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The Developmental,
Individual
Difference, Relationship-based
(DIR®)
Model is a framework that helps
clinicians, parents and educators
conduct a comprehensive assessment and
develop an intervention program
tailored to the unique challenges and
strengths of children with Autism
Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other
developmental challenges. The
objectives of the DIR® Model
are to build healthy foundations for
social, emotional, and intellectual
capacities rather than focusing on
skills and isolated
behaviors. For a detailed
overview, download
2 page flyer.
- The D
(Developmental)
part of the Model describes the
building blocks of this foundation.
Understanding where the child is
developmentally is critical to
planning a treatment program. The Six Developmental
Milestones
describes the developmental
milestones that every child must
master for healthy emotional and
intellectual growth. This includes
helping children to develop
capacities to attend and remain calm
and regulated, engage and relate to
others, initiate and respond to all
types of communication beginning
with emotional and social affect
based gestures, engage in shared
social problem-solving and
intentional behavior involving a
continuous flow of
interactions in a row, use
ideas to communicate needs and think
and play creatively, and build
bridges between ideas in
logical ways which lead to higher
level capacities to think in
multicausal, grey area and
reflective ways. These
developmental capacities are
essential for spontaneous and
empathic relationships as well as
the mastery of academic
skills.
- The I (Individual
differences)
part of the Model describes the
unique biologically-based ways each
child takes in, regulates, responds
to, and comprehends sensations such
as sound, touch, and the planning
and sequencing of actions and
ideas. Some children, for
example, are very hyper responsive
to touch and sound, while others are
under-reactive, and still others
seek out these sensations. The term
"Biological
Challenges"
describes the various processing
issues that make up a child's
individual differences and that may
be interfering with his ability
to grow and learn
- The R
(Relationship-based)
part of the Model describes the
learning relationships with
caregivers, educators, therapists,
peers, and others who tailor their
affect based interactions to the
child’s individual differences and
developmental capacities to enable
progress in mastering the essential
foundations.
Floortime™
(or )
is a specific technique to both follow
the child’s natural emotional
interests (lead) and at the same time
challenge the child towards greater
and greater mastery of the social,
emotional, and intellectual
capacities. (additional reading: Floortime,
What it is and what it isn't).
With young children these playful
interactions may occur on the floor,
but go on to include conversations and
interactions in other places. DIRFloortime™
emphasizes the critical role
of parents and other family members
because of the importance of their
emotional relationships with the
child.
The DIR®
Model, however, is a
comprehensive framework which enables
clinicians, parents and educators to
construct a program tailored to the
child’s unique challenges and
strengths. Central to the DIR®
Model is the role of the
child’s natural emotions and interests
which has been shown to be essential
for learning interactions that enable
the different parts of the mind and
brain to work together and build
successively higher levels of social,
emotional, and intellectual
capacities. It often includes, in
addition to Floortime™,
various problem-solving exercises and
typically involves a team approach
with speech therapy, occupational
therapy, educational programs, mental
health
(developmental-psychological)
intervention and, where appropriate,
augmentative and biomedical
intervention.
Once
you're more familiar with the approach,
read Guidelines
for a Comprehensive Approach
for guidance in putting together a
DIRFloortime™ program.
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