Working as a Kindergarten teacher, I have had the privilege to work with a family who does RDI and I have seen firsthand the progress the child made. I also noticed a change in the dynamics of my room, and Early Learning Centre as a whole, as we worked together to incorporate RDI techniques in the classroom. This experience has given me some insight into what a teacher needs from a family to help ensure success.
There is a lot of misinformation about autism in the education system, and teachers often tend to follow the “this is what we do with children with autism” stereotype. It can sometimes be confrontational to approach teachers with something different. As a teacher being approached by parents, I needed them to explain autism in their own terms - this helped me understand what I was seeing in the child. This can be as simple as explaining the static pathways of the brain, and how they affect your child throughout the day. I appreciated having RDI explained to me, and knowing that the family was putting in so much work at home (I find teachers are much more willing to put in greater effort when they see it being put in at home).
I was also motivated knowing that implementing RDI in the classroom benefits all the children - creating opportunities for dynamic thinking sees a group of children more prepared to enter a changing society (especially when you consider they will be entering jobs that don’t exist yet!).
Some tips you can give a teacher about implementing RDI in the classroom are:
1. Avoid/minimise direct instructions and demands
2. Minimise questions (this does not mean minimising inquiry - questions are easily replaced by ‘I wonder...’ statements that eliminate the pressure of a
‘correct’ response)
3. Establish a quiet area in the room a child can retreat to if feeling overwhelmed
4. Establish a clear routine and expectations
5. Utilize non-verbal communication - exaggerated body language/facial expressions are very effective
6. Be aware that a child with ASD needs a longer amount of time to process information - give them enough time to process and respond (45 seconds can seem like a lifetime to wait but it gives the child a chance to be a participant in the room and not an observer)
7. Create opportunities for thinking - instead of telling children what to do, give them a clue (eg. instead of ‘get your hat’ you could say ‘we’re going outside’ or ‘you’re missing something from your head’)
8. Remember that the child probably feels overwhelmed by things we consider standard - concentrate on helping him/her feel safe. If they have a meltdown, help them come back down to a place of feeling competent, and try again next time.
Donna Hughes, B.Ed, is a Kindergarten teacher in Queensland, Australia and has recently entered our professional training program to become an RDI certified consultant.
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