The Son-rise Program compared to RDI

 If you have asked the question,  what is the difference between The Son-rise program and RDI, and have found your way here, I hope that this information is helpful to you. 

 The reason I am writing this is because even though The Son-rise  Program acknowledges that  RDI has some similarities on their site,  there is a lot of misinformation that they are promoting as RDI. You can check out their page here-  http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/contents/other_sections/floortime-rdi-son-rise-program.php  Yes,  RDI, The Son-rise program and Floortime all acknowledge relationships as a crucial backdrop to the ultimate success of our children.  After that fact, all three take different, unique approaches.  Both Son-rise and Floortime are child led,  whereas RDI is guide led, with the focus on promoting Dynamic intelligence.  The focus begins with relationships, but taking it that step further for the building blocks of understanding perspective and critical thinking as shown by typical children,  is what makes RDI so effective In assisting our children to catch up to their peers on all levels of intelligence ( social and IQ) therefore fulfilling their true potential! click here for more information  http://www.rdiconnect.com/pages/Our-Programs.aspx

 I respect any parent’s choice and want to give a parent correct information… to make an informed decision. As I stated,  this is the purpose for writing this, since I am  a parent who took both her children Through RDI as well as a RDI certified Consultant.  As a side note,  there are many misrepresentations regarding Floortime in this comparison, but that will need to be for another day J  When I discovered the incorrect information on the Autism treatment of America site,  I did email Mr Kaufman.   I asked for Mr. Kaufman to correct the information he has on RDI on his website which to date he has not.  In addition,   I volunteered to have us both collaborate on a comparison which was also declined.  For this reason I stayed with the basic comparison from the Son-rise site, as with comparisons I like to have a well balanced view from both parties.  With that said, please keep in mind there are many more differences and I welcome your questions or comments. RDI4Autism@gmail.com 

Repetitive “Stimming” Behaviors
RDI	The Son-Rise Program
RDI uses natural authentic activities to create a beautiful dance of Co regulation between parent and child. Central to RDI is the belief that our children want to interact but do not know how to be an apprentice to our guidance.  RDI fosters safety for our children by the assurance that we, as their guide hold the answers to their confusion, therefore creating resilience and competency in mutual engagement.  Parental or support guidance is dependent on what developmental milestone are being addressed	Advocates “joining”, which means entering the child’s world by enthusiastically participating in their repetitive behavior until the child interacts of their own volition. This is seen as central to creating a willing interpersonal connection.                    MORE RDI RDI advocates joining a child in their interactions.  We believe there are many ways to join, focusing on one method called Guided Participation. http://www.education.com/reference/article/guided-participation/ Parent based, guide lead does not mean that we do not foster the mutual interaction and ideas of interaction presented by our children. Quite the opposite. This of course is central to any relationships. Parents learn how to influence their children for discoveries. The specific difference between joining in The sonrise terms compared to RDI is RDI equips our children through an  authentic mutual engagement rather than trying to get an action by following along or the reward of entertainment.  As their Guide in RDI, we reach into the child's world through many different avenues, not just one as with the Sonrise program. This process streamlines joint attention ( as we believe  children crave OUR guidance), therefore affording our children a second chance to gain those missed milestones. We believe our children can succeed if given a do over in a more slow, deliberate fashion.

Repetitive “Stimming” Behaviors
RDI	The Son-Rise Program
TRUE or FALSE? Neither stops nor joins the child.   FALSE. TRUE RDI RDI joins the child as their guide, equipping the child with a role that they feel competent in  to move forward on a joint attention level/  Mutual connecting.  RDI follows the example of typical development in increasing competency for our children, therefore reducing their need to withdraw or escape through self stimulatory behaviors.  We all have participated in self stimulatory behavior at one time or another ( twirling hair, banging a pencil)  RDI believes in reaching in to the child’s world , just as a friend tapping their pencil when you start would get your attention,  and then guiding the attention to an authentic joint  relationship that is based on the very basic Me/you/us foundation ( In psychology this is referred to as the intersubjective relationship). http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Intersubjectivity	Advocates "joining", as explained above.                      MORE  RDI Here is an 1 example of the difference. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more examples. Your child is stimming. You are sitting on the floor next to your child.  In both cases your child feels your presence.  With the Sonrise program, you are to join your child in their stim, for however long that is and celebrate any eye contact, etc. With this process you are following your child, and may be joining in with them for months.  With RDI, the guide, making sure that they are close to their child ( the zone of connection) along with keeping in mind ( The zone of proximal development) http://psychology.about.com/od/zindex/g/zone-proximal.htm  which will gives the child a role that they can be successful in and not want to withdraw from their guide. This is an effective process to draw your child instantly  into a social relationship.  These start out small with very simple co regulatory actions, that could begin with joining a child in their action..moving that to a joint attention activity,  to more advanced actions always just one step ahead of the childs development to ensure that developmental prerequisites are being addressed.  AN example of this would be if a child is stimming within his speech, We will join in with that conversation, guide the conversation to a joint collaberative conversation that promotes thinking, and guide the child to understand the thrill of our Mutual engagement. This system (Guide led) is very precise compared to The Sonrise program where they are waiting for a child to respond positively.   The Sonrise Program does advocate following along in every self stim behavioral ( hand flapping, jumping up and down, etc)  RDI acknowledges for some behaviors that may be counter productive  where the child is in obvious fight or flight mode or there are more reliable ways to reach the child.  In addition, many parents struggle with stimming along with their child for hours, days, weeks, months, waiting for a response.  Within RDI, children respond positively sooner as they grow in certainty that they will not be overwhelmed.  This is just one of the many reasons RDI is so unique and effective in approach.

