RDI, or Relationship Development Intervention, is a Houston-based program designed to treat autistic children. Many parents and professionals have described RDI as a wonderful program for helping the autistic. Somehow it’s the opposite of the ABA program, but all I can find are glowing testimonials and vague descriptions. RDI’s public website has the whiff of California holistic medicine—is this going to be a form of yoga?

However, my family was lucky enough to get chosen as guinea pigs for a RDI consultant-in-training. She has lots of experience in psychology and keeps up-to-date on autism research, so I’m confident she’ll be a skilled trainer. I will be reporting back on what it’s like to do this RDI program. What matters to me as a parent are improvements in my son’s behavior.

Before you even start working with the therapist-guide, the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) program requires that parents watch hours of online videos about RDI. RDI inventor Dr. Steve Gutstein narrates the introduction to the RDI program with a few Powerpoint slides to enliven the lecture.

Wading through the eleven videos I find some interesting nuggets about RDI and why it’s different from other autism programs.

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