Autism: A New Perspective

RDI® can help all families, and your child can benefit from starting RDI® at any age, but the program is designed to promote growth, learning, development, and the ability to have relationships and perform necessary life skills, and, eventually, independence in adulthood. Your child can benefit from RDI® into their teen years and into young adulthood, if they are not yet ready for adulthood.

In this episode of Autism: A New Perspective, Kat Lee talks with special guest Dr. Sarah Wayland, an RDI® Certified Consultant and parenting coach, about raising autistic teens, RDI® and navigating high school on the spectrum.

Using functioning diagnostic labels on children and adults with autism is damaging to them. Dr. Rachelle Sheely, co-founder of RDIconnect talks more about it.

In this episode of “Autism: A New Perspective,” we continue the discussion about raising girls with autism. Kat Lee is joined by special guest Sharon Sargeant, an RDI® parent whose daughter is now an adult. Sharon talks about the difficulty of getting a diagnosis in the early 90s, trying ABA, and discovering RDI® when her daughter was 12 years old.

As parents, we can use RDI® concepts to introduce our children to more variables and increasingly dynamic situations, when they are ready. Children with autism are more than capable of achieving growth, development, and quality of life, just like neurotypical children, but they must be given the chance - and they must be able to move at their own pace.

In this episode, Kat Lee and special guest Nargis Carnahan delve into the joys and challenges of raising a daughter on the spectrum, and how autistic girls who grow up to be autistic women have a set of their own unique challenges they must face.

In this episode of "Autism: A New Perspective," Dr. Sheely talks about the things that might trigger a state of crisis again for some parents, how to know if you're in a crisis state, and what you can do to move yourself out of it.

What makes us human is the product of our orientation and our engagement with a dynamic variation. So how does this fit into a world where you are resistant to change? How can you help your child, without overwhelming or stressing them out, see the world as something to be discovered and experienced?

Why does RDI® use Consultants? When we got interested in autism, the incident was 1 in 10,000 people, and what we were seeing was parents giving their children over to “professionals”, assuming that anybody would be better with their children than they were. Dr. Gutstein and I never believed that so the consultant model was […]

Dynamic Intelligence is thriving in a world with partial predictability and getting used to living in a world of uncertainty.

Sometimes there is a misconception that RDI does not work with children who are non-verbal, that this is not for them. But Dr. Rachelle Sheely talks about her work with children on the spectrum that were non-verbal and how RDI® can be used with every child.

A lot of people think there's this continuum of dynamic on one end and static on the other, where you got this opposite... That sort of the opposite of static, and it's not at all. On the one end, you've got static, but on the other end you've got chaotic or random. And that's what systems theories tell us, and there are two very important ways in which dynamic situations or systems are different from their chaotic ones.

When you have someone older the parents are often very tired, because they've been trying so many things. It's very difficult for them to dream again.

For some reason, the necessary MindGuiding Relationship that typically forms between parent and child during the first year of life doesn't happen with autistic individuals--but with RDI®, it is possible to re-establish this relationship and nurture the growth mindset in your child.

In the general population, there's a spectrum of people. Not everybody is going to be a college professor, and some people are going to have jobs as an assistant at Starbucks, and other people are going to have jobs as engineers. And so when I see someone who has a job as a greeter at Starbucks and has autism and has a girlfriend, I see that as an incredible success.

With the rate of employment among ASD adults low and rates of depression and suicide high, it's clear that something isn't working. RDI addresses this deficit.

My advice to RDI® parents is to make sure you and your consultant are asking, "How does everybody get on the same page and how do you come together as a family?" Not an autism family, but how do you come together as a family?

As children with autism grow up and inch closer to adulthood, there are sometimes lingering concerns--What if we didn’t do enough? What if we went in the wrong direction? What if independence isn’t possible?--but growth is possible into adulthood.

RDI® focuses on well-being in children with Autism, rather than assessments and measurements, giving them independence and true quality of life.

RDI® is a developmental pathway to gradually moving more and more and more towards self-management and self-guiding in a dynamic world.

For all of us who have had a child diagnosed with autism, we know that they aren’t the only person who is vulnerable in what’s going on.

All of these feelings that accompany a diagnosis of your child are ok. Other parents have felt the same way, you are not alone.

Dr. Steven Gutstein continues his examination of the link between autism and suicide in part 2 of his podcast.

Why the suicide rate is higher for children and adults with an autism diagnosis and what we can do to help them.

When we have high expectations for our children with autism it makes a huge difference. Believing in our kids will help them believe in themselves!

I believe that if we can balance the seriousness of the diagnosis with hope the extended family can become a wonderful support for the parents, but they have to understand what autism really means.

