Special Needs School in New York City

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.

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.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) find it difficult to connect with other people emotionally and intellectually and may need individualised and intense assistance. The DIR Model/ Floortime method incorporates a play-based, problem-solving interaction experience between the child and the caretaker.

The Floortime method is a practical component of DIR model. It involves specialized activities that are crafted to assist autistic children with their sensory and cognitive development. DIR/Floortime teachers and therapists use several play props to sharpen the minds of children with ASD, such as:

· FUNCTIONAL TOYS

Children with ASD face difficulties when processing sensory information. This is called 'sensory sensitivity'. Specific functional toys stimulate the sensory and motor skills of these children. Musical toys, books with foil or cloth attached to them, toys with bumps and furs, playdough, and squishy balls can all help children manage these tactile sensations.

Some children are more sensitive to touch while others are more sensitive to sound or light. Therefore, these toys must be chosen to suit each child's sensitivity and competency.

These functional toys help children relate their internal settings externally. Playing kits for garage tools, road signs, and dummy vehicles are all examples of toys that can help children connect playtime activities with what they see outdoors.

· BUILDING BLOCKS

Allow children to put together pieces of building blocks and give rise to new form-free creations. Once children have completed their own creation, direct them to constructing something new. Autistic children find difficulty in following oral and visual instructions, so the process of constructing a specific object by adhering to certain directions will help reinforce these skills.

Construction toys like wooden or plastic building block sets, detachable doll houses, toy towns, jigsaw puzzles and brain games – can all help children with ASD employ visual and organizational skills.

· ART PLAY

Letting children paint their imagination on canvas is the most effective way to enhance their cognitive and motor skills. It strengthens their socialization and boosts their sense of empowerment. Color recognition improves their observational skills.

Sensory table is specifically designed to let children play freely with crayons, water colors, finger paints, clay, brush, etc. The children are deliberately roped into squashing, sieving, sorting, and getting messy in order to engage their audio-visual and tactile ability.

· PLAYFUL OBSTRUCTION

This technique increases a child's ability to cope up with distraction and abrupt changes. It includes blowing soap bubbles, bouncing a light ball, tying things together with rubber bands, and tapping a toy when the child is playing.

The child is interrupted in a playful manner. This interruption usually follows four steps:
a) warning the child about interruption
b) playfully interrupt the child's play
c) wait for the child to react
d) respond to the child's reaction

It is necessary to have an anticipatory phrase because our aim is to have a healthy interaction with autistic children and not to startle them with an abrupt change.

Playing can help children with ASD learn social interaction and language skills. An effective use of above mentioned props can assist parents and teachers exercise 'intervention technique' from DIR Model. Thus, these props should be employed with a supportive attitude, sharing the child's amusement.

The key to effective learning at schools for children with an autism spectrum disorder or ASD is based on teaching them how to relate and communicate with others. A lack of these basic developmental capacities, typically acquired from birth till the age of four to five, is the root cause of the social and academic challenges faces by autistic children. The DIR model or Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-based model, developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, allows for assessing where an autistic child lies on the proposed developmental scale and forming an intervention plan.

The DIR model provides a framework within which clinicians, educators and parents can assess the challenges and strengths of an autistic child. The model allows for developing healthy foundations for social, emotional and cognitive skill development. Let us explore what each term in the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-based model stands for.

‘Developmental’

The DIR model proposes six developmental levels that a child is believed to reach on a natural basis from birth till the age of four to five. Children with autism may reach these levels on a delayed basis, or may need assistance in order to be able to do so. Gauging where the autistic child lies on the developmental scale can help schools and therapy centers provide developmentally-appropriate guidance to the child.

‘Individual-Difference’

Autistic children tend to face certain biological challenges that may impact how they process and interact with their environment. The application of the DIR model to aid an autistic child’s development involves ascertaining the child’s unique sensory processing issues as well as motor planning and sequencing challenges. These differences between the sensory and motor challenges of a child are referred to as ‘individual differences’. Academic and therapeutic interventions are based upon these individual differences.

‘Relationship’

The forming of a trustworthy relationship with an autistic child is of paramount importance to enable the child to reach crucial developmental milestones. As these children find it difficult to relate to and communicate with others, it is essential to try to become a part of their world and welcome them to be a part of yours, through warm interactions, to enable learning and holistic development.

The DIR model helps take into account a child’s unique differences and developmental capacities for providing them with suitable assistance and for remedying the challenges faced by them. The interventions are conducted in the form of emotionally meaningful learning interactions that are built upon a child’s interests and motivation.

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.

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