Red and Green Lights: The Exclusive/Interactive Continuum
Floortime/DIR and RDI	The Son-Rise Program
TRUE or FALSE? Seeks the child’s interaction regardless of the child’s “state.” Facilitators are taught to look for opportunities to create and build interaction as much as possible.  FALSE TRUE RDI  We are looking for opportunities to build Dynamic intelligence.  The description above from the Sonrise site is incorrect and misleading.  For a description of DI please click here   http://www.rdiconnect.com/pages/Dynamic-Education-Program.aspx When a child is in a disregulated state, RDI believes they are then in fight or flight mode because of the unproductive uncertainity that is surrounding them.  This is a core reason that one of the foundations within the RDI program is to recognize this state, and how to co regulate with your child to bring him/her out of fight or flight mode.  This can be one of the reasons that a child is using self stimulatory behavior as a calming mechanism.  We want them to use our perspective, social referencing, and our joint attention as a calming mechanism.  Think of a typically developing baby who has learned to borrow their parents/guides perspective An example of this is here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cqNhHrMJA	Teaches how to see, in each moment, where a child is on a continuum - from exclusive/in their own world (red lights) to interactive (green lights). During red lights, children are joined in their world. Teaching and challenging happens only when the child is giving a green light.   RDI What is productive vs unproductive uncertainity?  Click  here for a delightful example http://intentionalparents.com/tag/productive-uncertainty/ Making it more personal. Think of a time in your life where you were excited about tackling a job or task.  You had just enough support to productively manage any uncertainty that may happen.  Now think about the times in your life where the well planned event or task took a turn and a few things started going wrong, (murphy’s law, etc)  Depending on the degree of disaster J typically we can all keep it together until that final straw that broke the camels back.  Then we slip into Unproductive uncertainty.  We cant think straight, everything is jumbled, we just want to escape!! We have limited ability to manage all that is going on so we our body’s response to protect itself is fight or flight mode.  Our children with Autism are in this mode more often than not.  By our guidance, we are able to turn the tables on their Unproductive uncertainty by again being their guide OUT!  RDI consultants guide parents on strategies to help regulate their child back into productive uncertainty for maximizing learning throughout the day.

Celebration of the Child
RDI	The Son-Rise Program
TRUE or FALSE?  Does not believe in big celebrations of the child (particularly with regard to eye contact) because of a concern about doing anything which might be construed as ABA-type behavior-shaping reinforcement, which is seen as bleeding social interaction of most of its humanity. When the child engages in some way, the facilitator either remains silent or “spotlights” what the child did in a low-key manner FALSE TRUE RDI Im not even sure where to start here!  This is incorrect.  Since RDI is based on typical development, of course we believe in celebrating with our children.  We also certainly would not do something because of fear of looking like ABA.  I’m not even sure what that means?  To separate RDI and ABA,  one only needs to research the different philosophies of Behavioral conditioning vs the cognitive revolution/the role of intersubjectivity in how we think and therefore act.  RDI is heavy on thinking as represented in  the focus of developing Dynamic intelligence.  The core deficits of Autism show that dynamic intelligence is an obstacle for every child on the spectrum. We do spotlight our children’s victories but there is nothing low key about creating experience based memories.	Sees another way forward with a different kind of huge celebration which adds humanity. Celebrates eye contact, communication, flexibility, and engagement as magnificent and meaningful steps toward the world of others. Uses celebration to express a deep sense of gratitude that the child can understand, enhancing closeness and social engagement.    MORE on RDI RDI believes in celebrating with the child in many different ways.  Central to this celebration is making sure we do not rob our child from the competence they feel in an authentic activity by overwhelming them with over stimuli.  An example of this is you and your child are involved in playing or any joint activity.  Using the one step ahead model, they are able to think of the next step ( with your guidance), safely knowing you are their guide and they can borrow your perspective. Spotlighting their success by highlighting the experience seeking and.or sharing that has occurred, you both share those moments of success.  This spotlighting, encodes the positive memory as *US* and builds upon the next step of success.  RDI celebrates Every aspect of an interaction.  We celebrate things like eye contact, etc without calling attention to the action.  Instead we call attention to what is gained in higher level memory building by *looking*.  This helps our kids understand that we are celebrating *why* they knew to look at us.  This way,  developmentally,  the child remembers the success of the action ( what they learned by looking) compared to being rewarded by entertainment because they * looked*.  This overstimulation can be overwhelming to a child but more importantly diverts their memory encoding from their success to now being entertained by the adult for *eye contact*, etc.  This can be confusing to the child in what to actually pay attention too. Think of your own life…  You want to celebrate but in a normalizing way, with plenty of experience sharing and encouragement, not just alot of noise!!  This is overwhelming for most people, let alone children with fragile systems.   The sonrise program does celebrate with children for specific things they are looking for with a lot of bells and whistles and noise. This is the teaching method ( energy,excitement,enthusiam). This first video is how we as parents are supposed to prepare for working with our children according to The Son-rise program  http://www.youtube.com/user/autismtreatment#p/u/130/-DX3dIz0qpo    This second video is trying to divert their child's attention to wanting pancakes.  You will see that the adult is doing all the work in the interaction while the child (played by the adult) is being entertained.  The adult is using alot of language and actions and the entire activity is very fast paced.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKBL42muGkI&feature=relmfu This can be overwhelming for our children and with the delicate state we want to give them every opportunity to effectively celebrate with them and make sure THEIR success and THEIR discovery stays with them!  ( using more non verbals, slowing our pace, thinking language compared to chatter) This second video is a therapist trying to get a child to look at them ( role play). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm746gSqwo8&feature=related  There is no authentic reason to look other then for entertainment purposes. This is sweet and fun, and can be incorporated as play,  but does little to build a childs true dynamic intelligence.  The goal in this video is to manipulate the child to look...Not because of social referencing, but because of entertainment. Remember the visual cliff video!  We want social referenced to emerge through dependable developmental channels the same way typical children learn to *borrow perspective*.

