Start Here: Search by Category
Beginner’s Guide to DIR/Floortime
- It’s all about Affect
- The ‘D’ in the DIR Model: Development
- The ‘I’ in the DIR Model: Individual Differences
- The ‘R’ in the DIR model: Relationship-based
- Introduction to Floortime
- Floortime as a Family Approach
- DIR/Floortime as a comprehensive developmental approach
- Foundation Academics: What is it? (includes audio podcast)
- The Joy in Communicating (includes audio podcast)
- Remediation versus Accommodation (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Importance of Preverbal Affective Signalling (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime Lifestyle (includes video & audio podcast)
- Words-Action-Affect (W-A-A) in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Conversation (includes video & audio podcast)
Guide to Starting DIR/Floortime With Your Child, Adolescent, or Adult
- Starting DIR/Floortime with your child: Step 1 is the sensory processing profile
- Starting DIR/Floortime with your child: Where is your child developmentally?
- The nuts and bolts of the Floortime session
- The interaction of the Floortime session with the ‘D’, the ‘I’, and the ‘R’
- Co-regulation in Floortime: How to interact with a distressed child
- Example of a Floortime session (includes Floortime video)
- What an ideal DIR/Floortime program looks like
- Floortime for First-Timers: A Quickstart Guide
- Five Great Floortime Books
- Maude Le Roux’s new Functional Developmental Autism Assessment Protocol (includes video & audio podcast)
- Sensory Lifestyle (includes video & audio podcast)
- Autism and Medication (includes video & audio podcast)
- Being versus Doing (includes video & audio podcast)
- Why ‘challenging’ and ‘expanding’ are essential for human growth
- Circles of communication in Floortime
- Affect is your #1 resource to connect with your child
- The new Connection Coder app (includes video & audio podcast)
- Focusing on regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
- The P.L.A.Y. Project (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime with Family or Small Groups (includes video & audio podcast)
- Promoting Symbolic Thinking in Small Group Settings (includes video & audio podcast)
- Meaning Making (includes video & audio podcast)
- Recognizing and documenting our children’s communication cues (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Heart of DIR/Floortime: The ‘R’ and Genuine Affect (includes video & audio podcast)
- Sensorimotor Profiles in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- Creating Opportunities for Co-Regulatory Support (includes video & audio podcast)
- Autism and Medication: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
How to Overcome Obstacles in Floortime
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 1: Facilitating shared attention and regulation
- Motor planning and sequencing challenges in children with developmental differences
- The Building Blocks of Motor Planning (includes audio podcast)
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 2: Fostering attention and engagement
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 3: Encouraging purposeful emotional interactions
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 4: Encouraging Shared Problem Solving
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 5: Inspiring the expression of ideas and feelings (includes video blog)
- Special Books by Special Kids
- Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 6: Fostering logical thinking and building bridges between ideas
- Barriers to Parents doing DIR/Floortime
- Parents Living with Grief About Their Special Needs Child
- It’s only as good as the implementation
- Developmental growth spurts: What to expect (includes audio podcast)
- What is scripting all about? (includes video & audio podcast)
- From Ambiguous Loss to Acceptance (includes video & audio podcast)
- Strategies Don’t Support Growth (includes video & audio podcast)
- Polyvagal Theory and Regulating our Bodily State (includes video & audio podcast)
- Attention and Executive Function (includes video & audio podcast)
- Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) Devices (includes video & audio podcast)
- Creating Opportunities in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- Constrictions in Developmental Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
- Going Slower to Move Faster (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Developmental Approach to Toileting: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Developmental Approach to Toileting: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Impact of Vestibular Processing on Development (includes video & audio podcast)
- Unpacking ‘Aggression’ (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Complexity of Vision and Visual Processing (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Dynamic Process of ‘Transitions’ (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Somatosensory System and Tactile Perception (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Floortime Approach to Fears and Phobias (includes video & audio podcast)
- All About Praxis: Part 1 of 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
- All About Praxis: Part 2 of 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
- (Non)Compliance does not equal (Dys)Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
Applying Floortime With Your Child, Adolescent, or Adult
- A User’s Guide to the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR) Model (includes audio podcast)
- Floortime Analysis (includes Floortime video)
- Slowing down and stretching out interactions
- Using Self-Reflection as a Tool in Floortime (includes 3-part audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Floortime in the car! (includes Floortime video)
- Moving Up and Down Developmentally (includes audio podcast)
- Scaffolding in Floortime: Supporting your Child While Encouraging Development
- 10 Floortime Tips From Our Visit to The Floortime Center
- What does following the child’s lead really mean?
