RDI advice needed please

[Blossomhill]

Please can anyone point me in the right direction towards some RDI sites that would be useful.

Camhs seemt to think that dd would really benefit and the person seeing dd actually does use it. I need to look at declarative language and is it masterclass (something???).

Any information would be great.

Thanks :)

The main website is \link{http://www.rdiconnect.com/\RDI connect}. It takes a bit of navigating around. You can post questions there, also the newsletter archives and on-line chat transcripts contain a lot of information. You may have to register but it's free and they don't keep sending you stuff except the newsletter if you want it.

We have just started an RDI program with Ds2. It is quite a big commitment and takes a while to get set up. To get to this stage we watched a 5h dvd, attended a 4-day parent training, signed up with a consultant and have just taken Ds2 for an assessment conducted over 3 separate days. Now there's the small matter of actually trying to change our lifestyle and activities sufficiently to get some results . Some people just go straight to a consultant, although there are only a few people who are still in training over here, most of the consultants are in the states. Monica2 and RnB are also doing it and have been doing it for a lot longer so may be able to give you better information.

The declarative language thing is something you can start to do right away whether you ever do any other RDI or not. You should try and keep your language approx 20% imperative and 80% declarative or experience sharing. So you should try to avoid using too many instructions, DD do this, come here, put your shoes on (although there are times when you have to ) and also asking questions a lot especially ones you know the answer to, e.g. Is the ball green or pink? But also try and avoid questions that can appear imperative to the child such as "was David at school today?". Instead try and talk about how you feel, what you would like and see if the child starts to respond. E.g. Instead of saying "do you want toast or weetabix" say "I am going to have toast for my breakfast this morning". Instead of saying "what did you do at school?" say "I have had such a busy morning working in the garden." etc

Also try and limit the amount of language you use, try and emphasise non-verbal communication - (says me, the author of many a verbose post!)

Have you got a copy of Babytalk? It goes on and on about declarative language- lots of examples in there.

Saker - thanks so much. You are the mn RDI expert
Have read up a bit more and can now really see the benefit of declarative language and how it will help dd.

jj - thanks, will have a look for that

Definitely am not the expert - just one of my favourite subjects . As I say Monica and RnB have many more months of practice.

Can you do your own RDI without a consultant?

I think a few people have but the majority of people who have seen success with RDI have used a consultant. You could dabble in it as a useful tool (e.g. like the declarative language stuff) but I do think it would be really hard to carry out your own program single-handed.

There is quite a lot of theory to it and people seem to think that getting started is the most difficult bit and I think it is good to have the help and support of someone expert. The other thing is that it is very objective based and it is helpful to have someone independent assess your child, set the objectives and tell you when you have met them and you can move on.

There are various books about doing RDI. I would not recommend them as the best way to try to do RDI yourself. The activity based ones are out of date now and also they are just ideas for activities you can do, they don't really explain what RDI is all about. I think if you seriously wanted to undertake a program yourself it would be worth watching the dvd, trying to get on a 4-day or at least a 2-day training and also reading through the website extensively.