The Importance of Attitude
Floortime/DIR and RDI	The Son-Rise Program
TRUE or FALSE? Values attitude, but does not make it central to every aspect of program implementation.. FALSE TRUE RDI RDI’s focus is on the Guide apprentice model to focus on trust. This focuses on the safety and trust between parent and child for a  developmental approach that is non judgemental and welcoming. As parents we love our children and RDI has a high rate of parents who in turn become RDI consultants, sharing the feeling of being empowered with other families! In addition RDI believes that our competence as a parent can be compromised because of Autism.  Our children are not responding and so we feel like we are doing all the work just to get some sort of response from our child.  RDI has two programs going and are complimentary to one another.  We have the parent program of objectives where the focus is restoring that trust in your style of parenting ( Autism is NOT your fault).  Parent objectives help you to go through your day and determine when you can implement RDI into authentic activities ( making it less stressful since you do not have to be in a room, away from other family members and children for large periods of time).  The most effective treatment for Autism is when it can be part of your lifestyle in home and the community.  This maximizes results!  The parent objectives guide the parent through every aspect of education, readiness and guiding,  along with attitude.  The child objectives guides the child through typical developmental milestones.  This simultaneous, complimentary method is a constant source of encouragement for the entire family..so yes,  attitude is valued in every aspect!	Sees attitude as vitally important, since having a non-judgmental and welcoming attitude determines whether the child feels safe and relaxed enough to interact and learn. It also determines whether parents stick with a program. RDI sample objectives ( taken from Dr Steven Gutstein’s Dynamic curriculum Guide/parent objective Leading through influence and not control Healthy and unhealthy dialogues (Attitude) Participating in a static dialogue that has unwittingly become a "lose-lose" script resulting in a negative experience for both participants (e.g. "Letting you bug me until I lose my temper."), or at least for one (e.g. "I allow you to wear me down once again until I give in"). Distinguish between actions children take to temporarily regroup and cope with stress and actions that indicate a complete withdrawal and disengagement from you. Student/child objective-  Level one approximate developmental age 6-12 months of age Experience seeking Challenge and novelty-  Demonstrates clear preference for activities where guides add small, ongoing, but logical variations, when allowed to assume a competent co-regulatory role. Perspective widening objectives Motivated to engage with novel, but safe stimuli from multiple physical and sensory perspectives. When in new situations perceived as safe, seeks out different  perspectives (e.g. Adjusting  position, moving closer, farther away manipulating objects and other forms of deliberate, meaningful exploration).

RDI wants to equip families to remediate their childs Autism according to typical development.  There are many interventions that look at a child and want to try and bring them out of Autism through a different plan.  However,  we believe that  the most effective, and true to families and children, is giving families and children a second chance.    This is why RDI is based on the Guide model, believing that  our children can indeed be effective guided just as their Neuro typical peers!  Check out this paragraph from Dr Gutstein in reference to  this revolutionary belief in our children..that THEY can be successful right from the start!

Guides make ongoing, as-needed adjustments and revisions to maintain an optimal state of challenge and provide a "safe landing," if the Apprentice does not experience success when taking steps into the unknown. Guides seek to remain on or near a dynamically changing edge of competence: Too low and the child's existing neural pathways will handle the problem. Too high and the brain will move into avoidance or withdrawal mode-  Dr Gutstein

RDI believes the parents are the most effective therapists for their children, and is the only program that has a online system equipped with developmental milestones from typical development for the parents to feel empowered by this information that they can fill in their child’s milestones missed the first time because of the effects of Autism.  RDI consultants provide constant support to families through the online system along with meetings, skype, etc.  RDI does not require the parent to attend a workshop and then give them a packet of information to implement a program at home.  We are a fully supportive program where the parent has access to the consultant as well as a huge community of parents also doing the RDI program at their fingertips.  In addition,  there are webinars and discussions that are education opportunities.  There is no other program that has this level of support.  I have noted on the Son-rise website, because of the incredible support system that RDI provides,  The sonrise program is looking to mirror some of what RDI does in 2012, according to their website. http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/document.php?sectionid=6&documentid=59&/index.php   This continues to show me that RDI is revoluntary in helping our children and the trendsetter for our children, believing in them and knowing that with guidance and support, Autism no longer has the grip it once did. There are RDI certified consultants in just about every state in the US and abroad. Click here to find a consultant in your area http://www.rdiconnect.com/pages/Find-a-Consultant.aspx …and start guiding your child out of Autism.

