During its first 10 years, ICDL has provided knowledge-sharing, education, and training opportunities for parents and professionals from different disciplines on the prevention and treatment of emotional and developmental disorders in infancy and childhood, including 10 annual conferences, 6 DIR® Institutes, and numerous pre-conference workshops.

ICDL is planning to extend these opportunities by adding a Distance Learning Web Portal that will expand training possibilities to parents and professionals interested in learning more about the DIR®/Floortime™ model. The Distance Learning Web Portal will not only facilitate access to online courses and a video library for people living in remote areas, far away states, regions or countries, but also for those having busy schedules and responsibilities that become barriers to attending on-site training. Furthermore, the Distance Learning Web Portal will allow parents and professionals to adjust their learning to their own daily schedule and pace, an essential characteristic of a successful adult learning model.

The Distance Learning Web Portal is a long term project that will grow gradually thanks to the creativity and technical support of a multidisciplinary team including senior DIR® faculty and online video and computer experts as well the financial support of donors including the Unicorn Children's Foundation .

The Distance Learning Web Portal short-term goals include:

• Building a preferential site (e-library) where parents and professionals will have access to a selected number of audio and videos files, as well as power point presentations from past conferences and workshops.This site will also provide "quick links" to free ICDL publications, that parent and professionals can download as PDF files and share with friends.
• Developing and offering a Basic Introductory Online Course that will teach the DIR®/Floortime™ model using an innovative and interactive format. We expect to have this course available by the end of 2007 or early 2008.
• Facilitating access and organizing the content of the Web-based Radio Show

The Distance Learning Web Portal long-term goals include:

• Serving as an e-learning platform for the ICDL Graduate School
• Expanding the selection of audio, video and power point files for the e-library
• Increasing the number of online courses offered through this site.

ICDL welcomes your ideas and feedback in developing this project. We are particularly interesting in understanding your distance learning needs. If you have suggestions or if you are interested in making financial contributions to support this project, please contact Cecilia Breinbauer, MD, MPH, at cbreinbauer@icdl.com