- More Floortime in the car! (includes Floortime video)
- Another Look at Self-Reflection in Floortime (includes Floortime video)
- 5 Games to Play with your Child in Floortime
- This is 99% of Floortime
- Inspiring relating, communicating, and thinking at different developmental levels
- Repetition in autism therapy: A closer look (includes audio podcast)
- The Floortime Manual
- Floortime all day, anywhere (includes audio podcast)
- Celebrity Floortimer
- Promoting Capacities 4 and 5 with Floortime (includes audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Can visual prompts about time promote understanding in Floortime?
- The Little Scientist: Progression of cause-and-effect play (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime through Music Therapy (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime Follow-up (includes Floortime video)
- Floortime Feedback (includes video & audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Floortime is about Connection and Shared Joy: Part 1 (includes Floortime video)
- Self-Regulation Starts With Us (includes audio podcast)
- Theory of Mind is Developmental (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime is about Connection and Shared Joy: Part 2 (includes Floortime video)
- Floortime Tips for Behavioural Challenges at School
- Floortime Tips for Behavioural Challenges at Home
- Floortime is about Connection and Shared Joy: Part 3 (includes Floortime video)
- FOODTIME: A developmental approach to picky and rigid eating (includes audio podcast)
- Floortime Review (includes video & audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Fostering independence (includes video & audio podcast)
- Pre-Linguistics are Pre-Social Abilities (includes video & audio podcast)
- Individual differences and Floortime in the Pool (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime in the Pool: A Deeper Dive (includes video & audio podcast)
- Facilitating Emotional and Logical Thinking: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Facilitating Emotional and Logical Thinking: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Facilitating Emotional and Logical Thinking: Part 3 (includes audio podcast and Floortime video)
- Why Floortime is Child-Led (includes video & audio podcast)
- Approaching Pre-Academics with Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime is also Adolescent- and Adult-Led (includes video & audio podcast)
- Sensory Ingredients and Dynamic Responsivity (includes video & audio podcast)
- Enriching Sensory and Motor Experiences at Home (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Rubber Band Metaphor in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Impact of Cognitive Load on Relating, Communicating, and Thinking (includes video & audio podcast)
- Gross Motor versus Fine Motor Functions (includes video & audio podcast)
- Gauging our Developmental Capacities: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast)
- Gauging our Developmental Capacities: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
- Parents can Connect with their Children Through Musical Interactions (includes video & audio podcast)
The Role of Emotions and Respecting the Child, Adolescent, or Adult in a Developmental Approach
- Emotions (within safe relationships) are key to affecting autism
- Respecting the Emotional Experience and Expressions of the Child
- A Developmental Approach to Setting Limits
- Setting appropriate limits and expectations by respecting where your child is at, developmentally
- What is attunement in a developmental approach?
- Play is the answer for healthy emotional development
- Where is your focus?
- Intention in a Developmental Approach
- A developmental approach overview (includes audio podcast)
- How a caregiver’s regulation affects the child’s regulation (includes audio podcast)
- Avoiding the blame in Floortime (includes audio podcast)
- Early Social-Emotional Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
- Can you ‘teach’ emotions?
- Self-Reg and DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Foundation for Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
- And then comes puberty… (includes video & audio podcast)
- From Dysregulation to Intent (includes video & audio podcast)
- Taking the Outcome Out of Play (includes endorsement for Critical Core)
- Regulation Challenges through the Developmental Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Closer Look at Impulsivity (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime and the Coronavirus (includes video blog)
- Interoception: What is your child feeling inside? (includes video & audio podcast)
- Emotion-seeking and saying “No!” (includes video & audio podcast)
- Co-regulation is the Driver for Sensory Integration (includes video & audio podcast)
- Combining DIR/Floortime and Sensory Integration (includes video & audio podcast)
- Humour Development in Autism (includes video & audio podcast)
- Affect Depends on Interoception (includes video & audio podcast)
- The New Co-Reg Community (includes video & audio podcast)
- Curiosity as a Driver of Connection and Interaction in Adolescence (includes video & audio podcast)
- Emotional Playgrounds Foster Emotional Well-Being (includes video & audio podcast)
- Harnessing the Power of Narratives to Impact Development (includes video & audio podcast)
Parent Support
- The Realization Phase (includes video & audio podcast)
- Supporting Parents in DIR/Floortime (includes audio podcast)
- Navigating our therapy teams and social circles (includes video & audio podcast)
- Parent Support Groups (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Future is Here: Fostering Neurodiverse Students’ Media Literacy (includes video & audio podcast)
- Support for Fathers of Children on the Spectrum (includes video & audio podcast)
- Supporting Parents in the Process of Accepting Reality (includes video & audio podcast)
