Important Information for Parents Purchasing
RDI® Program Services

As of December 12, 2007, RDI Program 6.0, as provided by an RDI® Certified Consultant, is the only version of RDI® that will considered as RDI® certified services. RDI® Program Certified Consultants should not be providing any prior versions of the RDI® program.

The official protocol for RDI 6.0 now includes some significant and powerful changes that are listed below. Please be aware when working with an RDI Certified Consultant you must be registered on the RDIos™ which involves a small monthly subscription.(Click here for more information about the RDIos™.)

• How to check the credentials of your Consultant
• If you have any doubts or questions about your Consultant
• The RDI® Program Protocol
• Introduction to the RDI® Program Version 6.0 Revision

We are receiving an increasing number of emails and calls from parents who are receiving services from clinicians claiming they are trained in the RDI® Program. We have heard stories of untrained clinicians doing activity "drills" and making the RDI® Program boring, running RDI® Program groups with children who are not ready, and excluding parents from RDI® Program sessions. These types of practices can be harmful to children in the autism spectrum.

Unfortunately, at this time, there is little action we can take to stop someone from saying they "do RDI."  Our response is to ask you to always be careful and check the credentials of the professional you are working with.

How to Check the Credentials of your Consultant
Anyone who has been fully trained in the RDI® Program has received a Certificate in the RDI® Program from The Connections Center. The names of all currently Certified Consultants are listed on our website and all Certified Consultants are re-certified on an annual basis.  

I urge you to exercise a strong degree of caution in working with a non-certified professional. Clinicians who are not trained or only partly trained in the RDI® Program can do more harm than good. Even expert clinicians can provide poor services when they practice outside of their area of expertise. Even with the best intentions they can create for the child an aversive experience leading to the child being less likely in the future to benefit from the RDI® Program when applied correctly. 

If you have any doubts or questions about your Consultant
Some families are working with consultants who are in the process of certification. A number of our clinicians who are currently being supervised are doing excellent work. However, attendance at one or more of our training workshops does not provide assurance that the clinician is qualified to deliver RDA™ or the RDI® Program services. If you have any doubts or questions about a clinician's training or status in the RDI® Program, please contact our Training Coordinator, Ana Hermosilla immediately at hermosilla@rdiconnect.com.

The RDI® Program Protocol:
Essential Elements
The following protocol (including the newest information about version 6) clarifies the essential elements of an RDI® Program so that consumers can determine if they are receiving the services they believe to be purchasing.

How does your RDI® Program measure up?
The RDI® Program consists of the following essential components. All must be in place for the intervention to be classified as an RDI® Program:

1. Diagnostic Evaluation:
All participants suspected of being in the autism spectrum must have had a prior comprehensive diagnostic evaluation. The evaluation should have included the following:
• Comprehensive bio-psycho-social history
• Administration of the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) and ADIR (Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised) or their equivalents
• Examination by a Pediatric Neurologist
• Other evaluations as deemed necessary by presenting symptoms

2. Parent education:
• Prior to beginning their RDI® Program, all parents should attend an introductory two-day workshop presented by Dr. Gutstein, or view a 5-hour DVD which shows highlights of the workshop.
• Parents should attend a 4-day Intensive Parent Seminar where they learn to incorporate RDI® into their daily lives.

3. Construction of an empirical, data-driven program:

A. Thorough Relationship Development Assessment™ (RDA™) evaluations are conducted as specified in the latest RDA™ manual.
• RDA™ results are used for intervention planning, formulating objectives and developing customized modifications for environments and activity frameworks, based upon unique needs.
• RDA™ reassessments are conducted once every six months. RDA™ outcome data is supplemented by administration of the ADOS, parent interviews and other outcome measurement instruments developed and/or endorsed by the Connections Center.

B. Developmentally appropriate objectives are updated regularly.
• Data collection is conducted on a daily basis and summarized weekly.
• RDI® Program sessions are videotaped and reviewed at least every two weeks.
• Progress and mastery of objectives is documented through clearly observable videotaped data.

4. Consultation provided by a Certified RDI® Program Consultant:
Intervention is guided by a Certified Consultant, or by someone who is currently receiving supervision from staff or designees of the Connections Center. The consultant must be highly familiar with the child and family and consult with parents on a regular basis.
• Consultants set clear intervention objectives based upon RDA™ evaluation.
• Consultants clearly evaluate and implement modifications based upon the child's unique needs.
• Consultants regularly track and evaluate intervention objectives.
• Consultants regularly review videotapes of parent-child sessions conducted by parents in the home and provide clear, specific feedback. Video review should occur regardless of whether or not families are being seen for intervention sessions.
• Consultants function as parent facilitators and not direct interventionists, while the child is in the early stages.
• Clinicians other than the consultant, such as tutors, aides or staff should be involved only in an adjunctive fashion under the direct supervision of the Certified Consultant and should not be providing any consultative services to families. Their sole role is to function as “extenders”for parents.

5. Parent Functioning:

A. Parents employ the RDI® Program principles pervasively throughout the day as a lifestyle. Currently this consists of:
• Predominant use of declarative communication. Minimal use of interrogatives, directives and other forms of imperative communication.
• Creating frequent periods of "productive uncertainty" to provide the child opportunities for referencing.
• Reliance on indirect prompts whenever possible
• Modifying daily schedules to leave sufficient room for Experience Sharing opportunities.
• Modification of daily activities to emphasize current RDI® Program objectives.

B. Parents function as the primary facilitators (Coaches) for at least 50% of the formal intervention work with their child.

