Relationship Development Intervention with Young ... (ISBN 1843107147)

Book Description:
Friendship, even for the most able, requires hard work, and the odds are heavily stacked against those with autism spectrum disorders. Designed for younger children, typically between the ages of two and eight, this comprehensive set of activities emphasizes foundation skills such as social referencing, regulating behavior, conversational reciprocity and synchronized actions. The authors include over 300 objectives to plan and evaluate a child's progress, each one related to a specific exercise. Suitable for parental use, the manual is also designed for easy implementation in schools and in therapeutic settings. A comprehensive website acts as companion to the book, free to purchasers.

Excellent (Full of Activities):
Great for preschoolers with autism who are low to high functioning. You will come away with a least 5 new play activites here that will always work.

Intro to RDI:
This book gives excellent advice to parents on ways for parents to help their autistic child develop socially. The principles are laid out clearly and activity descriptions are easy to follow. Unfortunately, for us, the beginner activities are nearly all too difficult for my child. As the book makes the objectives for each activity clear, parents can, if necessary, invent easier activities to meet them. I would recommend it but I understand the authors no longer do, saying that RDI has moved on since its publication and that the book no longer represents what RDI is about.

Excellent book for parents and clinicians of ASD youth:
The title of thie book is a little misleading, as the book is not really a downward age-extension of Gutstein's other RDI book but an expansion of exercises useful for the first 3 stages of RDI. Therefore, it is THE book for most parents of children with ASD, as usually these are the stages you end up starting with/on when doing the RDI exercises with your child. And, having more than double the options for the exercises is very helpful. I strongly recommend this book.

Interesting:
As you can see, I enjoy the topic of Autism. This approach has more useful ideas that should be considred when working with children with Autism. Although, this is a more parent/home approach, there can be some carry-over into school as well.

Fun as well as therapeutic:
My son and I love the games in this book, and we often end up in fits of laughter. I also love RDI because it doesn't feel like therapy - it just feels like playing! The games are light and non invasive, and don't involve analytical thinking or psychology etc. This is perfect for my son as he tends to think too much about things. These games get right outside of linear thinking and work on relating. Highly recommended!