DIR/Floortime: Support for Parents with Developmentally Challenged Children

For local parents who have children with developmental delays, there is a very helpful workshop coming up in Pasadena, California on April 4th.

An "Introduction to Floortime" will be presented by Diane Cullinane, M.D. of Pasadena Child Development Associates, Inc.

Dr. Cullinane is a Developmental Pediatrician, a Certified DIR Clinician, and an ICDL (Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental & Learning Disorders) Faculty Member. She is one of the few experts with advanced DIR/Floortime training in the area. I've attended this workshop of hers before. It is highly informative and will give parents more knowledge and tools for helping their developmentally challenged children.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, The Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationship-based/Floortime model was developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan and his colleagues for working with kids on the autism spectrum. It takes into account the individual differences of each child, including temperament and sensory issues. DIR/Floortime focuses on helping children to improve their overall development (including communicating and relating, problem-solving, and logical thinking) rather than only on skills and isolated behaviors.

While DIR is the part that helps the clinician to assess the child's overall functioning, Floortime provides a framework for how to "be" with the child in school, daycare, home, and other settings. It includes how to interact, energize up to engage with the child, and play in such a way to both support and challenge him or her. It's a great tool that parents with developmentally delayed children can use!

I am a huge fan of DIR/Floortime and have found as a child therapist that it can also be successfully used with kids with emotional problems who are not necessarily delayed.

"Introduction to Floortime" (For Parents and Professionals)
Date: April 4, 2009
Location: Huntington Hospital/Braun Auditorium, 100 W. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA

Dr. Cullinane will present an overview of Floortime, including:
* What is Floortime and the DIR approach (as described by Dr. Greenspan and Serena Wieder, Ph.D.)
* The six Functional Emotional Developmental Milestones
* Basic steps and strategies of Floortime.
* Video examples of Floortime intervention.
* Time for questions and discussion.

To register over the phone, please contact Amber at 626-793-7350 x229 or Barb at 626-793-7350 x219.

To learn more about DIR/Floortime itself, visit the ICDL website, which includes a free video showing Dr. Greenspan and Dr. Weider explaining what DIR/Floortime is. There are also useful links and resources for parents on the site.