FOR SOME FAMILIES, AT-HOME THERAPY, LED BY PARENTS AS PRIMARY THERAPISTS, BECAME A NECESSITY DURING LOCKDOWN. RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT INTER- VENTION IS A HOME-BASED, POTENTIALLY EFFECTIVE TREATMENT THAT MAY HELP PARENTS PROMOTE DYNAMIC INTELLIGENCE, SOCIAL SKILLS, AND FLEXIBILITY IN THEIR AUTISTIC CHILDREN.

By Yolande LOFTUS, BA, LLB

Banana bread, zooming (that’s a verb now) in pajama bottoms, and doing everything from home is the microscopically thin silver lining to this cumulonimbus pandemic cloud hanging over us. For some parents, with kids on the spectrum, doing everything from home includes taking a leading role in their child’s therapy and treatment sessions.

Parent-led therapy or intervention is nothing new, but it did gain traction during lockdown when many parents were forced to take charge of their kids’ therapy and education. Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) is a treatment or intervention that fits well into our new normal, our do-it-fromhome mandate.

RDI is not a medical therapy, rather it is described as a parent-led intervention targeted at addressing core autism symptoms. Parents are trained to take the role of primary therapists in this behavioral treatment that was developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein.