what is RDI?

The Relationship Development Intervention ® Program (RDI®) is based on 30 years of research in developmental psychology and 20 years of autism research.

Relationship Development Intervention® is an intervention that replicates and gives children a second chance at achieving typical developmental milestones. Each child’s current developmental status is established through the Relationship Development Assessment with supporting evidence provided by parents through further age appropriate assessment devices including the Relationship Development Questionnaire and Flexibility Questionnaire. By identifying the child's current developmental level and then analysing and breaking down the missing milestones into achievable objectives, children and families are guided to achieve these milestones. Each child is then provided with a tailored plan that identifies their current zone of proximal development and specific intermediate objectives set to guide the child through the missed stages of typical development.

Relationship Development Intervention® relies strongly on the family unit to provide the natural developmental environment crucial to replicating the missed stages of typical development. Every Relationship Development Intervention® programme commences with intensive parent training sessions to educate each child’s parents and through them, the rest of the family unit (siblings, grandparents and other carers) in appropriate techniques and modifications to create an environment conducive to the developmental teaching core to the Relationship Development Intervention® programme. Parents are educated in daily assessment of the child’s abilities and evaluation of the zone of proximal development as effected by the particular environmental demands and establishment of suitable scaffolding techniques to then promote the child’s development.

The RDI® program specialises in empowering parents to become skilled in guiding their child with ASD to learn and develop skills to deal with ‘real world’ situations.  Parents are taught the necessary skills to highlight and spotlight the important information in each interaction to provide constant learning opportunities to their child. Due to the high degree of parental involvement in the programme, one of the fundamental strengths of the family involvement in the Relationship Development Intervention® approach is its portability to children and families in remote areas with consistent delivery of the programme and subsequent consistency in outcomes achieved. As the RDI® program has a strong emphasis on guiding parents, the overall wellbeing of their parents and carers for the child with ASD is improved.  Parents feel less stressed, more skilled and have a great understanding of how they can help their child. RDI® is a parent empowering program which is time and cost effective.  Parents are readily available guides for their child and can use every opportunity available to remediate autism and guide their child in everyday life. 

Studies have shown that children who participated in RDI® became ‘significantly more socially related, engaged in more reciprocal communication, functioned in school settings with less adult participation, and were perceived by parents as behaving in a dramatically more flexible and adaptive manner. Children who have access to the RDI® program improve in their ability to relate to others which makes life less stressful for themselves and their families.

The RDI® program also addresses the various behavioural needs of a child with autism to become better regulated to engage with their family and community.  The program will provide key learning for parents in understanding the deficits of autism and how this affects the child’s learning and how to intervene in creating new ways of learning for the child.  Consultants will carefully guide parents through the program incorporating education, understanding what their role is to be a guide to their child, planning their program and engaging in the most appropriate therapy services for their child.  This is achieved through regular, planned and implemented assessments which can intricately evaluate the engagement and learning opportunities for the parents and child as well as ongoing consultation with the family through weekly guidance of their program.  This guidance may consist of but is not limited to face-to-face consultations with the parents or parents and child, video review, journal review, phone consultations, in-office, at home, in early childhood settings and in the community. The child receives on going daily intervention through their parent receiving more than the minimal standard set as recommended by Roberts, Pryor et al (2006) of 20 hours per week.