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The Center for Childhood Development » Specialized Therapies

Specialized Therapies

DIR / Floortime

Floortime is a vital element of the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR) model.  The DIR / Floortime approach involves meeting your child at his current developmental level and building upon his particular set of strengths. The approach suggests following the child’s lead:  tuning in to his interests and desires in interactions and play to harness the power of his motivation and to help him climb the developmental ladder. It involves tailoring these interactions to the child’s individual differences in sensory processing, speech and language abilities, emotional regulation, and motor planning.

An important part of this program is engaging in developmentally appropriate interactions at every opportunity.  By following your child’s interests, joining what he is doing, and wooing him with warm but persistent attempts to engage his attention, you can enable progress in mastering essential, foundational skills.  The role of the child’s natural emotions and interests is essential for learning interactions that enable the different parts of the mind and brain to work together and to build successively higher levels of social, emotional, and intellectual capacities.  The DIR / Floortime Model is a comprehensive framework which enables clinicians and parents to construct a program tailored to the child’s unique challenges and strengths.