n a highly readable, carefully detailed manner, The RDI Book chronicles the integration of cutting-edge theory and powerful clinical tools resulting in a program that has provided new hope to thousands of families with an ASD child. Dr. Gutstein describes the process in which parents are empowered and carefully trained by skilled professional consultants, to guide the cognitive, social and emotional development of their children. Through the framework of a unique dynamic intelligence curriculum, children become motivated to seek out new challenges and overcome their fear of change. Based on over ten years of research, Dr. Gutstein honors the delicate choreography critical for children of all ages to grow into independent, emotionally connected, responsible adults. The RDI Book is a landmark publication demonstrating how every family can apply their inherent wisdom and courage to attain success.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
From our perspective, this book comes as a most welcome up-to-date overview of the thinking and practice of this original and potentially revolutionary therapeutic approach to intervention with families who have a child on the autism spectrum. In the RDI Book, Dr Steven Gutstein writes in a style that is admirably accessible and engaging but not at all simplistic, deeply thoughtful and academically informed but neither pretentious nor abstruse, and therapeutically illuminating (indeed inspiring) but nowhere prescriptive nor formulaic. He offers a vision of the interpersonal grounding for communication and mental development development that he relates to the functioning of our dynamic brains and moves with ease between an account of typical early development and a subtle yet powerful analysis of the difficulties faced, but also the opportunities presented, in fostering development among children with autism. Through the committed and rigorous application of developmental principles underpinning guided participation to forge new pathways for individuals on the autism spectrum, the author not only provides an invaluable guide to parents and other caregivers or professionals seeking to help affected children, but also enables us all to appreciate what autism really means. This is a wonderful and often moving book about a hugely significant approach to parent-led intervention for children with autism. R.Peter Hobson, Tavistock Professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the University of London. --Peter Hobson, Tavistock Professor of Developmental Psychology in the University of London
The major contribution of this book for working with people diagnosed with ASD is the focus on dynamic intelligence as distinct from static skills. The review of dynamic processes is well grounded in current research and clearly points to the promotion of quality of life and the building of family strengths and supports as the primary treatment goal. The book also integrates relationship development models showing the importance of co-regulation and bridging as dynamic processes that foster and sustain dynamically adaptive ways of relating to the world. Alan Fogel Department of Pscyhology University of Utah --Alan Fogel, Department of Pscyhology, University of Utah
It is a great work. I am pleased to see how RDI is maturing and becoming a theoretical and pratical approach. May things I like about the book: it describes social development in ways that every parent should understand; it focuses on the parents as the main therapists; the consultant role has expanded to include both hands-on help and help through the internet; the possibility for parents to send short clips of interactions with their child to the internet site, where they can be viewed by the therapist; the succinct and accurate presentation of the shortcomings of some of the ABA approaches. All in all a really great book. Peter Tanguay, MD Ackerly Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University of Louisville --Peter Tanguay, MD, Ackerly Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Louisville
The major contribution of this book for working with people diagnosed with ASD is the focus on dynamic intelligence as distinct from static skills. The review of dynamic processes is well grounded in current research and clearly points to the promotion of quality of life and the building of family strengths and supports as the primary treatment goal. The book also integrates relationship development models showing the importance of co-regulation and bridging as dynamic processes that foster and sustain dynamically adaptive ways of relating to the world. Alan Fogel Department of Pscyhology University of Utah --Alan Fogel, Department of Pscyhology, University of Utah
It is a great work. I am pleased to see how RDI is maturing and becoming a theoretical and pratical approach. May things I like about the book: it describes social development in ways that every parent should understand; it focuses on the parents as the main therapists; the consultant role has expanded to include both hands-on help and help through the internet; the possibility for parents to send short clips of interactions with their child to the internet site, where they can be viewed by the therapist; the succinct and accurate presentation of the shortcomings of some of the ABA approaches. All in all a really great book. Peter Tanguay, MD Ackerly Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University of Louisville --Peter Tanguay, MD, Ackerly Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Louisville
About the Author
Dr. Steven Gutstein earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University and conducted his Internship and Post-Doctoral work at Rutgers Medical School. Between 1979 and 1987, he served as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School. During this tenure, Dr. Gutstein also served as the Director of Psychology for Texas Children s Hospital and Director of Family Therapy Training for the Baylor College of Medicine. Prior to focusing his efforts on remediating Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dr. Gutstein was recognized as a nationally renowned developer of innovative clinical programs for children and teens with high-risk conditions. In 1983, he received the largest grant ever awarded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, to develop family-based intervention programs for severely suicidal youth. He has developed innovative, family-based programs for children with various medical conditions and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders. He has also developed school programs for children with problems related to Executive Functioning. Since 1995 Steve and his wife, Dr. Rachelle Sheely, have served as the co-directors of RDIconnect, in Houston, Texas, which provides training and support to thousands of professionals and families around the world. He is also the Director of the Relationship Development Research Institute and the Gilbert Hall School in Los Angeles, California.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's the elephant's trunk!,
This review is from: The RDI Book: Forging New Pathways for Autism, Asperger's and PDD with the Relationship Development Intervention Program (Perfect Paperback)
This is my modern day, autism-equivalent to the old parable about the blind men and the elephant.
