Learning and
developing is not just about academics. As children, every individual goes
through an important phase of developing crucial social, emotional, language,
motor and cognitive skills, which lay the ground for a healthy social life and
effective academic pursuits. According to the DIR or Developmental,
Individual-Differences, Relationship-based model, developed by Dr. Stanley
Greenspan, each child is born with an emotional system that needs nurturing.
This essential nurturing can be provided only through warm, interpersonal
interactions.
For children
with autism and other disorders of relating and communicating, basic
developmental skills are compromised due to the challenges faced by them in
initiating and responding to attempts at communication. This is where Floortime Therapy; the practical application of the DIR model by Dr. Stanley Greenspan,
can help.
What is Floortime therapy?
As the name
suggests, Floortime therapy involves “getting on the floor” with the child to
try to enter into their world and bring them into yours. The therapy is not
restricted to the floor and can extend to any place or situation in which you
find an opportunity to interact with the child.
What are the steps of a typical
Floortime therapy session?
Floortime
therapy can be carried out by not only therapists but parents and educators as
well. The typical steps of a Floortime therapy session involve:
·
Observing
the child to assess their interests and intentions
See what
holds the child’s interests in the present moment. Try to join them in whatever
they are doing or what they seem to intend to do. For instance, if the child is
stacking blocks one on top of the other, assist them in the activity by handing
over the next block and cheering them on.
This primary
step helps establish a foundation of trust, opening up opportunities for
meaningful interactions.
·
Challenge
the child
Challenging
the child in a gentle and encouraging manner can help foster essential motor,
language and cognitive skills. For example, you could place one of the blocks
on top of a short cabinet for your child to retrieve. Creating increasingly
complex motor challenges makes the child likely to learn key motor skills.
Similarly, you can challenge the child to develop their language skills by
asking them to voice out their ideas and encouraging them to talk, in general.
Floortime
therapy is a compassionate, gentle and encouraging method to challenge children
on the autism spectrum to reach key developmental milestones. Teaching your
child to communicate and relate as well as overcome their motor skills deficits
can help them become more receptive to the world around them, as well as assist
them during academic lessons and activities as they progress in school and
beyond.
