Start Here: Search by Topic

I organized my podcasts and blog posts into the topics below, but feel free to suggest new topics or offer other suggestions:

ADHD

• ADHD: A VAST Topic (includes video & audio podcast)

ADOLESCENCE

• And then comes puberty… (includes video & audio podcast)
• Floortime is also Adolescent- and Adult-Led (includes video & audio podcast)
• Curiosity as a Driver of Connection and Interaction in Adolescence (includes video & audio podcast)

AFFECT

• It’s all about Affect
• Affect is your #1 resource to connect with your child
• Affect Depends on Interoception (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Heart of DIR/Floortime: The ‘R’ and Genuine Affect (includes video & audio podcast)
• Affect and Regulation in Middle Eastern Culture (includes video & audio podcast)

AGGRESSION

• Unpacking ‘Aggression’ (includes video & audio podcast)

ANXIETY/FEARS/PHOBIAS

• A Floortime Approach to Fears and Phobias (includes video & audio podcast)

The ARTS

• Sensory and Developmental Poetry Workshops (includes video & audio podcast)
• Art with Heart: An Open Studio Approach to DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
• Creative Arts Through Music and Drama (includes video & audio podcast)

ASSESSMENT

• Maude Le Roux’s new Functional Developmental Autism Assessment Protocol (includes video & audio podcast)

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

• Dhamma and DIR (includes video & audio podcast)

COMMUNICATION/SPEECH

• The Joy in Communicating (includes audio podcast)
• Communication-Action-Affect (known as W-A-A) in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
• What is scripting all about? (includes video & audio podcast)
• Pre-Linguistics are Pre-Social Abilities (includes video & audio podcast)
• What to Expect from a Developmentally-Based Speech and Language Pathologist (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Power of Purposeful Communication (includes video & audio podcast)
• Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) Devices (includes video & audio podcast)
• Identity Exploration and Finding Your Voice (includes video & audio podcast)
• A New Community-Created Resource: SLP MAPs (includes video & audio podcast)
• Gestalt Language Processing and DIR (includes video & audio podcast)

THE ‘D’: DEVELOPMENT

• The ‘D’ in the DIR Model: Development
• Starting DIR/Floortime with your child: Where is your child developmentally?
• Constrictions in Developmental Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
• Developmental growth spurts: What to expect (includes audio podcast)
• Moving Up and Down Developmentally (includes audio podcast)
• Inspiring relating, communicating, and thinking at different developmental capacities
• Theory of Mind is Developmental (includes video & audio podcast)
• Gauging our Developmental Capacities: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast)
• Gauging our Developmental Capacities: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
• Visualization leads to Imagination (includes video & audio podcast)

DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

• DIR/Floortime as a comprehensive developmental approach
• The Conversation (includes video & audio podcast)
• It’s only as good as the implementation
• Where is your focus?
• Intention in a Developmental Approach
• A developmental approach overview (includes audio podcast)
• Special Books by Special Kids
• Anti-Bullying Day (includes video blog)

DISCIPLINE/LIMIT SETTING

• A Developmental Approach to Setting Limits
• Setting appropriate limits and expectations by respecting where your child is at, developmentally
• A Developmental Perspective on Sharing

EARLY LITERACY

• Early Literacy the Developmental Way: Part 1
• Early Literacy the Developmental Way: Part 2
• Early Literacy the Developmental Way: Part 3
• Early Literacy the Developmental Way: Part 4

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Emotions (within safe relationships) are key to affecting autism
• Respecting the Emotional Experience and Expressions of the Child
• Can you ‘teach’ emotions?
• Emotion-seeking and saying “No!” (includes video & audio podcast)
• Harnessing the Power of Narratives to Impact Development (includes video & audio podcast)

FAMILY COUNSELLING

• ‘DIR’ Child & Family Counselling (includes video & audio podcast)

FEEDING

• FOODTIME: A developmental approach to picky and rigid eating (includes audio podcast)
• Floortime and Feeding (includes video & audio podcast)

