Thanks Mili for the link.

I did read thru it and it does sound interesting.

Tho no matter where I looked I couldnt find anywhere to find a cost or if insurance covers it. Being a single disabled parent. I barely make it living month to month.

Thanks,
Gina Marie

It's the most reasonably priced program available, and for me the only program I've felt really in sync with. The max cost would be $5,000 per year. That's with a consultant. I would, based on a friend of mine, highly recommend getting a consultant. You might be able to go it without one, as for me I couldn't. I really need her.

Now, before you say you can't afford it, which we also couldn't but planned to put on a credit card forever if need be....DO check and see if your school (as with JungleMcButterBabe) pays for it. In our case, it turned out our state (Wisconsin) paid for it.

You get an assessment about every 6 months. As far as I know, consultants will come to your home. I'm guessing they all don't, but so far the ones I've heard about (and the one I have) does. I chose our consultant from the list on the rdi site. She has been twice certified, is one state away BUT the one in our state just started, and I wanted one with experience.

The assessment is the bulk of the cost. You then every other week go to (or if it's far away send video tapes) every other week of 30 minutes of you doing the RDI with your child for the consultant to tell you what you're doing right, wrong, and the consultant is there to answer all your questions. That is $95 for each 30 minutes every other week. So, not hellacious by comparison to anything else I know of. But yes, still costly. Again, see if your state or school district covers RDI. So far, I'm not aware of anyone paying for it out of pocket.

I loved the initial consultation....it took 3 days, and covered things never before covered in any other assesment we'd done. Here is what an assessment covers:

What is a Relationship Development Assessment?

The Relationship Development Assessment (RDA) is an assessment and training process. During the first appointment, the RDA is administered to the child with the child and parent interacting in a structured and fun way with the guidance of the clinician. During this two-hour appointment, the RDA helps measure several areas such as:

Ability to reference others.
Handling transitions and changes
Regulating, coordinating and pacing with others
Level of emotional response and range of emotions
Episodic and emotional memory
Referencing others non-verbally
Attention span
Persistence on a project
Imagination and Imaginary play
Ability to give and receive understanding
Communication style
Integrating others ideas and point of view
Flexible thinking
Ability to reflect on past experiences and anticipate future scenarios
Curiosity

This session is video taped. Following the session the clinician reviews the tape and scores the RDA – this takes about three hours.

The second session is called the hypothesis session. After the RDA is scored, the clinician develops a series of hypotheses regarding what elements are needed for the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) plan. During the second appointment, the clinician and the child go through parts of the treatment plan to see what parts may need to be adjusted. This session is also video taped and the tape is then reviewed by the clinician. The second appointment takes forty-five minutes to one hour.

During the third session, the clinician reviews treatment plan with the parents. The parents, and other caregivers, are trained in the intervention plan to work on at home. The treatment plan is demonstrated with the child, parents and clinician. This session is also video taped and a copy will be sent to you. The total time for this appointment is 1 ½ hours.

I would recommend learning about RDI yourself, and planning to begin in the new year, 2007. Why in the new year? Because they made changes in the way things will be done, as with any good program, it changes and grows...I think it would be better to start with the new changes being implemented in 2007 rather than now. I'd hesitate to buy any materials from the site, despite me loving the cd I can't justify the money for it seeing as how all these 'changes' are supposed to start in the new year. However, the basics and core of the RDI program will be the same. I just love it...even where it has not helped my son at all (yet) it immediately helped me to finally feel competent as his mother. I mean, wow, what a feeling. Finally.

I do still feel overwhelmed a lot, but it's almost completely adhd related, the autism part isn't nearly as challenging to me as the insane hyperactivity, yeesh.

One more thing...someone (may have been you) was asking about ABA advice. Although I praise RDI to the mountaintops, it will not help with food allergies, or other problems along those lines. So, while I do still swear by RDI being the one thing our kids cannot do without, that does not apply to a child who for instance, has such severe food intolerances or allergies that they cause autistic 'behaviors' and once removed the child would no longer be considered autistic. Does that make sense? So, if you are certain your child's autism is of a neurological nature, go for the RDI head on...but don't forget to look in other areas too. RDI is not a cure all, it's not a quick answer, it's just the thing that for our family makes more sense than anything ever has. And I really from the bottom of my heart feel it would be the foundation of developement for every child on the autistic spectrum. But I do not feel it's the ONLY answer, or ONLY piece of the autism puzzle. If autism were a pizza, I would consider RDI to be the dough - imagine a pizza with no dough???

Mili

Dunno how close this conference would or would not be, it's in LA http://www.rdiconnect.com/workshops/...nt.asp?wid=129

It's an awesome conference, you will walk away feeling electrically charged, finally grasping what needs to be done. But, for me, I had no clue where to begin or how to do what needed to be done. Which is why I saught a consultant. Great conference to grasp the theory that propels RDI. It's so simple, you'll keep thinking "why didn't I think of that". But, if you're like me, understanding it was not enough to understand how to implement and apply the knowledge to my child.

