programme training with consultant. This can be either online or in person. 

With the guidance of a certified RDI consultant you will learn restructure your daily life and routine activities to provide safe but challenging opportunities for mental growth. You will also learn to how to guide your child in a mindful way and develop a positive relationship with your child to help them grow.  

The programme is organised into a series of customisable developmental steps so that any parent can learn how to become an effective guide at their own pace.

Assessment – The RDA

A baseline assessment helps me as a certified RDI Consultant to see where things are at in your relationship with your child. I provide you with a few simple activities and observe you and your child in action. This is not an autism assessment! It is our baseline to determine where our focus needs to be in our work moving forward.

An initial RDI assessment is one of the first things that a consultant will do with a new family. It provides a complete picture of each person’s:  

  • strengths and weaknesses
  • possible co-occurring conditions
  • developmental obstacles.
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This assessment consists of select, age-appropriate activities administered to the parents and their child and is followed by a session between the consultant and the client. Based on the initial assessment a comprehensive short-term plan for each family is set in motion.

Common initial parent objectives may include:

  • assigning a 10-minute daily increment for quality time
  • slowing down communication pace
  • removing distractions
  • longer waiting
  • increasing use of non-verbal communication channels
  • reducing screen time for everyone in the family

Ongoing Training

The frequency and format of ongoing supervision for each family is personalised and depends on their progress and specific objectives. RDI is flexible and designed to accommodate a range of needs and ages. Therefore, depending on your child or family needs, RDI can range from one to several years. As your child grows, your RDI program will continue to be customised to meet your needs. 

It is common that parents and consultants would meet with the child either face-to-face or on Zoom consultations. To help parents understand their goals and objectives, a consultant might utilise modelling, role playing, planning ahead, watching video clips of daily interactions as well as direct work during follow up sessions. 

Increasingly, geography is not an issue for consultants and families who can utilise the RDIconnect® Learning Community, which is a private platform used to organise ongoing communication, video submissions, current and future objectives and yearly assessment findings. In addition, parents have access to a video library containing samples of RDI® work donated by other families, webinars on a variety of topics and ongoing discussion groups with other parents.

How often do you meet the consultant?

Typically, online parent consultations will be 4 hours per month for the first six months (once per week). Following this period, you may see your consultant less frequently.

To start with RDI educational programme, you need:

  • RDI Assessment
  • Book meetings with your consultant

 

  • RDI website subscription – Membership to the RDI learning community is required for participation in the RDI programme.
  • Access to reliable and fast broadband
  • Access to a video camera or smart phone with video capacity and a tripod.

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