ADAPT exists to help parents learn more about developmental therapies for supporting children with autism. This fall, Community Living Manitoba offered us a grant to do just that. ADAPT has used the opportunity to create two documents: A brochure for parents of newly diagnosed children, offering encouragement and perspective, with a little advice on how to keep the wellness of […]
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Last May, I shared a list of books that our children have enjoyed. More than that, they were books that led to conversations or activities that we could do together. You can read Part 1 here, and here are some more! Once There Was a Raindrop by Judith Anderson This is one book in a series about science – other […]
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RDI Connect offers a podcast series exploring aspects of parenting and teaching children with autism. The following is an excerpt from a reflection of what autism awareness really needs to be, by Dr. Steven Gutstein. “There’s a lot more awareness that there is such a thing called autism, but there is not a great deal of awareness of what […]
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Nadiene is the mother of two children: Lincoln, who is a nine-year-old boy with autism and his 8-year-old sister Charlie. In 2011 she and her husband Jay participated in the Relate program at the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, which was then a pilot project. Now their family’s time in Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) therapy has ended. Does time spent in […]
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Often in the first years of parenting, childcare takes the centre stage. The things we liked to do before we had children can just fall away. Children (with and without autism) tend to like what’s familiar and don’t always behave the way we’d like when we take them out in new situations – so it’s easier to stay home and just stick with […]
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From time to time, I read comments from parents who talk about combining therapies – they hope to be working with ABA and RDI clinicians, for example. Or they are doing ABA but are using developmental strategies to round things out. It’s a goal that seems reasonable, on the surface. Why not pull the best from each approach? There […]
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Credit for this topic goes to Marlaine Willborn, a retired speech therapist in Winnipeg, who demonstrated the use of ideas from ‘Giggle Time: Establishing a social connection’ by Susan Aud Somers. Play is how children learn, and most adults want to play with their children. Sometimes we can feel that our children don’t really want to play with us. Many […]
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Originally published on RDI Connect. Those of us raising children in Canada are keenly aware of and attuned to the seasons and their impact on the flow of our daily lives. There is nothing like living through a harsh, bitterly cold winter, then being able to throw off our winter boots and mitts on the first warm, sweet spring day. […]
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Editor’s Note: DIR/Floortime and RDI have some principles in common. Both are based in developmental psychology, and both build strong relationships between children and caregivers to help children move along developmental pathways. The emphasis is different, but we appreciate the wisdom both approaches contribute to our parenting! The RDI®program is a result of fifteen years of ongoing development and […]
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