Thanks so much for the info Mili.

Im not so sure about my boys school as its a small country school. It is it's own district. It has the elementary school and the charter school that people homeschool from. The elementary school is a K-8th yet only has about 210 kids total. I can ask but wont hold my breath about it. I was blessed that they paid for him to be in counseling for his anger.

I'm not sure they are even convinced yet that he is AS or HFA.. Im still working on them helping me get him diagnosed.

I will work on it tho.

Thanks.
You have been LOTS of help.
GM

That conference is about 8 hrs away at least. I also couldnt come up with that much money that quick. I only have one credit card and it has a 500 limit and it is almost at that limit already from emergencies. I dont have any reliable transporation right now either. My van broke down 2 months ago.

I'm trying to find a van with a wheelchair lift that I can buy or have donated to me.

I'll keep my eye out for another conference tho.
GM

Mili,
I'm in your state and I'm interested in RDI. Although my son is 8 we are finishing our 3 yrs of intensive so we can qualify for post intensive. How did you apply for RDI thru the state? I wonder if we can do both, hmmm? And if you don't mind me asking who your consultant is, I'd like to know. I looked on the RDI website and saw only one person in our state certified and I saw she was new.

GinaMarie, yes, definately keep an eye on conference dates and places. I'm sorry to hear it's so darn hard for you transportation and money-wise. It really hurts, to have things out there that are either hard or impossible to access. I get really sick of feeling like a mule with a carrot dangling in front of my face, that I'm always wanting and can't seem to get.


Mommasboy,
The consultant I chose was:

Amy Arnoff
1108 N. Mill Street, Suite 6
Plainfield, IL 60544
Phone: 815.725.1049
Email: aarnoff@comcast.net

who as you can see is in Illinois, but, it's like 3 hours away so not out of the question like 30 hours or something. She was in one of the RDI books, so I felt I got to know her a bit thru the book (My Baby Can Dance - great book, but, does not tell you a thing about RDI really, just about families succeeding with it). Well, it seemed clear to me she was more than experienced, so I went with her over the only person I saw in Wisconsin (Milwaukee I think it was) and have not been sorry. I called her, made an appointment for a consultation (not realizing our state paid for it) and she informed me she has other clients from Wisconsin who are funded...so, I called Vincent's case manager woman, gave her the RDI consultants number and they wisked paperwork back and forth between them. I just showed up at the assessment basically, and the paperwork technical stuff was taken care of.

Since Vince too is in 'post intensive' we go through a place called Family Support and Resource for any services he receives, in Madison. You must have a place near you, and a case worker or manager or whatever, that he will be assigned when post intensive. Vince has a case worker there that oversees any money I need for his post intensive treatment. In post intensive your son should get $23.75 per day for approved services, which RDI is since it has objectives and progress is monitored and recorded so can be proven....or something like that, I still haven't memorized all the new 'rules' about this stuff thanks to Governer Devilspawn. When your son is post intensive you will be assigned someone you can go to for services being paid for, like RDI.

You shouldn't do both together, RDI is kind of a lifestyle, not just a so many hours per week thing. Plus, RDI is the opposite of a lot of the intensive stuff focusing on kids intrinsic understanding of function, rather than skills. So, in RDI, a child would look at you to get information from your eyes and face, after it has become a natural reaction they have gained. In say Lovaas style ABA, a child would look at you cause they know they're supposed to, but not cause they are 'reading' your face.

If you really want to try RDI, make an appointment for an assessment after his intensive is finished. Find out what facility will manage his state funds, you may not have a case manager assigned just yet. Worst case scenario, the wheels of bureacuracy(sp) spin too slowly and you have to reschedule the assessment for a later date. Do NOT pay for anything thinking the state will reimburse you, they will NOT. Also, you don't have to pick my consultant for it to work for you of course. By now the one in Milwaukee should have much more experience, and whose to say one is better than the other? I was just trying to do what seemed most logical, by picking the person that had been in RDI longer, and with certifications. Also, she has 3 boys, so she 'knows' boys which Vince is 110% boy. If that percentage is possible. She has been available to me when ever I had questions, has a website for her patients parents to talk to one another. I just really like her cause I think she really knows what she's doing. So, yes I totally recommend her, but if you are way further north of me or close to Milwaukee, certainly try the one there. I don't want to sound like, "oh my consultant is great and all others suck". I just had to go with what made sense to me, I don't want to put any other consultant down at all.

So, make a date for your initial assessment with a consultant of your choice. If there is a wait, which there probably will be, you want to do that. Before the time comes for the assessment, you should have a case manager to do the paperwork thing with the consultant you chose, so you can focus on RDI not paperwork.

Hope that helps.

Mili