Connection Over Curriculum

We began the RDI program with Miss Michelle in the summer of 2024, starting with a thorough initial assessment and goal-setting discussion.

Her guidance transformed our parenting approach. Shifting to declarative language felt challenging at first, but it empowered Jay to problem-solve independently, fostering his agency and self-confidence. Equally transformative was learning to slow down, resist the urge to prompt or direct, and embrace a relaxed pace—prioritising meaningful engagement over task completion. As we grew comfortable with these pauses, Jay's personality shone through, filling the gaps with his own initiative.

Reviewing our early videos reveals clear progress: keeping Jay engaged in mundane tasks for 2-3 minutes was once a struggle, but now he thrives in extended, joyful togetherness. He's gained emotional regulation and self-control, draws problem-solving cues from his environment, and recognises engagement as a two-way street—taking equal responsibility while showing greater cognitive flexibility, intrinsic motivation, and delight in these moments. Jay continues to surprise us with unexpected breakthroughs.

Miss Michelle has been an exceptional Parent Coach, offering encouragement, constructive feedback, and insightful reviews that deepened our reflections and enriched our interactions with Jay.

We have had the immense pleasure of knowing Ms. Michelle since 2018. She has been working with my son, Shaunak, for almost six years and my daughter for three years. Both of my children are on the autism spectrum. Ms. Michelle has been our guiding light in special education. She is not only extremely resourceful but also willing to go the extra mile to ensure that each child learns in a way that best suits them. She effectively uses visuals and neuro-affirming techniques, starting from the core issues related to autism, and has been a tremendous help to both of my children. Whether she’s creating handmade charts to teach phonics to my son or using visual sight words for my daughter, she consistently finds the most effective teaching methods for them. She once implemented learning stations for my daughter, with activities like dressing up and Alphabet Soup, demonstrating her creativity and the effectiveness of her approach. Her Individualised Education Programs (IEPs) are well thought out, and she regularly revisits them with us. She goes the extra mile to provide study materials and accommodations that she designs herself, utilising visuals and games where necessary. It is impressive how she has been assisting my son with answering long literature questions. She is an incredibly patient teacher and understands the cognitive challenges faced by students on the autism spectrum. She is empathetic, kind, and warm. My children adore her, and we are grateful for the impact she has on their lives. We highly recommend Ms. Michelle.

A truly transformational program

 The RDI program under Parent Coach Michelle Fernandes has been truly transformational to our family. Our son, who just turned 12, is on the autism spectrum. We have known about our son's condition since he was 3 years old.

We got introduced to RDI through Ms. Michelle when he was about 9 or 10. Initially, we were a bit sceptical of the programme and the asks—the success of the programme seemed to rely a lot on our roles as parents/guides, requiring a fair amount of time and commitment from us. While my wife is a homemaker, I have a fairly hectic work schedule at the office with a lot of travel. Also, initially, terms like guide, mentor, and regulation sounded vague to me.

I admit the initial couple of weeks were challenging for both of us to get the structured time out during the day, preparing for the sessions and also due to our son's reluctance (he quickly concluded something fishy is happening!). But we started seeing results within the first month or so. By results, I mean the ability to retain our son's attention and interest in our sessions for extended periods of time (45 min+), and our own relationship with him became deeper. We could see that he started trusting us a lot more. We have been consistently working with Ms. Michelle to set higher, more complex goals, and Shrikar has been responding well over the last couple of years. 

We have really seen our son do well through the programme. The key benefits we have derived from the programme so far are:

1. A better understanding of our son's personality, why he behaves the way he does at certain times. And more importantly, how our own reaction to his behaviour should be (including those episodes in crowded shopping malls that other parents can relate to). Overall, this leads to less stress for us as parents and, more importantly, for our son.

2. A deeper bond with our son: he now trusts us more, gets less nervous at new settings when we are with him, he has even started opening up better about his needs and desires, and is keen to learn new skills from us.

3. As we progressed with the program, we realised we could use the sessions to actually teach him new skills that were important for life: examples include blowing a balloon (important for his core strength and vocals), tying a knot, thread-needle sewing, playing simple dice games, etc.

4. His ability to retain his calm for extended periods of time in new, unknown settings has gone up considerably. We have been taking longer holidays with long-haul flights each year, as he is now more comfortable with long flight journeys. 

5. As mentioned before, he is more comfortable trying new activities (including theme parks and water sports) as long as we approach him the right way, patiently. That has changed the kind of fun he has as a child.

6. All of this has meant that we are getting more confident about his future path and our own goals for him. Of course, all through the process, we had to unlearn some of the parenting practices that were successful with our neurotypical son (our elder one) and reskill ourselves for our special child. But the journey has been well worth it.

We heartfully thank Ms. Michelle for being an excellent parent coach for us, and hope to continue our journey with her as a guide. We wish other families with special needs could benefit from this program too.