The Three Pillars of Floortime Therapy
A mother sits around her child, but
doesn’t get acknowledged. She hugs the kid, but the kid responds by running
away and flapping the hands. Well, the child could be autistic. An autistic
child's behaviour may seem to be “out of the world” for a non-professional
observer.
Autism is a common developmental
disability affecting the social and communication skills of an individual. It
is much more common than one might think. There are several special needs
schools in NYC that can help children cope with their developmental growth by
employing several therapeutic techniques. The DIR/Floortime method is one such
interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach that assumes emotions of children
to be the foundation of their holistic development.
Floortime Therapy is the practical component of
this child-centered approach and is adopted by several special needs schools in
NYC. It helps children learn and develop through the application of several
insights outlined by the developer of the approach, Dr. Stanley
Greenspan.
These insights are:
- Emotions and relationships are the foundations of the growth of a child’s mind.
Interactions encourage special needs
children to invest their interest and emotions in the world around them. These
interactions lead to a child’s learning and cognitive development. According to
Dr. Greenspan, every word in our language need to be experienced in order to be
understood. A child must not rely on theoretical concepts, but rather
experience the practical implementation of a word as well.
- Each and every child has unique processing abilities.
Children with ASD process sounds,
languages, and space around them differently. The processing includes motor
planning, sequencing abilities, and sensory modulation of incoming stimuli.
Children with autism may have issues with understanding ideas such as how space
is organized in the form of walls of the room. The motor planning and
sequencing abilities are the reasons behind certain behavior issues of children
such as piling up things in a certain manner, for example.
Some children with ASD are likely to be more hypersensitive to certain stimuli, whereas some are under sensitive. It is important to accommodate the environment to suit the special needs of the children and familiarize them with environmental stimuli.
Some children with ASD are likely to be more hypersensitive to certain stimuli, whereas some are under sensitive. It is important to accommodate the environment to suit the special needs of the children and familiarize them with environmental stimuli.
- The Developmental Capacities of a Child
The varying aspects of motor
development, language development, and cognitive development integrate into the
overall functional development of a child. Observing and assessing this
development help foster the acquisition of concepts, ideas, and skills through
an emotion-based learning.
Floortime Therapy was developed by Dr.
Stanley Greenspan and is considered by many to be a revolutionary approach to
dealing with ASD. This approach allows certain special needs schools in NYC
help autistic children reach developmental milestones crucial to their social,
economic, and academic development.
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