Comparing static and dynamic intelligence

Below is a chart that outlines static and dynamic intelligence.

Static thinking is what you know. For example, formulas, procedures (like following a recipe), memorized information (like multiplication tables), habits and routine. You will note that much of the static column is what comes easier for our children because of the effects of Autism on their neurology. The Dynamic column is what so many of our children struggle with. Dynamic thinking involves flexible thinking, experience sharing communication, appraisal and self-awareness. When we deliberate, reflect, worry, hypothesize, daydream, and improvise we are using our Dynamic intelligence

AREA	STATIC INTELLIGENCE (Static Abilities)	DYNAMIC INTELLIGENCE (Dynamic Disabilities)
Thinking and Problem Solving (Cognition)	Associative Black & White Detail Analysis Parts – to – whole Procedural Rule-based thinking	Alternative thinking Critical thinking Good enough thinking Grey area thinking (fuzzy logic) Hypothetical (“what if”) Improvisational thinking Reflection Simultaneous processing
Social & Communication	Desire Language Questioning Requesting Responding Scripting Social Rules	Collaborating Co-creating Empathizing Multi-Channel communication Perspective taking Regulating & Repairing
Self	Compliance Self-description Self-recognition Needs Desires Preferences	Emotional regulation Goal-setting Planning, preparing, previewing Self-efficacy, resilience Self-evaluating Troubleshooting

So how does struggling with Dynamic thinking impact learning? Being able to relate to others is at the core of HOW we learn. Babies have thousands of hours practice in the social and emotional back and forth between themselves and their parents. Children with Autism do not have this chance unless we specifically create for them a deliberate way to revisit what they missed the first time.

Without this opportunity to restore their developmental path, we are fostering use of static thinking only and therefore not preparing our children to a higher quality of life that is possible for them.

Comparing RDI and ABA, as told by a behaviorist

ABA/ RDI A professional comparison Therapy vs. RDI Life Style by Chrissy Poulton   MA ( Masters in ABA)


Typically with ABA parents hire a staff to work with their child. These therapists work with the child during scheduled therapy times. If parents work with their child, they need to set a side therapy time & typically a therapy room is required.

RDI

RDI is a parent based program & is not typically done at specific “therapy times.” RDI is considered a life style program because instead of adding therapy time to a parents already hectic & full day, it is incorporated into what parent have to or want to do in their typical day. RDI can be done anywhere in or out of the house, although at first an environment should be removed of as many unnecessary distractions as possible so the child and parent relationship will be central, ultimately no special rooms or environment is needed.

Parents as therapists vs. Parents as guides

ABA

Depending on the ABA program parents may or may not receive parent training. Assuming they do however, the training consists of teaching the parents how to be therapists to their child. They are taught behavior principles, such as extinction, reinforcement, chaining, shaping, prompting, etc. They are taught to interact with their child the way a therapist would.

RDI

Parents are the primary agents for change and do not take on a therapist role, but rather maintain their role as parent. The role of any parent whether they have a child with ASD or not is to guide there cognitive growth. RDI is not asking the parent to change from the job of a typical parent, however, it is slowing down the entire process to afford the child a re-do on the developmental stages they missed. The role of an RDI consultant is to help the parents in the how-to of re-establish a reliable feedback system that exists between neurotypical children and their parents.

Under some circumstances children may have other guides in addition to their parents. These people are called “extenders” because they “extend” the work being done by the parents. One example of when an extender is needed is when a child attends school. A child in school will need an extender to help create an environment that doesn’t just meet academic and classroom management needs but ensures that the child is provided with opportunities to incorporate their developmental goals as well.

Static vs. Dynamic Thinking

ABA

Just by the way ABA is structured promotes static thinking which you could also think of as black and white thinking.

There are correct answers and there are incorrect answers just as there are appropriate behaviors and inappropriate behaviors. This type of teaching actually works quite well for individuals with ASD in teaching static skills as the ASD brain is extremely good at learning Black & White rules, scripts, and answers. However, this is actually reinforcing static neurological pathways in the brain and therefore, individuals on the spectrum become rigid and inflexible in their thinking and they do not develop the ability to think dynamically or understand that in real life problems for the majority of the time do not have black and white answers and tend to fall into more of what is commonly referred to as “grey areas.”

ABA attempts to “generalize” black + white answers to more grey areas but this is often difficult as they static pathways they are creating are difficult to change. A child taught to answer “I’m ok” to being asked “How are you?” who is then asked to used generalized versions of this answer such as “Good” or “Fine” can do so but often replaces he answer “I’m ok” with one of the other options thinking “good” is the new “correct” answer instead of using “I’m ok”, “Good” and “Fine” interchangeably as hoped.

RDI

Because RDI is not a skill based program, it does not place the same emphasis on “correct” answers. Its focus is more about developing the dynamic function of the brain & the individual with ASD’s ability to think like their guides. So for example, if you think about the question “where is the right place for a

box of cereal to go in the cabinet?” The person with ASD learns with the aide of their guide that there are many “correct” places, although some may be better or worse than others, for the cereal to go. It is in many such experiences with a guide that the individual with ASD will discover how to make “good enough” choices to “grey area” problems.

