Customer Reviews

Relationship Development Intervention with Young Children: Social and Emotional Development Activities for Asperger Syndrome, Autism, PDD and NLD

5 star:		(7)
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3 star:		(3)
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I found Drs. Gutstein and Sheely's new book very helpful for implementing the Relationship Development Intervention curriculum for our son who has Asperger's.

The Activities were presented in a very user friendly format in a step-by-step manner. The corresponding Objectives were clearly stated, and it will be easy to monitor his progress. I know that these objectives will be beneficial when planning for his IEP at school next year.

I've always wished that our son came with a manual....well now I've got one. Thanks.

As a mother of two, I like to help my kids, in everyway posible, to grow up as wholesome happy persons. I have a 3 year old who at home is a normal kid, but at school, parties or just anywhere else she won't speak and is in a constant state of panic and anxiety. I have read so many books on anxiety and other related pathologies without finding a real way to help her. This wonderful program RDI has helped my daughter in an incredible way! She is now a happier child, communicates more with all her family and extended family. And she is starting to make friends and interact with other children and adults just like any other kid. I am also using the program with my older daughter to help her in the building of her friendships. This book is not just for autistic kids.

This book gives excellent advice to parents on ways for parents to help their autistic child develop socially. The principles are laid out clearly and activity descriptions are easy to follow. Unfortunately, for us, the beginner activities are nearly all too difficult for my child. As the book makes the objectives for each activity clear, parents can, if necessary, invent easier activities to meet them. I would recommend it but I understand the authors no longer do, saying that RDI has moved on since its publication and that the book no longer represents what RDI is about.

The title of thie book is a little misleading, as the book is not really a downward age-extension of Gutstein's other RDI book but an expansion of exercises useful for the first 3 stages of RDI. Therefore, it is THE book for most parents of children with ASD, as usually these are the stages you end up starting with/on when doing the RDI exercises with your child. And, having more than double the options for the exercises is very helpful. I strongly recommend this book.

I found this book helpful, but difficult to implement as a program on my own. I spoke to a few people who practice RDI and it seems that in order to really be successful at it, you would need the constant feedback of someone trained in RDI, because progress is very individual. Plus new ideas and techniques have been added and some discarded since the 2002 publication of this book. If you go to an RDI practitioner, you will have access to an entire database of videos of other parents going through the activities. In the end, I used some of the helpful tips from the book; but chose not to go any further with RDI, due to the expense of the program and the progress my son was already making without it.

I'm a school social worker and I facilitate a social skills group daily with students with Autism. I love this book and consider it my Bible for social skills activities. It is based on research, has an excellent theory, the activities are in sequential order of development and short and sweet to perform.

Great for preschoolers with autism who are low to high functioning. You will come away with a least 5 new play activites here that will always work.

Coming from reading "Engaging Autism", Im surprised by the large number of leaps this book seems to take in explaining the core deficits of autism. It would seem that the only problem is that children on the spectrum cannot make friends! Anyway, Im just starting to read the book and will have to comment on this more after finishing the review.
I have to be thankful for one thing though- RDI is extremely expensive! And outdated or not- this book has some activities that (i hope!) will be able to help my daughter progress through the stages. So, Im really glad this is out there- even though most RDI consultants tell you that it is outdated and the research has progressed a lot since the 2002 release of this book. Isnt it then time to update this book? Hint hint!

As you can see, I enjoy the topic of Autism. This approach has more useful ideas that should be considred when working with children with Autism. Although, this is a more parent/home approach, there can be some carry-over into school as well.

My son and I love the games in this book, and we often end up in fits of laughter.

I also love RDI because it doesn't feel like therapy - it just feels like playing! The games are light and non invasive, and don't involve analytical thinking or psychology etc. This is perfect for my son as he tends to think too much about things. These games get right outside of linear thinking and work on relating.

Highly recommended!