- Am I Neurodivergent Like My Child? (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Parent’s Experience of DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Process of Parenting our Neurodivergent Children (includes video & audio podcast)
- Virtual Floortime Coaching for Parents (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Process of Parenting our Neurodivergent Children (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime Coaching for Different Parenting Styles (includes video & audio podcast)
- Parent Perspectives: How Do We Handle Fears and Anxiety? (includes video & audio podcast)
- Parent Perspectives: Navigating our Health and Education Systems (includes video & audio podcast)
- Parent Perspectives: Relationships, Play, and Growth (includes video & audio podcast)
Research & Advocacy
- See the DIR/Floortime Research list at ICDL.com
- SEARCH THE AUTISM D.A.T.A. BULLETINS AND MATERIALS (COMING SOON…)
- DIR/Floortime Addresses Patient-Centered Outcomes, Offers Parent Choice, and is Aligned with Disability Rights
- Advocacy for Developmental Approach Therapies
- Uniquely Human (includes video & audio podcast)
- Promoting Parent Choice (includes audio podcast)
- A Review of Developmental Social Pragmatic Interventions (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Move Towards Developmental Approaches (includes video & audio podcast)
- Supporting the Development of Self-Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
- Gene Christian interviews Affect Autism’s Daria Brown (includes video & audio podcast)
- Research Supporting DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- How do we best prepare our multidisciplinary professionals in the field of autism? (includes video & audio podcast)
- A Self-Advocate’s Inspiring Journey (includes video & audio podcast)
- Neurodiversity-Affirming Care (includes video & audio podcast)
- Examining the Experience of Autistic Students in Higher Education (includes video & audio podcast)
- Redefining the Autism Narrative: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast)
- Redefining the Autism Narrative: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
- Access and Choice in NY State for Autism Supports and Services (includes video & audio podcast)
- My Autism, My Story (includes video & audio podcast)
- Good Intentions Creating Unseen Stigma (includes video & audio podcast)
- The World’s First International Concert to Celebrate Neurodiversity (includes video & audio podcast)
- Part 1: Taking that Step on the Red Carpet (includes video & audio podcast)
- Part 2: Bridging the Gap in Understanding (includes video & audio podcast)
- Part 1: To Whom Should Parents Listen? (includes video & audio podcast)
- Part 2: Adult Diagnosis and What it Means (includes video & audio podcast)
- Empowering Ability (includes video & audio podcast)
- Our Differences are Our Strengths (includes video & audio podcast)
- A New Community-Created Resource: SLP MAPs (includes video & audio podcast)
Schools and Services Using the DIR Model
- Soaring Eagle Academy: a unique Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based school
- The Rebecca School: Relationships are the Foundation of Learning (includes audio podcast)
- Oakwood Academy: Canada’s only DIR school
- Threshold Community Program: DIR for adolescents and young adults (includes audio podcast)
- Applying the DIR Model in a Public School (includes audio podcast)
- Thinking Goes to School
- Process-oriented learning inspires relating, communicating, and thinking (includes audio podcast)
- Facilitating process-oriented learning with developmental level in mind: the just-right challenge (includes audio podcast)
- Dirty Hands Developmental Alliance (includes video & audio podcast)
- Incorporating DIR Goals into the Individual Education Plan (IEP) (includes video & audio podcast)
- What to Expect from a Developmentally-Based Speech and Language Pathologist (includes video & audio podcast)
- Online Schooling and Services during a Pandemic (includes video & audio podcast)
- Building Relationships in the Practice of Palliative Care using DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- Good Autism Education is just Good Education (includes video & audio podcast)
- Fostering Friendships Virtually Using Games (includes video & audio podcast)
- The Power of Purposeful Communication (includes video & audio podcast)
- DIR/Floortime Summer Camps (includes video & audio podcast)
- Virtual Floortime Coaching for Parents (includes video & audio podcast)
- Positive Development (includes audio podcast)
- Creative Arts Through Music and Drama (includes video & audio podcast)
- Floortime and Feeding (includes video & audio podcast)
- ‘DIR’ Child & Family Counselling (includes video & audio podcast)
- DIR/Floortime and Physical Therapy (includes video & audio podcast)
- Your Growth is your Child’s Growth: Strength in Relationships (includes video & audio podcast)
- Kinder Growth DIR/Floortime Medicaid Services (includes video & audio podcast)
- Giant Steps School in Montréal, Québec (includes video & audio podcast)
- Physical Therapy is Enhanced Using a Floortime Lens (includes video & audio podcast)
Special Topics
- Growth and Gaming (includes video & audio podcast)
- Dhamma and DIR (includes video & audio podcast)
- Sensory and Developmental Poetry Workshops (includes video & audio podcast)
- Anti-Bullying Day (includes video blog)
- Art with Heart: An Open Studio Approach to DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
- ADHD: A VAST Topic (includes video & audio podcast)
- KultureCity: Sensory Accessibility and Inclusion (includes video & audio podcast)
- Critical Core: A Tabletop Role-Playing Game (includes video & audio podcast)
- Identity Exploration and Finding Your Voice (includes video & audio podcast)
- Spiral Praxis and Movement for the Bodymind Process (includes video & audio podcast)