6. Readiness for Dyads/Groups:
Participants are not placed in therapeutic peer dyads or groups until they are developmentally ready:
• Children are not placed in peer dyads until they have mastered all pre-requisite child objectives.
• Dyads are formed from peers matched by stage
• Participants are not placed in therapeutic small peer groups until they have mastered all pre-requisite child objectives.
• Groups are formed from peers matched by stage

7. Developing Episodic Memory
Intervention plans include specific methods designed to strengthen Episodic Memories (EM). This includes regular episodic memory work that is developmentally appropriate for the child.

8. Emphasis on Self Development
Self and social development objectives are clearly balanced and sufficient time is spent to work on objectives in both areas. Primary emphasis is given to development of relative thinking and executive functioning skills.

9. The RDI® Program is a Primary Intervention:
The RDI® Program is carried out as a primary (but not necessarily the only) intervention.
• The RDI® Program is not treated or considered adjunctive or secondary to any other intervention.
• Participants in RDI® Programs are receiving other interventions as needed, including but not limited to medication, diet, occupational therapy, speech and language intervention and behavioral management of problematic behavior.

10. Introduction to the RDI® Certified Program Version 6.0
A. Defining the Goals and Mission of Version 6.0
B. Defining the process of Guided Participation
C. Defining the RDI® training curriculum for parents and children
D. Deployment of an online comprehensive education, communication, tracking and support system

A. Defining the Goals and Mission of the RDI® Certified Program Version 6.0

    1. The purpose of RDI® is to empower families with a common passion, through guidance delivered by RDI® -Certified Consultants, employing an objective-based approach as part of a highly-collaborative, online community. The community is united in their goal of developing the most effective methods to remediate those specific deficits which impede people on the autism spectrum from productive employment, independent living, marriage and intimate social relationships.

    2. RDI® Certified Consultants educate parents and teachers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and others who interact and work with the child to employ methods of Guided Participation

      a. Parents and other significant adults learn to act as participant guides, creating daily opportunities for the child to respond in more flexible, thoughtful ways to novel, challenging and increasingly unpredictable settings and problems.

      b. Parents are taught to re-think their daily lifestyle, structuring activities throughout the day to provide safe, but challenging opportunities for discovery

B. Defining the process of Guided Participation

    1. Guides are focused on helping the apprentice to learn to evaluate and adjust their actions based upon the continual flow of new information

    2. Guides select authentic activities with meaningful goals

    3. Guides provide opportunities throughout the day for discovery and mastery, through participating with the apprentice in real world activities

    4. Guides provide the apprentice with legitimate, active roles

    5. Guides provide challenges that are just beyond the apprentice's level of competence

    6. Guides build "scaffolding" to bridge the child's current understanding and abilities to new abilities and understanding

      a. Carefully introducing new cognitive discoveries that build upon prior learning

      b. Gradual, careful transfer of dynamic ability and responsibility from the more experienced "guide" to the less experienced "apprentice" (one small step at a time)

    7. Guides frame activities so that the apprentice's attention and resources are focused on the new challenge in a safe manner

C. Defining the RDI® training curriculum for parents and children

    1. Currently there are 1,138 detailed objectives, each containing numerous smaller "assignments."

    2. Objectives are all indexed by Cognitive Tools (the specific cognitive process focused on by the objective), Goals, Topics and Sub-Topics.

    3. Objectives are housed in 12 stages. Each objective also belongs to one of five specific "types": Parent, Foundation, Discovery, Elaboration or Milestone.

    4. Each objective includes a summary, detailed description, mastery criteria and is directly linked to an ever-growing multi-media resource library to illustrate both progress and mastery.

    5. Objectives are all developmentally staged and cover every area of development necessary for attaining a quality of life. Objectives are only available from the online data base.

    6. Among the 1,138 objectives are 48 specific parent objectives, many of which must be mastered prior to focusing on child objectives. E-learning modules are available to aid in mastery of initial educational objectives.

D. Deployment of an online communication, education, tracking and support system

    1. Consultants and their clients employ an online communication documentation system, involving careful documentation of the consultation process and clear feedback provided to clients. This system is located on highly secure servers and only available to parents and consultants who subscribe to the system. All information is protected and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant. Both clients and consultants have immediate access to detailed and summary information of their communication and work product.

    2. Consultants and clients have access to the online progress tracking and documentation system, in which both client and consultant document progress through clear, empirical data.

    3. Consultants provide short, succinct and precise recommendations so that clients have greater success applying methods to their daily lives. Recommendations (termed "feedbacks") are geared towards influencing the client's analysis, observation, reflection and problem-solving abilities.

    4. Consultants and parents have the ability to use webcams and camcorders on an online basis, to provide video feedback on a short term basis, thus dramatically increasing the effectiveness of consultation communication

    5. An online multi-media resources library has been deployed, enabling consultants and parents access to thousands of video resources linked directly to objectives. Consultants are also able to make continuous contributions of assignments and video examples to the resources library thus adding dramatically to its size and effectiveness

    6. An online "E-Learning" system has been deployed, consisting of multi-media presentations, numerous weekly webinars and extensive archives that create a cost-effective way for clients to attain many of their educational objectives.

    7. An online community support system is in place, where parents can obtain mentorship and guidance from more experienced parents and can collaborate on similar objectives.

    8. An online continuing education program for consultants has been developed, consisting of webinars, discussion forums and extensive document archives.

    9. An online program evaluation and quality assurance program is being developed, in which the Connections Center in conjunction with senior RDI® Certified Consultants can evaluate the effectiveness of RDI® to the community as well as maintain minimum standards for quality service provision.

    10. Extensive online customized reports of client progress, current objectives and future goals are available online on as "as needed" basis

If you have any concerns or doubts about the services you are receiving or the quality of your program, please contact our Training Coordinator, Ana Hermosilla, immediately at hermosilla@rdiconnect.com.