KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsKidSafe - R.D.I. for Autism

Autism is a disorder that affects not only the one diagnosed but usually the entire family.  So when the Andrews decided to fight for the best life their son could possibly have...they did it as a family.  And they used a relatively new therapy called Relationship Development Intervention or R.D.I.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/print/node/139
 
"R.D.I. is for people anywhere on the spectrum and it is never too late to start. Even adults with Asperger's make wonderful gains using R.D.I.," says Chresta Ambers a Certified R.D.I. Consultant.
 
Relationship Development Intervention looks to help autistic children learn flexibility in a world where everything is uncertain, "She would hand him a piece and put it in the basket all of a sudden she puts it up on her head it's a surprise it's not the exact same thing...it's just tiny little things like that...is where you start but it grows into more things where they're comfortable with themselves," says Chresta (referencing client April and Quentin Andrews).
                                                                                                                                                                     http://panhandleautism.com/SuccessStories.html

R.D.I. is a treatment the Andrews family says they found by trial and error. "...desperate parents think they're miracle cures and we're going to try that and you'll look back in retrospect and say why did we do this," says Jason Andrews father of Quentin who was diagnosed with autism at the age of four.

"I read about the R.D.I. and I thought okay, here we are, this is something I can do that you know is me.  It's not someone else it's me and I've got to find that connection with my son," said April Andrews, Quentin's mom.

That connection would come.  Losing her son more everyday was not a reality April nor Jason were willing to Accept. "Slowly but surely his ability to express himself. . . because he never had that. . .they always talk about autistic children being in their own world and that's where he was," says Jason.

And then the day April had waited for, came. "He actually came in, he needed me.  He was able to tell me what he wanted and I fixed it. And from then on it was a totally different kid...and from then on he was like I've got someone who understands me."  And she says she could tell it meant a lot to Quentin too, "...he was not very touchy feely.  They don't handle that well, and once we got that connection. . .he just sort of came up and leaned his head on me like...hey."

"When you don't focus on the words it's amazing how they become to come naturally anyway because that's how language develops anyway...when you're holding you're baby here you don't get words from them it's back and forth communication even though there are no words ...so we need to put value into that as well as into words," says Ambers.

The Andrews family's new world is one of give and take.  A therapy they say is put into practice 24 hours a day....and you get what you put into it.  And what they got...was their son back.

For more information go to http://panhandleautism.com/index.html.