Lacking Skills vs. Developmental Gaps

ABA

ABA would access a child to determine what skills they lack and then teach to fill in these skill areas. For example, if a child was not pointing and labeling objects, a “labels” program would be implemented. Likewise, if a child could not cut on a line, a “cutting” program would be implemented. Whatever skill deficit there is, a program would be created to address this skill.

RDI

RDI is not against skills as everyone needs to learn what objects in their environment are called as well as how to cut.

However, RDI follows typical development to determine developmentally appropriate objectives for each individual on the spectrum. If a person is able to re-do missed developmental milestones, catching up on skills will not take long, however the reverse is not true. Being able to cut does not guarantee you will be able to understand the perspective of another person.

Below is a list of critical developmental milestones from birth to five. What I hope you will see are not of these are “skills” that ABA teaches or that can be taught in a skill acquisition approach. These are developmental milestones and no amount of skills can replace or compensate for these developmental foundations. These are the foundations upon which meaningful cognitive, communication, social and behavioral development is built.

1. Learns that actions can be coordinated with others, but not controlled by them; and that coordinating actions with others is better than acting alone.

2. Repairs breakdowns in coordination with partners

3. Interprets and uses non verbal communication to have meaningful exchanges with partners, including facial expression, gestures, and voice

4. Communicates with partners mainly for sharing experiences and learning about how others interpret the world

5. Monitors interactions to ensure partners have understood what has been communicated

6. Enjoys being with partners that change their actions and routines; does not like doing the same thing over and over again

7. Takes turns appropriately and at the correct time in a wide variety of interactions

8. Understand that perception is dependent on position and person’s unique experiences

9. Recognizes that everyone can have different perceptions of the same item or event, and that all perceptions are equally important

10. Pretends on his/her own with a partner, and can coordinate his/her imagination with partner’s imagination

11. Understands that friendship is consensual, acknowledges others’ similarities and differences and desires to be liked and accepted

12. Develops more than one solution to a problem, and more than one way to approach tasks

13. Thinks about actions before taking them, and can determine what actions are appropriate for the current setting

14. Understands teasing, offers of support, and degrees of agreement

15. Accurately interprets when others are upset, as well as regulates the degree of emotion tied to different experiences

16. Transitions with little preparation

17. Carries out familiar routines and tasks from memory

18. Uses the knowledge of negative consequences to adjust behavior

19. Takes pride in accomplishing challenging task

20. Understand and regulates own emotions based on the current situations, and recognizes that others may have

similar or different reactions to an event based on their personal experiences

Instruction vs. Fostering Opportunities

ABA

Since ABA is a behavioral program and focuses on skill acquisition and changing behavior, “getting the child” to learn a new behavior or cease to do an inappropriate behavior is key. There are many methods at the disposal of an ABA therapist to make this happen such as rewards and prompts.

RDI

The goal of RDI is for the child to make their own discoveries and progress in filling in developmental gaps. The focus is not on “getting the child” to do anything. This does not mean that the child can choose to walk away from the parent, it just means that a parent can’t make the child learn something, they can only set the stage for the learning to occur. The focus is on providing opportunities for the child to make discoveries. At the same time, parents provide the appropriate level of support and of challenge. The goal here is for the child to learn to think not just elicit a behavior. There may be times that the child does not discover or learn anything new because you can’t “make” someone learn something, but through repeated opportunities presented by the parents they are increasing the chances for discoveries to happen.

Behavioral Disorder vs. Underconnectivity of the Brain

ABA

ABA classifies Autism as a behavioral disorder and as such it is treated by increasing the frequency of some behaviors and decreasing the frequency of others.

RDI

RDI classifies Autism as a Neurological disorder that manifests itself in the underconnectivity of the brain. As such,

this underconnectivity is treated by helping the individual with ASD develop these unconnected areas of the brain by building new connections through well choreographed interactions between child and parent.

Good ABA/ Bad ABA

Some people will argue that those people who do not or did not see changes with their children had a bad ABA program. Speaking from personal experience, I was a FABULOUS ABA therapist and I have videos to prove it. The problem isn’t the therapist, it’s the therapy. ABA does what is what designed to do…change behavior. It was not designed to foster dynamic thinking, episodic memory, flexible thinking, problem solving, or re-do missed developmental stages. Therefore, good ABA vs Bad ABA is a mute point because it has limitations and can only do what it was design to do.

Old ABA/ New ABA

Some people will say that there is a difference between old ABA and new ABA. Old ABA used discrete trials, new ABA doesn’t. Old ABA is done in a therapy room, new ABA is done in the natural environment. The thing is however, that Old and New ABA are both based on the work of Skinner. Skinner’s work has not changed and neither has the INTENT of ABA. Just because the teaching method might change or where ABA is conducted may change, the intent has not changed. The intent is still to increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior. It still does not focus of cognition or thought.

Behaviorism( Conditioning) compared to RDI ( Dynamic intelligence)

Comparison between RDI and ABA ( A parents view)

Some of my thoughts with a comparison between ABA and RDI models for Autism

What is RDI  http://www.rdiconnect.com/pages/Our-Programs.aspx

The RDI Program for ASD is a tailored set of objectives, extending from the Family Guided Participation Program and intended to target the core deficits of individuals with the diagnostic distinction, Autism Spectrum Disorder. Started less than a decade ago the RDI Program for ASD provides a remedial approach to this complex disorder.

