One-Year RDI Update
At the end of this our first year using RDI therapy (Relationship Development Intervention), I wanted to give you an update on Hannah’s progress. We thank God for bringing RDI into Hannah’s life, though it is stretching me. She has just graduated from Level 1 to Level 2. Actually, we’re doing a few activities at the end of Level 1 mixed with a few at the beginning of Level 2. (In case you wonder, RDI has six levels with four stages within each level.) Here is a brief synopsis of our year.
January: We began at the beginning, trying to establish an emotional connection and give Hannah a reason to read our faces. She progressed through Level 1, Stages 1 (Attending, or paying attention to our faces) and 2 (Reference, or interpreting what our faces communicated). We were encouraged by her rapid progress; but we knew much of it was because we were working below her potential, trying to find out where she was on this spectrum.
February: We began on Stage 3 (Regulate), trying to teach her to adjust her actions based on what she read in our faces. Midway through the month she moved on to Stage 4 (Coordinate). It was at this stage that the progress slowed, and we had to spend a lot more time on each activity. We had found her baseline on the spectrum.
March through December: We have continued to work on Level 1, Stage 4, seeking to motivate her and encourage her to coordinate her actions with her play partner’s actions. We’ve worked on walking side by side, stopping when Mommy stops and going when Mommy starts to walk again. I’m sure we look a sight in the grocery store and library parking lots as all of us (Hannah, her sisters, and I) jerkily make our way across the pavement! We’ve worked on going fast and going slowly; talking loudly and talking softly; banging on a drum quickly and loudly, then quietly and slowly. At first, we announced what we were going to do, so as to prepare Hannah to coordinate her efforts. Then we moved to giving visual clues of anticipation without the verbal clues. We’re still working on that transition. The next step will be to help her notice and coordinate her efforts with gradual changes in pace and volume. We’ll start walking slowly, then gradually get faster and faster and see if she adjusts her pace to stay in coordination.
All of these activities are designed to help Hannah learn to live in (and possibly even enjoy) the ever-changing variations in the world we navigate every day. To give you a perspective, most babies progress socially and emotionally from Level 1 (focusing on faces and learning to read and respond to the varying expressions seen) to Level 2 (carefully observing and regulating actions to remain coordinated with a partner) at about six months of age. We praise God that Hannah has progressed this far at six years of age!
Christmas 2004 — Hannah examines one of her presents.
We continue to use ABA therapy for academic work and other concrete concepts. She can count up to ten objects with over 75% accuracy. My goal is 100% accuracy before we move on. We’re still working on the sounds that the alphabet letters make, recognizing and completing patterns, and writing upper and lower case. She’s progressed to copying short sentences one word at a time.
It was a joy to watch her happily anticipate opening her Christmas presents this year. In the past she has been pretty apathetic toward the whole concept of gifts, but this year she smilingly opened her presents in her turn and even held up one or two (when prompted) for Daddy to take a photo.
We look forward to what God has in store for 2005 as we continue on this journey together. Thank you for all your prayers, e-mails, and encouraging words. You are a blessing to us!
