When a child is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it affects every member of the family, especially the parents. The parents face a tough time coping with the issues of the child which include speech and sensory issues. They fear that their child will be the butt of jokes and ridicule owing to his communication problems and stay away from enrolling him in any school.
Such children with learning disabilities are termed ‘slow learners’ since they don’t develop the necessary skills in the same way as normal children. They may not have the explosion of words like other children. Such children fail to respond when they are called by their name or make eye contact. They also find it tough to understand or predict people’s behavior.
Children with such neurological disorders need special schools to realize their education goals since they don’t fit in regular classrooms of traditional schools. These special schools are equipped with teachers and therapists who are trained in handling such special needs students. Such schools follow a special model to help children with their social, emotional, communicative and developmental challenges. It is known as the DIR (Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based) model, also known as Floortime.
This therapeutic intervention model was devised by Dr. Stanley Greenspan for helping children with autism and developmental disabilities. This model is used to develop in children a host of skills such as communication skills, social skills, emotional skills, attention skills and problem-solving skills.
The DIR model is used to solve developmental issues in children while Floortime is used with children having developmental, educational, mental- health and emotional disorders.
Let’s break down the DIR Model.
- Developmental: If you understand where your child is from the development perspective, it becomes easy to target the areas which need to be worked upon. The Floortime approach has six developmental levels and the main aim is to locate at what developmental level the child is and then guide him to the next level using the Floortime methods.
- Individual Difference: This refers to the individual differences which separate which separate one child from the other. Here, a child’s strengths and weaknesses, sensory differences, learning techniques are identified.
- Relationship-Based: This model refers to the relationship of the kids with the parents. It encourages parents to use the Floortime techniques with their children every day. This model is used to strengthen the socio-emotional skills of a child.
