Day 1:
THE MILLER METHOD® and DIR®/FLOORTIME™: Complementary approaches for the most challenged children with ASD. Explore two of the most respected developmental approaches for children with autism. Day 1 will feature overviews of both models with a special emphasis on early social emotional levels and pre-symbolic language. Day 2 participants will witness live demonstrations of both models where Dr. Miller and Dr. Feder work directly with a child with ASD. Learn their similarities, their differences and the possibilities of combined programs for some of the most challenging children. You will never look at the puzzling symptoms of autism in the same way again. And you will never have more hope for the most challenged children. OTs: NBCOT has expanded the approved provider category to include seminars by ASHA-approved sponsors for re-certification. 11 Contact Hours. This course meets the qualifications for 1.3 hours of continuing professional development credit for speech-language pathologists as required by the California Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board. CSHA PDP#1. (Advanced level; Professional Area)
For more information visit: www.circlestretchblogspot.com www.icdl.com www.millermethod.org www.millerinsandiego.org
8:00am 8:30am • • • •
Registration Overview of the Miller Method by Dr. Arnold Miller Assessment and Treatment Body Awareness Communication Cognitive Problem Solving Symbolic Function
11:30am Lunch on your own 12:30pm Overview of the DIR Model by Dr. Joshua Feder Assessment and Treatment • “D”: Functional Developmental Levels • “I”: Individual Differences • “R”: Relationship 3:30pm
Questions and Answers Dr. Miller and Dr. Feder
4:30pm
End
Day 2: 8:30am 9:00am
Quick Review Parent 1 Interview by Dr. Miller and Dr. Feder
9:30am
Miller Method Intervention
10:30am DIR®/ Floortime Intervention 11:15am Discussion 12 noon
Lunch on your own
1:00pm
Parent 2 Interview by Dr. Miller and Dr. Feder
1:30pm
DIR®/ Floortime Intervention
2:30pm
Miller Method Intervention
3:15pm
Discussion
4:30pm
End
Course Objectives: • • • • • •
Understand the use of an elevated structure for intervention. Understand the use of gestures and action words for pre-verbal children. Understand the importance of object and tool use for the development of sense of self vs. other. Indentify 6 Functional Developmental Levels and what is a pre-cursor to functional language. Understand the importance of affect and relationship as the basis for communication and intent. Identify a child’s individual differences which impact his or her ability to respond to and initiate interaction.
About Dr. Miller: Psychologist Dr. Arnold Miller visits the West Cost to share his ground breaking program for autistic children with our diverse group of professionals and families. Dr. Miller – with his speech pathologist wife (now deceased) – created this method during 45 years of clinical practice with hundreds of children on the autism spectrum. Its success has been documented in his two books, numerous articles, and in PBS films such as Edge of Awareness and Come Back Jack. Families and schools (including the New York City Public Schools) are using the program as are schools in Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
What makes the Miller Method unique? The method builds function – like no other -- from even the most aberrant behaviors a child produces. Using a variety of strategies – including elevating the child -- the method teaches professionals and parents how to transform scattered or repetitive behavior into meaningful contact with the world and how to enter the object “systems” that capture the child to develop interaction and functional language. Director Rania Alkhalifa of the Alia Center in Bahrain expressed it this way in a recent Spotlight article in the Autism Spectrum Quarterly: “It is clear to me that the Miller Method® is able to move many previously unresponsive (autistic) children toward greater awareness of themselves, their surroundings, and other people…and toward functional communication.”
About Dr. Feder: Joshua Feder, MD, is a clinical assistant professor at UCSD School of Medicine. Dr Feder sits on the San Diego BRIDGE Collaborative for early intervention, is medical director for the Rady Children’s Hospital Autism Research Workgroup, has served on Autism and Medications and Autism groups with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, reviews grants for the Organization for Autism Research and the National Foundation for Autism Research, is a primary investigator for NIMH funded research in pharmacogenetics, and is a commentator on ValeriesList. Dr. Feder is a faculty member of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) representing Southern California by tutoring and mentoring over 20 DIR professionals in the San Diego area.
What makes DIR/ Floortime unique? We learn when we care about learning. DIR® (Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship) helps children connect with others by wooing them into social interactions that create new opportunities for learning. We stress the importance of affect as a basic form of communication, and we use a child’s initial action or idea as a foundation for reciprocal interactions to create mutually meaningful communication. We take into account a child’s unique abilities and challenges. DIR®/Floortime moves beyond the goals of most other programs to help special needs children think and interact adaptively in the world.