Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)
Video Summary
Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) is a parent based therapy developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein that is designed to guide and empower parents to interact more effectively with their children with autism. Emil was diagnosed with autism at age three and his parents, Julien and Becky, began RDI a few months later with guidance from Sue Ann Maloy, a certified RDI consultant. Here, she meets with them to go over their work with Emil. RDI goals always focus on developing social interaction, dynamic thinking and problem solving in everyday life. Only a few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of RDI, thus it cannot yet be considered an empirically supported treatment.
"We can do whatever we find is working in a small school setting ...but if parents don't have a sense of competency and a sense of belief in themselves as a guide to their children, that seemed to be the missing piece. l"
— Sue Ann Maloy, certified RDI consultant