CATCH Clinic’s Maisie Soetantyo Continues to Expand RDI Presence in Mainland China.
CATCH Clinic founder and Director of RDI Professional Training for South East Asia, Maisie Soetantyo made new inroads into the Far East this past month to spread the word about the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI™) program. On June 23rd & 24th of 2018 Maisie – in partnership with Serena Bian of the Hangzhou Young Education Consultants organization – conducted a two-day introductory seminar to an audience of approximately eighty parents, teachers, physicians, psychologists, therapists and many other autism professionals in the city of Hangzhou, on the outskirts of Shanghai.
Over the course of two days the audience learned about a new way to look at autism, one that is founded on the latest research into the etiology of ASD and that offers new hope to families affected by ASD. Maisie introduced her audience to the concepts of dynamic intelligence, neuroplasticity and co-regulation and provided the audience with a working understanding of the guiding relationship model of parenting. Through lecture, real world video examples, audience participation and direct coaching Maisie was able to illustrate how the RDI protocol can a bring greater quality of life to any family.
The presentation was followed by a multi-day parent workshop in which selected families were able to work under the direct tutelage of Maisie and local RDI Certified consultants. While working with their own children, moms and dads were able to learn first hand how to implement some of the basic RDI methodologies; using declarative language to effectively reduce children’s anxiety, using patterns to help children self-regulate, applying techniques of co-regulation to teach children how to succeed in their own terms.
While relative newcomers to RDI, the Autism Community of China has shown great interest in the program which has seen significant growth over the past two years. Many professionals in China have gone through the certification training over the past three years and now practice in cities like Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Maisie has formed partnerships with local RDI professionals in China who are cooperating to translate the RDI protocol and learning materials into Mandarin to make the program more accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. As interest grows and resources become more available to families, we expect a bright future for China and the RDI program!
For more information about RDI Professional Training in Asia, contact Maisie at catchmaisie@comcast.com