Being knowledgeable about your child's disorder gives you the power to decide and choose the best possible treatment program.

 

Finding resources and professionals who can help your family and child in Central Alberta can be a challenging task.

Helping your child with autism spectrum disorder cope with day to day life is challenging.  Your hopes that your child could develop real friendships, understand someone else's feelings and manage in the ever changing real world may seem like an impossible dream.  Many parents are unaware that new research has provided some well organized and realistic autism treatment options to consider to help develop the foundations of these real life skills. Every child with ASD is different and may have co-occurring difficulties. It is important, as parents, to take an active role in learning what the intervention options and theoretical frameworks are in autism intervention.

Communication Keys offers a number of services to families of children with ASD and related disabilities including:

  • speech language assessment, intervention and consultation,
  • RDI tm training, consultation.

What is Relationship Development Intervention tm ?

The RDI tm (Relationship Development Intervention) program for children with ASD is a protocol of treatment that is based on extensive research of  typically developing infants and children.  It is a developmentally based program that helps parents learn to give their children a second chance at developing early relational, cognitive and social communication skills. The latest research in ASD indicates the brains of these individuals are under-connected. Thus, communication between the different regions of the brain; especially between the limbic system and the pre-frontal cortex is very poor. These two brain centers deal with emotions, attention, information interpretation, planning and decision making as well as many other functions.

This under-connectivity makes dynamic processing very difficult. Dynamic processing is a critical skill in the ever-changing world. Anyone with personal experience with people with ASD know how difficult it is to cope with these real world demands. It can be exhausting. Fortunately, research has proven that neural changes are possible with the right input.

The carefully researched and well organized objectives guide parents through core autism deficit intervention, helping their children learn the foundation social, emotional and regulatory skills they need to function more fully in the real world.  The child – parent relationship is the key component in RDI tm and the oldest teaching method in the world.  Through re-establishing the child – parent dyad, the child begins to rediscover being with people can be comfortable and a learning experience to share feelings and new discoveries. 

Since RDI tm parents are the primary teachers, they are required to learn right alongside their children so they understand the nature of autism treatment strategies and common obstacles in programming. This means attending on-line tutorials, reading assignments and self evaluation of your family, relationships and understanding.

Going Beyond Compensation

RDI tm was developed by two psychologists Dr. S Gutstein and Dr. Sheely who were frustrated with current treatment programs lack of focus in addressing improving the quality of life in people with ASD. These two individuals  developed a parent delivered treatment program that is designed to help them learn how to guide their child in give-and-take relationships that form the basis for all dynamic learning. Since 1996, this program has provided  treatment that goes beyond scripted or drill based learning and attempts to re-create the foundation skills needed for social, emotional and cognitive development.

RDI tm is Not for Everyone

Choosing RDI tm requires a belief that you can change how your child thinks, learns and relates.  You need to be ready to learn to fail and to recover.  Fortunately, you have a coach to guide you, a trained RDI tm consultant who will help educate and coach you, to help you take back your role as the the most important guide in your child's life. In small and manageable  steps, your consultant will introduce you to the techniques that will help your child learn the next skills and discoveries at each developmental level. You will have the support of a RDI tm consultant who visits regularly and provides concrete steps to work on and evaluate. You will also have access to the on-line community of RDI tm families, participating in weekly chats and webinars with the program developers.