Welcome back to ASD: A New Perspective, the podcast show where we help you understand what is going on in the mind of your child, and we do encourage you that growth for your child is possible. I'm Kat Lee, and in this podcast, Dr. Gutstein continues his conversation with us about adapting and reminds us that it is so important for both parents and professionals to know of the value of adapting for our children.

How do we help our children learn how to change when things aren't working for them? Welcome to ASD: A New Perspective, RDIconnect's own podcast show! In this month's episode, Dr. Gutstein talks to us about the importance of adapting and how to help our kids with autism embrace change.

Do you want to home-school your kids but feel unprepared? Learn how to school your kids at home, especially when you may not know how.

Curious about how memory works? Learn from Dr. Gutstein about the importance of changing our mindset on memory and learning from experiences.

We are all impacted in one way or another during this crisis and dealing with COVID-19 but what if we could use this opportunity with our family to overcome crisis in a uniquely RDI way? Imagine what our children could learn about family and what it means to come together! Subscribe on iTunes here! Kat […]

Children with autism have a desire for everything to stay the same, but what if you could help your kids embrace and even look forward to change?

Static Thinking vs Dynamic Thinking When you live in a static thinking world, things either are either similar to one another or they are different. When you live in a dynamic thinking world things are similar AND they are different. So what happens in a world when things are, at the same time, in two […]

With RDI® all of the simple and everyday experiences we enjoy with our children become huge in terms of their growth.

Dr. Steven Gutstein talks about how what we think we know about autism may not be true and gives a new definition to help us redefine autism.

Do you have dreams for your child with autism? Dr. Rachelle Sheely talks about how we should never limit the dreams we have for our kids, autism or not, and how to help put them on a path to independence from a young age.

What we find is that through that more deliberative process of bookmarking, reviewing, constructing, saving, organizing...we also strengthen that encouragement to intuitively recognize something when we see it.

In RDI, we really believe in parents and we also believe that there is a developmental structure inherent in the way children are raised worldwide. And that just because that's difficult for parents who have a child on the spectrum, it doesn't mean it's impossible.

When the foundations of Dynamic Intelligence are set in place, the child begins to use their mind as a very powerful tool.

This idea of independence is one that we sometimes skirt because we get caught up in the daily routine of the things that we're teaching or the things that we're doing, or I think we get caught up in avoiding it because we worry about it so much. We're afraid to face it.

One of the critical roles of being a parent is to be a mind guide. We know that. And if you have a child with autism, you can't do it until we help you to develop this and to help the child activate that growth, so you can begin to feel comfortable with it to start orienting more.

One of the things at the Pan African Congress For Autism that impressed me and really didn't surprise me was that parents and professionals alike had the same concern when they were thinking about the individuals that they deal with who were on the spectrum and their families.

Traditional static intelligence is necessary, but it's not sufficient to function in our modern world, which is complex and dynamic in nature.

I think the important thing for anybody who is either giving the diagnosis or working with a newly diagnosed family is to help parents know that there's a beginning point, and that that beginning point is almost always the same

We need to teach children to reflect and you know, that's so much a part of our program to be able to bookmark something, maybe something that doesn't work or maybe something that does work. We have a whole lot of work on that.

Dr. Sheely discusses the value of parents in developing a child's sense of self.

Dr. Gutstein breaks down the complexities of Theory of Mind.

Find hope in the new year with the RDI® remediation model.

Dr. Gutstein talks research, dynamic intelligence and going into the future.

Because your role has become the role of a compensator and not a guide, you start compensating for more and more things and sometimes children grow past the need for compensation.

I haven't found one paper written, and I've read everything, that talks about the potential for remediation of these areas: of neural remediation, of psychosocial remediation. Not one. It's all about can we teach people other ways of functioning, or just neglecting it completely and not even thinking about it.

They doubt their own inside voice and they doubt their own competence. They don't doubt their competence with their other children, but autism is a wedge, it's like a wedge with glue, and it drives families apart.

One of the things we do when we are forming experience representations are always doing enactments. We're not using narrative words, we're doing enactments.

What I liked about the conversation was that these six things show a self-reflection, they show the hard work he's done, they actually kind of document the guiding relationship he had with his parents.

When we're using our body, we tend to use that part of the brain that manages experiences. Many people with Autism have been taught to use language as a task. As a performance-based measure. They wind up losing the sense of experience. The sense of flow with other people.

The whole point of RDI is that we want our children to become independent in the way that they're going to become independent is by learning to think and to use their brains in a way that they need to be used.

The main obstacle if you're a parent is that your child is not coming to you with the excitement, the motivation to grow. But RDI can help.

