ABA or DIR/Floortime?

The DIR/Floortime model was developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan over the course of his thirty-plus years as a child psychiatrist. In his own words: 

"Floortime focuses on foundation-building, rather than concrete tasks of the sort that are often used in therapies. We use the child's natural emotional interactions as an entry point into the child's world, rather than trying to get the child to do what we want. 

The idea is to get a continuous flow of back-and-forth interaction going between the child and parent or therapist, using gestures, perhaps, or facial expressions. Therapists often pursue cognitive tasks such as matching shapes, but you need to move that from sensory to cognitive. They become wedded to the task rather than the process. It's subtle, but so pivotal. 

[The therapy is] profound in the effect it has on children and their relationships with therapists and their parents, and the effect it has on their growth. "

​

One of many important books that Dr. Greenspan wrote is The Child with Special Needs. The book is divided into three parts: Part One: Discovering Each Child's Unique Strengths, Developmental Capacities, and Challenges; Part Two: Encouraging Emotional and Intellectual Growth; and Part Three: Family, Therapy, and School. 

​

Part One: Discovering Each Child's Unique Strengths, Developmental Capacities, and Challenges 

"During the past 20 years, [the authors] have created a developmental approach that engages a child at his current level of functioning, works with the unique features of his nervous system, and utilizes intensive interactive experiences to enable her to master new capacities." (p.1) 

​

The Six Emotional Milestones 

Greenspan describes six emotional milestones or stages of development that form a developmental ladder. "Children achieve these milestones at different ages - there is wide variation even among children without challenges. What is important is not so much the age at which a child master each skill, but that each one is mastered, for each skill forms a foundation for the next" (p.89). 

"Once a child has mastered all six milestones, he has critical basic tools for communication, thinking, and emotional coping. He has a positive sense of self. He is capable of warm and loving relationships. He is able to relate logically to the outside world. He can express in words a wide range of emotions (including love, happiness, anger, frustration, fear, anxiety, jealousy, and others) and is able to recover from strong emotions without losing control. He can use his imagination to create new ideas. He is flexible in his dealings with people and situations, able to tolerate changes and even some disappointments and bounce back. Obviously not all children do all these things equally well, but a child who has mastered the milestones will have important foundations for loving and learning" (pp.89-90). 

​

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Creating connection with our kids creates connections in their brain. All "behaviors" can be managed in a way that makes our children feel safe, sound, and seen - and isn't that what we all want, in the end?