A comprehensive set of developmentally sequenced steps, the RDI Program for ASD is committed to re-building the Guided Participation Relationship as the cornerstone for neural development. Families under the guidance of a certified consultant slowly and carefully construct opportunities for their child’s neural growth while adding complexity. Over time, parents create a formidable impact on their child’s ability to form reciprocal friendships, mature emotional relationships, conduct successful collaborations, engage in flexible/adaptive thought and master problem-solving abilities necessary for job attainment and success in the 21st century world.

Combining all of our tools with a unique emphasis on the needs of families with an ASD child, the RDI Program for ASD restores hope of second chance for families with an ASD child to successfully engage in this universal developmental relationship, that through no fault of their own, was not successful the first time. An inter-disciplinary bio-psycho-social approach it is critical component of treating co-occurring disorders and central learning disabilities.

What does RDI *look* like

RDI is based on a do over so how you do RDI is going to depend on your lifestyle and where your child stopped developing typically on their personal development track.

It is crucial to look at typical development with autism to identify where the child is on the developmental track. Developmental milestones are stepping stones and without those milestones children cannot progress typically.

RDI is meant to be incorporated into your family and their habits, interactions, etc. Part of the first step in RDI is to integrate that fact into the program. For example, working on RDI techniques will be integrated into your day when you can slow down and create opportunity for discoveries for your child. This is different than a skill based therapy where there is mostly prompting, drilling and imperative language. RDI, since it is based on typical development, goes back to restore the point and time when typical children can share perspective, etc. This sort of therapy is not a set of written skills. That said, RDI has a comprehensive operating system that covers developmental milestones starting at birth! Your consultant can establish where your child fell off the developmental track and start there.. so that is why it looks different for each child. RDI has steps, it is very structured in those steps as far as what to look for developmentally. The context and use may differ because of the child, but the objectives are all there for you to see once you are on the system.

What is Applied Behavior Analysis?

www.shapingbehavior.com/whatisaba.html
The purpose of ABA, according to a BCBA is as follows-

I would say the goal of ABA is to teach appropriate behaviors to help the individual function in the natural environment, while reducing inappropriate behaviors that do not allow the individual to access their natural environment.

According to both the website and the person I spoke to with a BCBA, ABA successful taught my child appropriate behaviors to function in a natural environment. And I would agree with them. My child could function and get

his needs met, but my child also had no mindfulness and lacked understanding the social world. In addition, my younger child made no progress with ABA.

My oldest mastered many programs and flew through his ABA program. We had to create different additional programs for when he got hung up on certain concepts. For example, One of the communication issues I had to undo because of the way ABA wired my sons brain, was that he thought all conversations were question and answer. When he wanted to comment on something he would ask it in a question. He obviously knew the answer so if I answered it the wrong way he would correct me. Then I would need to ask him why he asked me if he knew the answer…and round and round we went.

Behaviorism is based on the work of Skinner ( ABA) VS developmental/cognitive approaches ( based on work of Piaget, Vygotsky and others)

Some thoughts on the two
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_psychology
http://helpingpsychology.com/cognitive-versus-behavioral-psychology



and this one concerns behavioral psychology-

psychology.about.com/.../behaviorism.htm
Criticisms of Behaviorism

Many critics argue that behaviorism is a one-dimensional approach to behavior and that behavioral theories do not account for free will and internal influences such as moods, thoughts, and feelings.

Behaviorism does not account for other types of learning, especially learning that occurs without the use of reinforcements or punishments.

People and animals are able to adapt their behavior when new information is introduced, even if a previous behavior pattern has been established through reinforcement.

Strengths of Behaviorism

Behaviorism is based upon observable behaviors, so it is easier to quantify and collect data and information when conducting research.

Effective therapeutic techniques such as intensive behavioral intervention, token economies, and discrete trial training are all rooted in behaviorism. These approaches are often very useful in changing maladaptive or harmful behaviors in both children and adults.

The strengths of behaviorism, as per this article, is what I would like to comment on. ABA is all about collecting data. In order to collect data, as the site explains- behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. This data tells the story of the conditioning of the child..not the mindfulness of the child.

The Second strength, explains how behaviorism could be useful for changing maladaptive behaviors in both children and adults. Nowhere does this strength claim to help children or adults obtain mindfulness and problem solving skills.

I present you this information for this reason- I went with ABA for my children 10 years ago, because I was told that the * research* supported ABA. I was handed a study done in the 80’s talking about improvement in children with ABA through Loovas.

When my oldest on the spectrum graduated from ABA, with all the same deficits of Autism in the social and cognitive realm ….I was perplexed. Why? I did what I was told would work. 40 hours of an excellent ABA IN HOME program. I was introduced at this point to RDI. As I did my research, I realized that I was expecting behaviorism, to do something that it was never created to do. I wanted my child to be able to think without prompts and reinforcers. To understand the social world around them. As I continued to study, I saw that many children who were Dx with ASD would make progress the first year or two with ABA in learning skills, but then there was not much room for growth after that. Then what I noticed for my children was that the ABA programs turned into trying to get my child to perform like his peers. I wondered how he could do this without developmental foundations in place? I was right…he could not. When I discovered RDI, It was a huge weight lifted from me, as I knew this is exactly what I was looking for to help my children! I needed my children to be able to have the intersubjective relationship that typical children achieve before age 2!

