Cole in the spotlight....

We do a program with Cole called RDI (Relationship Development Intervention). It is something that is designed for parents to do with their autistic kids as they interact with them throughout the day. You take the things that you might do with your child throughout the day, chores, playing, eating, walking, etc...and you find ways to use those activities to work on specific communication goals. Our goals right now have to do with non-verbal communication. We worked for a long time following gazing. We did a lot of activities where Cole had to follow our gaze in order to get important information. Now we are working on gesturing. In these clips you see us working on the "come here" and "stop" gestures. Cole is so affectionate we were able to make up some kissing games that helped him learn the gestures. The harder part will be the next step where we have to teach him to make the gestures. Anyway, I know this is off on a tangent, but I know that I've mentioned RDI to some people and these are such cute videos I thought they'd be good for illustrating.