Friday, November 09, 2007

Where Have I Been?
I asked myself why I had not been blogging for three weeks. Usually I have something I want to write.
The thing is, RDIos has been taking up my spare time. What's that? RDI, short for Relationship Development Intervention, is the therapy we use with Alan. For a couple of years, the Connections Center, which is the e-hub of RDI, has been preparing to launch an online operating system. Many features will help us to understand RDI better. To grok it, so to speak. It will also be a place to connect with others who have kids doing the same level of intervention. Every message we send to our consultant will be there as will replies and all videos. We will be able to contribute to a shared library of videos if they are accepted and we want to participate. For the past three weeks, the system has been up, with new features being added and Webinars available to clients and to guests interested in the new system. The free period has been extended so if you are interested at all, get over to the Connections Center at www.rdiconnect.com and look at it.

Last night, I reviewed (I had seen this presentation in person at a 2-day given by Dr. Gutstein) the statistics on kids who are on the autism spectrum. There are many myths about autism and autism treatment which are covered in this presentation. What remains as fact, however, is that there are very few studies to follow-up interventions. In addition, the statistics on adults with a diagnosis of ASD are dismal. There are few available, but those that are show that a small number of these adults hold down jobs and an even smaller number of them live independently. IQ is not a measure of how successful they are in life. Having a large vocabulary and being able to use it is not a measure of how successful they are in life. These are static measures. Few individuals with ASD have a single friend, let alone more than one. Few have married and had children. These are dynamic situations. We need a dynamic kind of intervention which holds out the promise of these quality of life measures for our son.

My son is not slow to learn in most areas that are measured. He has never had an IQ test. However, people who know him say he is smart. Yes, he does know a lot of things. What he does not know is how to relate to people in a way that will keep them interested in him and not put them off even being in his presence. That's why I am excited about having so much more of the essence of RDI available to his dad and me to incorporate into our lives.

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1 Comments:

Blogger walking said...

I am so glad you posted! I think it is wonderful you are getting a lot out of RDI-os!

One thing I like about what Dr. Gutstein points out is that the kids with average IQs have an easier time picking up social things. That has given me hope that Pamela can improve in how she relates to people over the long haul. She already has in the short term!

6:40 AM  

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