In RDI we believe there is a parallel process between the consultant and the parent, and the parent and the child... We're giving them the tools so they can begin to think of their own objectives, they can come up with them.

There's still an implicit assumption that people with Autism have to fake it, or that if you just get them to behave a certain way, that that's a sign of great progress. We have to change it.

Sometimes when an autism diagnosis comes in, there’s a veil that falls over our dreams. Will there be hope again?

Gestures and Autism: The Importance of SELF Communication

Sometimes. we help our children too much. This podcast is a great reminder to always focus on where we want our children to be at age 21, and how to get them there.

Dr. Steven Gutstein explains how the RDI Model doesn't teach skills, but improves the brain's ability to function in a way that leads to more successful outcomes.

Dr. Rachelle Sheely continues her discussion on the crisis after a diagnosis and finding hope with RDI.

There are differences in how children with autism develop, but there is hope for growth and connection with RDI.

Dr. Rachelle Sheely speaks directly to parents about how to move forward after an autism diagnosis.

Autism, social relationships, and relating to the self.

Why we should have great expectations for autistic children.

Age or growth. What is the most important thing to look at when evaluating progress?

Dr. Rachelle Sheely talks about how we SHOULD have great expectations & dreams for our children with autism.

Dr. Gutstein talks about the importance of placing high expectations on our children in order to see growth.

Join Dr. Gutstein and Kat Lee as they talk about the KEY to RDI: Your child and growth.

Listen as Dr. Gutstein gives words of hope for parents of children with autism in the new year.

Dr. Gutsein continues his series, The Heart of RDI®

Dr. Gutstein continues his talk on "The Heart of RDI®"

Parents, Anxiety and the Guiding Relationship

The Heart of RDI®

Is there a time when treatment for autism is no longer viable?

RDI® Goals for children, parents and professionals.

How does Dynamic Intelligence help in treating autism?

Dynamic Intelligence is imperative to quality of life, whether you are on the spectrum or not.

How necessary is Dynamic Intelligence for our children?

When your child with ASD is trying to control his environment (either his parents or the world around him) what does it mean?

Dr. Steven Gutstein explains why parents are the most important factor in their child's treatment.

Why do we feel so incompetent at times and how do we become empowered as parents again?

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein talks about activities with children and the problems parents can have coming up with ideas to engage their children with autism.

Join Dr. Steven Gutstein as he continues his podcast series: Common Concerns for Parents. This week, Dr. Gutstein talks about RDI® Consultants and their importance to the program.

This week, Dr. Gutstein of RDI® starts podcast series: Common Concerns for Parents: Self Stim and More

In this episode of “ASD: A New Perspective”, Dr. Steven Gutstein RDI® continues his discussion on co-occurring conditions and how they relate to our children's behaviour.

In this episode of "ASD: A New Perspective", Dr. Steven Gutstein continues his discussion on co-occurring conditions by talking about behaviour as it relates to autism.

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein continues his talk on co-occurring conditions in autism by discussing self-stim: What is it and why is it common in children with autism.

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein continues his talk on co-occurring conditions by exploring topics such as eating disorders, OCD and more!

Dr. Steven Gutstein explains co-occurring conditions in autism and how they differ from autism itself.

In this episode, Dr. Steven Gutstein tackles the myth that individuals with autism are not human beings.

Dr. Steve Gutstein discusses the myth that teaching eye contact is the key to autism treatment.

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein attacks the myth that all persons with autism are the same.

Dr. Gutstein shares the devastating and pervasive myth that persons with autism do not long for relationship.

This week, Dr. Gutstein explains the divide existing between autism research and clinical intervention.

In this episode, Dr Gutstein encourages parents that they can enjoy a growth-filled relationship with their child who is on the spectrum.

There is hope for people with autism. Regardless of the vulnerabilities that might be present, all children can become co-participants in their growth and not just 'objects' of our interventions.

A successful Guiding Relationship takes two active participants. But as autism interrupts natural development, infants shut down in their ability to participate and can offer nothing for parents to respond to or guide.

The most devastating consequence of autism is the loss of access to a Guiding Relationship for infants, which is vital for their growth and development.

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein explain what is happening initially in the brains of autistic infants as they begin to diverge from typical development.

Dr. Gutstein continues to discuss the typical development of infants in order to lay a foundation for understanding what is happening to our autistic kids.

In this episode, Dr. Gutstein continues to discuss the similarities and differences of typically-developing infants and those who are later diagnosed with autism.

In this first podcast, Dr. Steven Gutstein starts at the beginning by explaining what happens in infant development in the first months of life.