Five autism experts go on an outing to the mall with a parent. First they head to the food court for lunch, then to various stores. Everything seems to be going well, when suddenly the boy throws himself to the ground in an all-out meltdown, wailing and pounding the floor with his fists, maybe even hitting his own head. RDI expert: He's experiencing too much uncertainty. Did you notice this started when we came into a store he'd never been inside before? Clearly, we need to work on his ability to handle frustration and uncertainty through RDI exercises. Sensory-motor expert: He's experiencing auditory overload. Did you notice this started when we walked by that high pitched security alarm? Clearly, we need to work on sensory integration exercises to help him handle this overload. ABA expert: This is an escape behavior. Did you notice this started when we came into a clothing store - the other spots in the mall were reinforcing. The food, the escalators, the toy store. Clearly, we need to work out a behavior plan to extinguish this behavior. Floortime expert: Great! He's moving into a developmental level where he's able to express his will. Think terrible two's. Clearly, we should take him home and do more Floortime until he moves to the NEXT level. Nutritional expert: His behavior is the result of something in that lunch. Did you notice the timing - it would be hitting his bloodstream right about now. Clearly, we need to do some testing to eliminate... In unison: Uh oh. Cut to mom, who is now banging HER head into the floor... My very elongated point is that I will say what I've said about every other good therapy book I've reviewed - a nice piece of the puzzle. Now. for those who want the boring specifics as I think they pertain to various children, see below: Pros: - One of the few programs that addresses very important skills (relating to others, empathy, reading people, imagination, problem solving, etc.)... well, honestly, I guess I should finish this sentence with "at all". Sadly, a lot of programs for developmental disorders don't go too far beyond the basics - ABCs, 123s, life skills, early language skills, that sort of thing. - I believe that, for the most part, the brain is very task specific. We learn mostly by "doing", especially early in life. Yet, we often try to teach social and cognitive skills using things like worksheets alone - what should the boy in the picture say to his friend, etc., and expect it to carry over to "real life". These exercises may serve a purpose, but to really learn social and cognitive skills, I think you need to use them in context. - RDI is sort of the anti-ABA. This is good and bad (see below): ABA tends to focus on the tangible and concrete, so the skills I mentioned above are often neglected. Also, ABA tends to treat all behaviors as falling into a few narrowly defined categories (escape, avoidance, etc.) and deals with all behaviors in pretty similar ways (ignore it, reinforce something else, etc.) These techniques may be ok early on - you don't work on verbally problem solving a temper tantrum with your toddler, after all - but past a point they seem to inhibit the development of important skills like self talk, problem solving, self regulating, etc. Cons: - Maybe this is just me, because other people don't seem to echo the sentiment, but I find RDI frustratingly vague at times. I see a lot of terms thrown around - guided participation, frameworks, emotion sharing, variations, co-regulation, coordination, etc. - but not a lot of specific definitions and criteria. Yes, I'm sure many people would laugh, roll their eyes at me, and say "Oh, you're one of those people, huh?" I'm sorry, though, I just can't get past that. What, specifically, in measurable terms, constitutes Good Guided Participation, or an instance of "rapid co-regulation"? I feel like RDI is a lot of "You'll know it when you see it", which is fine for some people, but it leaves me feeling directionless. Give me a concrete goal and concrete criteria for measuring that goal, because my idea of co-regulation might not be your idea of co-regulation. - I feel like there are parts of RDI that have to just "happen", with little or no way to prompt them if they don't. For example, face to face emotion sharing - what happens if the child doesn't "emotion share" with you? Say you set up a great environment, great activity, build anticipation, and - ta da! - at the proper moment you stay in the child's line of vision and emotion share your heart out... and the child just stares at you, or stares past you at a spot on the wall. My guess is that RDI would say go back and work on more basic skills, but when you get back to emotion sharing, the same point still holds. It's entirely possible that the child is not going to emotion share back, and there's really no way to prompt this skill and then fade your cues - if the child doesn't do it they don't do it, and then what? My sense is that RDI doesn't like prompting, which is fine - but what do you do when something just "doesn't happen?" - RDI is sort of the anti-ABA. This is good and bad (see above): RDI doesn't, in my opinion, really allow for the idea that children with autism Just Aren't Interested in certain things to the degree that typical children are. Maybe RDI will acknowledge this, with the assumption that there is something "blocking" the child's natural interest, that if we can remove this block the interest will return. I say, to a degree, social interest