My goal is only to clearly help those who see that their ABA program is insufficient, to a better path for their childs future.

To explain my point further-

Look at this study concerning ABA-

taken from the CF article-
http://www.ctfeat.org/articles/AmericanJournalMentalRetardationNov2005.pdf

***When re-evaluated at a mean age of 7 years, subjects in the experimental group had gained an average of 20 IQ points and had made major advances in educational achievement.

At the time of the present follow-up (1984-1985), the mean CA of the experimental group children was 13 years (range = 9 to 19 years). All children who had achieved normal functioning by the age of 7 years had ended treatment by that point. (Normal functioning was operationally defined as scoring within the normal range on standardized intelligence tests and successfully completing first grade in a regular, non special education class entirely on one's own.) ***

Notice the wording.... Read what defines normal functioning! My then 8 year old graduated from ABA, was 2 grade levels above his peers in most subjects, yet, his *autism was not remediated because Autism is NOT an behavioral/Academic disorder!

We started RDI with my son ( He is now almost 13 ) and we started at the beginning, as he had the cognitive social understanding of a 1 year old.

So their normal functioning is to be able to sit in the classroom and IQ point rose 20 points. I get that...but it is improvement on skills!! Not mindfulness. When these kids attend school all their life knowing skills and then graduate, they cannot function in the real world because the focus was on skills.... ( measuring IQ is not social understanding, it is static skills) If IQ was all that mattered, then employers would ALWAYS hire the person with the highest IQ....Employers looks for someone with excellent program solving skills too....people who work well with people...

There are no studies on ABA following children to adulthood. And there should be, since ABA has been around for 30 years. The studies that are done on adults on the spectrum are dismal…15 percent can live independently. This is not the first study that represents this number. There was a study done 10 years ago with the results just as dismal!

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00215.x/abstract

If ABA was successful for quality of life, those numbers would of reflected progress. ABA is successful in teaching skills and conditioning children’s behaviors. It is time to raise the bar to help our children have a typical quality of life. Employers want people who can think on their feet, problem solve and are good with understanding and interacting with people. That only comes through mastering Dynamic Intelligence.

I don’t think anyone dispute’s that you can teach a child to set the table with secondary reinforcers and prompting. You can teach a child pretty much any skill through secondary reinforcers. You have to establish if you think skills are enough to prepare him/her for life, or if she needs the ability to take on someone else’s perspective.

We want is to foster mindfulness and this will remediate Autism. She/He will not be able to generalize mindfulness from merely learning a skill.

Nicole Beurkens, M.Ed. of the Horizons developmental remediation center has this to say-

When you look at the history of treatments in the field of autism, it has been primarily about compensation. While research on the brain and autism has continued to move forward and provide us new information, our treatment approaches have stagnated. The methods we were using 30 years ago are still the methods being used today, despite the fact that we have a whole host of new information available to us. We now have the capacity to take what we know about the disorder of autism and how it impacts brain function, and develop new techniques and approaches that move beyond compensation and actually work to remediate (correct) the primary features of the disorder. This is one of the exciting things about newer approaches such as the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI)® Program, which focuses on remediating, rather than just working around, the core deficits we see in individuals with autism and other neuro-developmental disorders.

Can ABA fill in the developmental gaps because of Autism like RDI does?

For all the reasons previously discussed, It is unlikely that a behaviorally based program can fill in a child’s developmental deficits.

RDI Mom Tammy has this to comment concerning this-

Autistic behavior is a symptom of the underlying problem: lack of intersubjectivity and difficulty with dynamic thinking. If you address only the behavior on the surface, you are only working on the symptom. If I broke my arm, you would see me behave in a socially inappropriate way: cry, scream, freak out if someone touched my arm, etc. If all you did was treat my behavioral symptoms, you would not be dealing with the problem causing my behavior. That is why diet, sensory integration, etc. is compatible with RDI because they go at the underlying problem in different ways. Behaviorism either assumes autistic people cannot learn intersubjectivity and dynamic thinking OR they are ignorant of its impact on behavior.

Can I just do RDI after my child’s ABA program to fill in their developmental gaps?

You could, as that is what is happening with some families. It happened with my one older child. However it is important to remember by ignoring developmental growth until the ABA programming is completed, you are missing an opportunity to fill in your child’s developmental gaps at an earlier age and you will need to undo learned behavior that will impede developmental progress.

RDI Mom Penny has this to say about waiting to do RDI!

The developmental gap is not that big when the child is young. Seriously consider closing the developmental gap -- not the skill gap -- now. I wish someone had explained this to me. We have not done ABA in 5.5 years, and we are still undoing some of it. The repetition of ABA can build some strong neural pathways that are not natural. At the end of our 3 years 3 months of ABA, my daughter was screaming and frustrated in every session in the last 3-6 months. She was "on stage" and always "performing" in some way, having to have the one right answer all the time. We prompted, managed her, she was passive, echolalic, couldn't "dance" at non-verbal levels - oh, I could go on and on. When I look at video from when she was 2 (we began ABA before she turned 2), I am so angry, now that I understand development.

What are some examples on the differences in actual therapy? The activities are things you would do in your day or with any child. The difference in RDI is the INTENT of the activity. Behaviorial approaches prompt for skills, RDI fosters mindfulness in order to restore that typical development.