FLOORTIME

• Introduction to Floortime
• Floortime as a Family Approach
• Floortime Lifestyle (includes video & audio podcast)
• The nuts and bolts of the Floortime session
• The interaction of the Floortime session with the ‘D’, the ‘I’, and the ‘R’
• Example of a Floortime session (includes Floortime video)
• What an ideal DIR/Floortime program looks like
• 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)
• 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)
• This is 99% of Floortime
• Repetition in autism therapy: A closer look (includes audio podcast)
• Floortime for First-Timers: A Quickstart Guide
• Five Great Floortime Books
• Being versus Doing (includes video & audio podcast)
• Why ‘challenging’ and ‘expanding’ are essential for human growth
• Circles of communication in Floortime
• The new Connection Coder app (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)
• Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 1: Facilitating shared attention and regulation
• 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)
• Stumbling blocks in Floortime at FEDC 6: Fostering logical thinking and building bridges between ideas
• Barriers to Parents doing DIR/Floortime
• The Floortime Manual
• What is attunement in a developmental approach?
• 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?
• 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)
• 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)
• Floortime Review (includes video & audio podcast and Floortime video)
• 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)
• Strategies Don’t Support Growth (includes video & audio podcast)
• Floortime and the Coronavirus (includes video blog)
• 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)
• Creating Opportunities in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
• Going Slower to Move Faster (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Rubber Band Metaphor in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)

GAMES/GAMING

• Fostering Friendships Virtually Using Games (includes video & audio podcast)
• Growth and Gaming (includes video & audio podcast)
• Critical Core: A Tabletop Role-Playing Game (includes video & audio podcast)

HUMOUR

• Humour Development in Autism (includes video & audio podcast)

INDEPENDENCE

• Fostering independence (includes video & audio podcast)
• Empowering Ability (includes video & audio podcast)

THE ‘I’: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

• The ‘I’ in the DIR Model: Individual Differences

INSURANCE COVERAGE

• The P.L.A.Y. Project (includes video & audio podcast)
• Positive Development (includes audio podcast)
• Kinder Growth DIR/Floortime Medicaid Services (includes video & audio podcast)

MEDICATION

• Autism and Medication (includes video & audio podcast)
• Autism and Medication: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)

MOVEMENT/MOTOR PLANNING/PRAXIS

• Motor planning and sequencing challenges in children with developmental differences
• The Building Blocks of Motor Planning (includes audio podcast)
• All About Praxis: Part 1 of 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
• All About Praxis: Part 2 of 2 (includes video & audio podcast)
• Adapted Spiral Praxis and Movement for the Bodymind Process (includes video & audio podcast)

MUSIC THERAPY

• Parents can Connect with their Children Through Musical Interactions (includes video & audio podcast)

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (also see Sensory Processing/Integration below)

• Attention and Executive Function (includes video & audio podcast)
• Gross Motor versus Fine Motor Functions (includes video & audio podcast)
• Visual Spatial Planning and Assessment (ViSPA) (includes video & audio podcast)

PALLIATIVE CARE & DIR

• Building Relationships in the Practice of Palliative Care using DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)

PARENT SUPPORT

• Parents Living with Grief About Their Special Needs Child
• From Ambiguous Loss to Acceptance (includes video & audio podcast)
• Avoiding the blame in Floortime (includes audio podcast)
• 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)
• 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)
• Parent Perspectives: Retrospective Perspective (includes video & audio podcast)
• Parent Perspectives: Parents Listening to Autistic Self-Advocates (includes video & audio podcast)
• Parent Perspectives: Parent Self-Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
• Parent Perspectives: Navigating Our Different Support Roles (includes video & audio podcast)
• If I Need Help (includes video & audio podcast)

PHYSICAL THERAPY

• DIR/Floortime and Physical Therapy (includes video & audio podcast)
• Physical Therapy is Enhanced Using a Floortime Lens (includes video & audio podcast)

