The Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based Model (or DIR model) refers to a comprehensive foundational model which utilizes affect-based interactions and experiences corresponding to the unique needs of special students to promote all-round development.

Developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan and Dr. Serena Wieder, the model aims to discover the true potential of special students by building meaningful connections, and through communication, love and engagement to lay a healthy foundation for social, emotional and intellectual capacities, instead of focusing on isolated skills and behavior.

The DIR model is constructed around three primary insights, regarding the development of mind and the brain, whose details are-

Interaction

The DIR model is based on the premises that language and cognition, along with social and emotional skills are acquired through emotionally meaningful exchanges between the child and the caregiver. Since the brain undergoes rapid development in early childhood years, such interactions are fundamental in providing a sense of connectivity to students.

Researchers believe that lack of connectivity not only affects language and cognitive development of children, but might also hinder their physical growth. While emotions and experiences lead all aspects of development, the objective is to educate special students in a community framework to ensure interactive experiences and relationships.

Varying Motor and Sensory Processing Capacities

Several researches conducted to gain useful insight into processing capacities in early childhood concluded that children differ in their ways of responding to touch, sound and other sensations, which considerably affects their auditory, language, visual-spatial, motor and sequencing abilities.

The objective of the DIR model is to identify those differences to help students adapt across a broad range of abilities, rather than developing skills and behavior separately.

It can be accomplished by tailoring classroom environments to suit the unique needs of special students. Regular counselling sessions with occupational therapists and speech pathologists are also effective in developing individual processing abilities in children.

Interrelated Development

An essential aspect of the DIR model is the inter-relatedness of various aspects of development. Therefore, the effort should be to ascertain how language, social and motor skills are integrated in a child and how the components work together, as a whole, rather than assessing such skills separately.