Top 2010 faqs leslie baldwin

DIR® AND FLOORTIME™ 10 Common Misconceptions about the DIR®/FLOORTIME™ Model: 1) DIR® and Floortime™ are the same thing.

No. DIR® is the philosophy and Floortime™ is the core intervention approach using strategies that are incorporated as part of a comprehensive program to meet the needs of an individual child.

D-Developmental (functional emotional levels) I-Individual (biological differences) R-Relationship (critical piece needed to advance) 2)

Floortime™ is just play…children don’t really learn anything during Floortime™.

Floortime™ may look like it is all play, but it is hard work and the strategies you might choose to use during Floortime™ should be specifically tailored to meet the strengths and challenges of each individual child. Children learn about their world and relationships in play. Through Floortime™ interactions a child learns to make sense of and find meaning in shared experiences, while also building a foundation for higher levels of communicating and problem solving.

3) According to the DIR® model, parents have to do ALL of the work.

The DIR® model does expect that parents will be active participants with their child’s therapists and also carry over a home program that best fits the needs of their child. Parents are the very heart of the DIR®/Floortime™ model because it is through those primary relationships that a child learns about everything meaningful in his or her early life. A comprehensive program that is also carried over at home has the best chance for success.

4) Does “follow the child’s lead,” mean that I literally need to follow the child around?

No. Following the child’s lead is one of the basic strategies used during Floortime™.

Following the child’s lead means – Discovering the child’s intent … Following a child’s intent allows us to enter their world, enter their experience. Doing so gives us a powerful key that can help us put the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can help a child build to higher abilities at the levels of regulation, attention, engagement, communication, problem solving and on to symbolic and abstract thinking.

5) The DIR® philosophy seems to almost encourage repetitive behavior or “stimming.” What is that all about?

Using a DIR® framework, observed may be that child’s way of organizing their sensory system and helping themselves to regulate their feelings and body.

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6) DIR® doesn’t address academic learning. Don’t children need to learn how to sit in a circle and follow directions?

DIR® does not emphasize what many of us recognize as a “traditional” academic, rote-learning model. What it does emphasize is pre-academic learning that assists a child to build a foundation for meaningful, relationship-based learning that can be generalized across many experiences and environments. Without a strong foundation in the developmental levels of regulation, attention, engagement, and shared social problem solving, along with the ability for a child to form relationships with others, it is very challenging to continue on to higher levels of symbolic and abstract thinking. The DIR® philosophy respects a child’s individual differences, and seeks to discover how they take in and process information. Discovering how a child experiences their world, enables the finding of the best teaching strategies to help that child learn information in a meaningful way that generalizes to new experiences across many environments.

7) In order to do Floortime™ must you have high affect all of the time?

No. During Floortime™ and all interactions with a child, you modulate your affect to assist the child to co-regulate, remain attentive, engaged and communicating.

Sometimes your need to increase your affect and pacing, while other times your decrease your affect and pacing.

8) In DIR® you talk about “circles of communication.” If a child doesn’t use verbal language, does it mean they don’t have circles of communication?

No. By using the term “circles of communication” we are describing communication through, gaze, gesture and or vocalizations between a child and at least one other person. While many children that have developmental delays are verbal, many times the words have little meaning or symbolism for a child. A child’s ability to successfully communicate what they may want, need or understand develops first through affect, gazing, gestures, vocalizations and then through words.

9) If a child is able to work up to a level of “shared social problem solving” and then dysregulates, does this mean that they have regressed? No. Think of the functional emotional levels as a “ladder.” People can operate up and down that ladder and each level helps support the next. Thus, having a firm foundation at the lower levels supports the higher levels of functional emotional levels, but you can work at multiple levels at the same time, depending on what a child needs in a particular situation.

10) In Floortime™ there are NO limits!

False. There are limits in Floortime™. You will always want to maintain limits as they relate to health and safety for a child, yourself and anyone else in the environment. The limits you set in Floortime™, however, may be different than at other times of a child’s day.

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Top 10 Reasons to Use the DIR®/Floortime™ Model: 1) The DIR®/Floortime™ model respects children and views them as capable, purposeful, and recognizes that they have the capacity to form warmly connected relationships with important people in their lives. They are children first, not a label!

2) The DIR®/Floortime™ model empowers parents.

It encourages parents and professionals to join together and share in the journey as they seek to put the pieces of the puzzle together and help a child progress.

3) The DIR®/Floortime™ model understands that all children have a unique developmental pathway.

It is through understanding each individual child that we can discover the strengths they already possess and help build a stronger foundation in areas of challenge.

Thus, the DIR® model and Floortime™ can be utilized by all children…those that are “typical” and those with challenges.

4) The DIR®/Floortime™ model encourages all of us to “start where the child is.”

Be an observer. Discover what each child loves and then join them.

5) The DIR®/Floortime™ model challenges each of us to find our hidden child and find delight in a relationship with a child.

Whether it is joining with a child to blow bubbles, play peek-a-boo, hide and seek or a game of chase. When you see the gleam in a child’s eye, you know you are on the right pathway!

6) The DIR®/Floortime™ model encourages us to think about how a child experiences their world and how the behavior we see may be shaped by those experiences. (sensory, auditory, visual, motor-planning, motor processing) 7) The DIR®/Floortime™ model encourages us to help children become problem-solvers, not just children that can follow a simple prompt or direction.

8) The DIR®/Floortime™ model recognizes that affect is the key to all learning.

Helping a child learn to read affect cues is central to helping them to find meaning in everyday concepts and experiences.

9) The DIR®/Floortime™ model provides the opportunity for a child to learn how to sustain a longer, more continuous flow of back and forth communication.

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It provides opportunities for spontaneous learning and recognizes the vital importance of warm, nurturing relationships.

10) Last, but not least, the DIR® Model provides a flexible framework inclusive of many therapeutic models and strategies that can be utilized for the unique needs of each child and family.

As parents, educators and therapists we search for ways to continually “raise the bar” and maximize each child’s potential. The DIR Model and Floortime Therapy provide rich opportunities to help us, help each child. It does not set a limit on when a child will stop learning, how much they will learn, how they have to learn it, or where they will learn it. Instead it teaches all of us to turn challenges into opportunities and reach for the sky.

Presented:

Houston Regional DIR®/Floortime™ Network Meeting September 24, 2009

Leslie Baldwin Administrative Manager Special Educator Bridges Program of Texas Children’s Hospital

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