PLAY

• 5 Games to Play with your Child in Floortime
• Play is the answer for healthy emotional development
• Taking the Outcome Out of Play (includes endorsement for Critical Core)
• The Little Scientist: Progression of cause-and-effect play (includes video & audio podcast)
• Emotional Playgrounds Foster Emotional Well-Being (includes video & audio podcast)

REGULATION/STRESS

• Co-regulation in Floortime: How to interact with a distressed child
• Focusing on regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
• Self-Regulation Starts With Us (includes audio podcast)
• How a caregiver’s regulation affects the child’s regulation (includes audio podcast)
• Self-Reg and DIR/Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Foundation for Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
• From Dysregulation to Intent (includes video & audio podcast)
• Polyvagal Theory and Regulating our Bodily State (includes video & audio podcast)
• Regulation Challenges through the Developmental Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
• A Closer Look at Impulsivity (includes video & audio podcast)
• The New Co-Reg Community (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Impact of Cognitive Load on Relating, Communicating, and Thinking (includes video & audio podcast)
• Creating Opportunities for Co-Regulatory Support (includes video & audio podcast)
• (Non)Compliance does not equal (Dys)Regulation (includes video & audio podcast)
• Regulating through Trauma (includes video & audio podcast)
• Affect and Regulation in Middle Eastern Culture (includes video & audio podcast)

THE ‘R’: RELATIONSHIP

• The ‘R’ in the DIR model: Relationship-based
• The Heart of DIR/Floortime: The ‘R’ and Genuine Affect (includes video & audio podcast)
• Your Growth is your Child’s Growth: Strength in Relationships (includes video & audio podcast)
• Revisiting the ‘R’: Hidden Regulators in the Development of Relationships (includes video & audio podcast)

REMEDIATION/ACCOMMODATION

• Remediation versus Accommodation (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)
• Our Differences are Our Strengths (includes video & audio podcast)
• A New Community-Created Resource: SLP MAPs (includes video & audio podcast)
• Autistic Masking or Impression Management? (includes video & audio podcast)
• Presuming Competence (includes video & audio podcast)

SCHOOLING

• 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 capacity 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)
• Online Schooling and Services during a Pandemic (includes video & audio podcast)
• DIR/Floortime Summer Camps (includes video & audio podcast)
• Good Autism Education is just Good Education (includes video & audio podcast)
• Giant Steps School in Montréal, Québec (includes video & audio podcast)

SENSORY PROCESSING/INTEGRATION

• Starting DIR/Floortime with your child: Step 1 is the sensory processing profile
• Sensory Lifestyle (includes video & audio podcast)
• Interoception: What is your child feeling inside? (includes video & audio podcast)
• Sensory Ingredients and Dynamic Responsivity (includes video & audio podcast)
• Enriching Sensory and Motor Experiences at Home (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)
• KultureCity: Sensory Accessibility and Inclusion (includes video & audio podcast)
• Sensorimotor Profiles in Floortime (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Impact of Vestibular Processing on Development (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Complexity of Vision and Visual Processing (includes video & audio podcast)
• The Somatosensory System and Tactile Perception (includes video & audio podcast)

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL CAPACITIES

• Early Social-Emotional Capacities (includes video & audio podcast)
• Foundation Academics: What is it? (includes audio podcast)
• The Importance of Preverbal Affective Signalling (includes video & audio podcast)

SWIMMING

• Individual differences and Floortime in the Pool (includes video & audio podcast)
• Floortime in the Pool: A Deeper Dive (includes video & audio podcast)

TOILETING

• A Developmental Approach to Toileting: Part 1 (includes video & audio podcast)
• A Developmental Approach to Toileting: Part 2 (includes video & audio podcast)

TRANSITIONS

• The Dynamic Process of ‘Transitions’ (includes video & audio podcast)

TRAUMA

• Regulating through Trauma (includes video & audio podcast)