RDI® for Adults and Teens

Adults & Autism

If you are an adult that was recently diagnosed or a young adult or teen that has “aged out’ of typical autism interventions such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), you may be looking for help. Unfortunately, the conversation around autism, especially in regards to therapies and interventions, seems to stop when a child reaches a certain age, leaving many people on the spectrum without resources to navigate their life in and entering adulthood.

You may feel like you are trying to get around in the world with ‘holes’ in your developmental plan. You don’t know why you are having so much trouble in life but you know something is not quite right.

What type of struggles adults on the spectrum may face?

• Inability to hold a job
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Suicidality
• Non-flexible thinking
• Breakdown of relationship
• Extreme black and white thinking patterns
• Extreme stress brought on by the inability to manage their experiences
• Addiction and Substance Abuse

Helping learn how to cope and manage these struggles is not an indication that you are a person unworthy or in need of being ‘changed’, all people can benefit from therapy and a greater understanding of themselves to help them navigate life.

How does RDI help Adults and Teens?

Dynamic Intelligence

Dynamic intelligence is central to independence and quality of life, and RDI® builds on this perspective. Look at the complex world that you live in, there is much to cope with! Challenges and change are constant in life, but the development of dynamic intelligence gives you the ability to think flexibly and understand different perspectives in life. This can help you cope with change, and to integrate information from multiple sources.

Here are the six areas of dynamic intelligence universal to every person on the autism spectrum. Each help to usher in quality of life and make independence possible:

1. Emotional Referencing – The ability to ‘read’ and learn from the emotional experiences of others.
2. Social Coordination – The ability to observe others and self-regulate behavior in order to participate in social relationships.
3. Declarative Language – The ability to use language and non-verbal language for expression, interaction, and to share feelings and ideas with others.
4. Flexible Thinking – The ability to adapt when life’s circumstances change.
5. Relational Information Processing – The ability to think situations through, to obtain solutions, when there are no “right or wrong” answers.
6. Foresight and Hindsight – The ability to reflect on past experiences and use them as a tool to anticipate potential future scenarios.

More than Skills

There is substantial reason to believe that cognitively higher functioning teens and adults can learn a wide range of sophisticated skills. However, significant obstacles are found when the individual tries to apply these learned skills in real-world, complex, dynamic settings, or when skills must be modified or adapted “on-the- fly” to meet circumstances that were not covered in the training curriculum.

The problem, then, is not learning specific skills per se, but their application in a more dynamic manner, to progressively more complex, “messy”, unpredictable real-world problems and settings. This real life application is incorporated into the Relationship Development Intervention Program’s Dynamic Intelligence curriculum.

Basically, if you understand Dynamic Intelligence and are able to take on your learning, you will be able to become more flexible. This can help alleviate the stress and anxiety that often comes when an individual on the spectrum navigates the neurotypical world.

How to Get Started with RDI®?

We would love to help you when you are ready to start your RDI® program! The best way to get started is by looking for a consultant in your area, or one that offers online services that you can utilize. If you would like to be connected with a consultant that could best help you, you can sign up for a free consultation by clicking here.