Since I have done ABA with both my children and saw results the first 6- 9 months ( Only for the progress to stall once more advanced skills are introduced), I can give you an 2 examples that you may be able to relate too. The first example is trying to get my son to talk.....we had the say program. Say Dog, say Cat, etc etc. He started to talk, and I was thrilled. However, he would say "say" before the item so we had to create a program to get him to stop saying "say". I had to undo the residual effects of learning language out of the order of his development because he would ask me questions when he simply wanted to make comments and he would script because words were merely words to him with little meaning other then getting his needs met. If you reflect on your child, his communication is solely for her needs and not to share anything. RDI begins with Non verbal communication, the same place that neurotypical children begin!

An additional example for me was getting my son to sit down to a task. The *do this* command in ABA taught him that if he does what I say he will be rewarded with an item or to be able to go off, away from me to play. This is contrary to what we want to teach our kids. We want the reinforcer to be time with US and understanding the beauty of the dance of the give and take of relationship. Again, I had to undo the improper motivation that was taught to my son. This took a year to undo so I do not take it lightly! With RDI, we teach co regulation to help a child discover that he wants to be with us and pay attention from intruistic motivation. I realize that you see results from a skill based program immediately because skills are easily tracked....but studies AND lack of studies show it will not be long term results. If you think about typical development, a baby learns from us. We certainly are not offering reinforcers to our babies to interact with us. Again, RDI affords a child a do over instead of trying to build skills from reinforcers outide of the child’s personal developmental capability. Because RDI restored my children’s developmental path, both my children on the spectrum can share perspective, they are flexible, and they love to joke around and tease. My children have typical eye contact abilities. They can read social cues! All my children are able to interact successfully. party my son and daughter had in our house last week…..dancing around the room each taking turns changing the words to the songs to be funny words….all made possible by RDI!

How does RDI foster the development of speech!

RDI honors the child’s developmental track and therefore starts to foster development of speech by making sure all prerequisite abilities are present before talking. This will ensure that they child understands the purpose of language and does not script. Babies, are effective communicators even before they * talk* They learn communication through different channels and the last channel is actually spoken language. RDI goes back and fills in the developmental gap of communication with Non verbal’s, prosody, gestures, and if the child has no language disorder apart from Autism, that child will speak!

Penny, an RDI Mom, has this to say regarding her daughter-

Additionally, Dr Gutstein of RDI(r) teaches us that words are the last enhancement of a very complex communication system -- borrowing a concept from Barbara Rogoff in her book, "Apprenticeship in Thinking", typically developing kids are rich communicators before words are part of the currency of communication.

I was like you -- I WANTED THOSE WORDS. With ABA, we created a one-sided word machine, a demanding little mander who could answer questions we'd practiced but not have a conversation with us. She scripted all the time, reciting lines from videos over and over and over, but there was little real reciprocity.

I didn't realize that we could program words in her without getting reciprocity in the process, but we did.

Undoing that -- we're still undoing it -- has taken a long, long time.

Infants can communicate non verbally before they can communicate verbally. They can think without using words. RDI starts there. When you are able to fill in your child’s developmental gaps, and catch her up developmentally to her age, then she will learn typically. There is nothing wrong with using some behavior modification to help her with a skill as a temporary compensation...but the difference is thinking behavior modification is going to give her the ability to obtain the ability to have theory of mind.

Are the negative feelings regarding ABA therapy just from people that had bad therapists working with their child?

Both my children’s ABA therapists were excellent!! So excellent that when we decided that RDI was a complete program and ABA was insufficient, I begged them to look into it further. As they did, they were excited to believe RDI was exactly what was missing in the life…and our head therapist at the time, started training for RDI and is now our RDI consultant. She is the best of the best!! Creative, spontaneous and she said my son was the furthest she had ever seen with a child…..yet he started at the basic low stage once we started RDI. My RDI consultant has a Masters in ABA….that she no longer practices because she sees the difference! ABA is amazing to teach skills…but my goal for my children were not just for them to know skills…I wanted my children to be able to think.

Teaching skills can be done to dolphins, dogs, etc with stimuli….and it works well. Teaching skills for children have their place, but not to develop thinking, problem solving, theory of mind…I want to build a mind, not just merely have behaviors in place. Behaviorism does not teach theory of mind. The studies show this and there are no studies with a positive outcome for adults with Autism that have done ABA. Since ABA and behaviorism have been around the longest, ( 1st generation treatment options) we should be seeing positive results within the adult community. I know that within the developmental community, we are seeing great results for the future of children on the spectrum….to overcome their obstacles. What we do see as far as the *research* quoted and studies concerning ABA, is that there is improvement for their skills after a year, etc. I don’t dispute that at all. Again, knowing skills is very different then knowing how to interact in the real world. That is why time and time again, clients will say to me, he knows all he needs to know academically, but does not know how to make a friend…. Making a friend and interactions and social competence has its roots in development way back when the child is 6 months old! RDI is about filling in those developmental gaps so that the *skills and social* follow a typical path!

I only realized my son’s ABA program was merely compensative when my son graduated from it 4 years later and had no clue about relationships. he could perform any skill though....but that really does not mean much....in the world. If you are reading this, I get that you see progress because your child can now perform some skills. But if you think long term...you will realize that skills will not produce a quality of life that you would want for your child.