"Empowering Parents to Make the Difference"
What is RDI®
RDI® is a program to remediate the core deficits of autism spectrum disorders and related disabilities. This parent-centered,
home-based program was developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein and Dr. Rachelle Sheely of the Connections Center in Houston,
Texas in 2000. Dr. Gutstein saw the need for the most recent and most respected research in child development and
neurology to be translated into a practical intervention protocol that would benefit the long-term quality of lives for individuals
and their families. The program is based on typical child development and contains over one thousand developmentally-based
and staged child objectives in cognitive development. The program continues to evolve as new research emerges.
A central philosophy of the RDI® program is the pivotal role of the parent in shaping their challenged child’s cognitive growth.
With typically developing children, the parent-child relationship, from infancy and throughout childhood, is primary method
through which the child learns to use his brain to understand the complex world around him. The child learns to trust the
parent as a guide and to seek out the parent for guidance, support and feedback in navigating continually higher levels of
challenge. With autism and related disabilities, this “guided participation” relationship between the parent and the child does
not develop, and the child has no resource other than himself to help him understand the world. The central goal of the RDI®
program is to re-establish the parent-child guided participation relationship, thus enabling the child to continually expand his
or her cognitive capability.
Because of the central importance placed on the parent-child relationship in promoting brain development, RDI® is NOT a
program that uses therapists to interact directly with the challenged person. RDI® Program Certified Consultants are parent
trainers and coaches. Parents are taught how to modify their communication style, interaction style, activity planning, and
goals for their child in order that remediation of the core deficits is accomplished during everyday lifestyle. After parents
master general principles of the guided participation lifestyle, developmental child objectives are assigned.
Services
The RDI® Program Is
• a parent-based intervention program where parents are provided the tools to effectively teach Dynamic Intelligence
skills and motivation to their child.
• about the joy in connecting: a path for people on the autism spectrum to learn friendship, empathy, and a love of
sharing their world and experiences with others.
• about changing neurology: a way for people on the spectrum to become flexible thinkers and creative problem solvers
who enjoy the challenges of change and who desire to expand their world.
• based on over 20 years of research by the world's experts on typical development as well as scientific studies on
people with autism.
• developmental & systematic: a step-by-step program that focuses first on building the motivations so that skills will be
used & generalized; followed by carefully and systematically building the skills for competence and fulfillment in a
complex world.
• realistic: a program that can be started easily, and implemented seamlessly into regular, day-to-day activities to enrich
the life of the whole family.
• precise: a method that measures and begins at the edge of each person's capability and then carefully but continually
raises the bar.
The goal of the RDI® Program is to provide the majority of people on the autism spectrum with the potential to attain a true quality of life.
For a detailed description of the RDI® program, click on this link:
, and for information
on RDI® Research, click