is innate. Babies are born with the desire to lock on to people's faces and watch mommy's every expression with rapt interest. There's no "reason" for them to do this, they're just born with the desire, the way a duck is born with the desire to head for water. If a child with autism does not have this desire, or has it to a lesser degree, you can't "make" them have it simply by creating opportunities. I think there is an assumption in RDI that the desire is there and you need to find it, vs. ABA, that seems more geared toward the idea of CREATING that desire through various techniques. Also, while I've said in other reviews that ABA can be TOO functional, I'll say the opposite here, that you do in fact need SOME functional communication. I feel strange doing RDI with children who are minimally verbal, who can't put on their own clothes, go to the bathroom, or tell me they're hungry or hurt. I have to ask myself - what if I'm only able to teach this child five new skills this year? Would it be cool if they learned to follow my eye gaze to the plane above us? Yeah, sure... but I can't justify spending an hour a week on that when they can't tell me they're delirious with thirst. For early learners, the functional is important, and you have a limited amount of time and resources to teach skills, so at some point you have to prioritize. A lot of the early skills in RDI are not "stand alone" skills, in my opinion. They're great if you're going on the idea that they will lead to something else down the road - but in and of themselves, they may not be all that functional. So, to summarize, my feelings on this program haven't changed a whole lot since I first heard about it. I think it's best for high functioning kids, and for kids who don't need a lot of support in other areas like language development. For children working on more basic skills, I think it's fine as an add-on, but you're going to have some big holes in your program if you rely on this entirely.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you could read only one book on autism - it should be this one,
This review is from: The RDI Book: Forging New Pathways for Autism, Asperger's and PDD with the Relationship Development Intervention Program (Perfect Paperback)
As someone who works with autism for a living, I try to read everything I can about the subject. By far, this is the most clear, concise and well written book about autism. Clearly, Gutstein advocates for the RDI method. Most books about autism have a philosophical point of view and its treatment. RDI is certainly a powerful method that all practitioners should know about and be able to use. While critical of traditional ABA in some respect, RDI meets the standards of applied behavioral analysis because it is a functional, objective-based and empirically systematic, observable and measurable method of teaching. What Gutstein has done is to combine systems theory (which is now just entering into ABA, but has taken its rightful place in psychology, biology [and its analog: child development]; physics and practically every hard science since the 1930's) and Vygotsky's concept of Guided Participation (the most universal means of child rearing) and adapted them into an applied, systematic and empirically-based method for understanding and treating autism. If, as a professional or parent, I could only read one book on autism - it would be this one.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, about Autism and RDI,
By
This review is from: The RDI Book: Forging New Pathways for Autism, Asperger's and PDD with the Relationship Development Intervention Program (Perfect Paperback)
I would highly recommend this book for any person who has a loved-one affected by Autism.
Part I of the book is the best explanation of Autism, and the ASD brain, that I have ever read. Dr. Gutstein's information about the brain, dynamic thinking (versus static thinking), and the dynamic brain (versus the rigid, non-integrated brain) is clear and thorough. He goes on to explain, in readable details, where these natural developmental brain functions break down in the ASD brain. And most important, as the parent of two children with ASD, I loved Dr Gutstein's description of the parent-child relationship and it's effect on child development. Dr Gutstein goes on to speak of the importance of re-establishing that natural, guiding relationship with ASD children. Dr. Gutstein's passion for individuals with ASD and their families is unmistakable in this book. Part II of the book explains the RDI Protocol. Dr Gutstein speaks of the parent and child curricula, the importance of targeted remediation of the core deficits of ASD, and most importantly, he supports each stage with a chapter. The individual chapters offer a detailed description of what families can expect with their RDI Program. The details about each program stage in this book give families the information that they need to decide if RDI is the right ASD intervention protocol for their family and their child. As this book so clearly explains, RDI is about changing relationships - changing the parent-child relationship, and changing the relationship that the ASD child has with the real world. As a parent, there is nothing more important than that. This book is able to give a clear and precise explanation of how RDI works and what RDI can offer a family affected by ASD. This is a great book, about Autism and RDI.
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