Research that Benefits Children and Families- Uplifting Stories

When I read the outline and requirements for the Blog for this week, I knew that I am going to share Dr. Greenspan and Dr. Serena Weider DIR- Floortime model. This method is a research base study based on mutual interaction between the child with special needs and the adult, focusing on the child’s interest, “follow the child’s lead,” Interdisciplinary Council of Development and Learning, (ICDL), (n.d.). DIR stands for Developmental, Individual differences, and Relationship-based, ICDL (n.d.). Through a mutual, positive, and entertaining engagement and the use of Affect, which relates to the way the adult elevates his/her facial expression and tone of voice to create greater enjoyment into the mutual interaction,  ICDL, (n.d.), a social interaction occurs, and relationships are formed. That leads to the child’s growth and development in different domains, such as social-emotional, cognitive, and physical, ICDL (n.d).

About two years ago, I was a Special education headteacher in a class of children with ASD. The program focused on the DIR, Floortime method to foster children’s advancements in all their developmental domains. I was privileged to be asked to participate and present in a National Israeli DIR Conference my personal experience. I shared a case study that portrayed my floortime sessions with one of my three-year-old students and the effect and contributions to his growth. Through our mutual engagement, the child’s eye contact improved, the cycles of communications expanded, and he started initiating social interactions with me. Besides, his language acquisition and vocabulary expanded, and he acquired some self-regulation skills based on our attachment and bond. I was fortunate to observe the positive outcome of such research on my students’ growth as they portrayed improvement in our classroom and at home. 

References:

https://www.icdl.com/dir/floortime?gclid=CjwKCAjw5Kv7BRBSEiwAXGDElUEWXFHXDSXeAL-XaLYZyZNfwEgI17HBvdMVJCTkGFJBtL6s8Xnq4hoC2OgQAvD_BwE

 For those interested in learning more about the method, I chose to link a conversation that Dr. Greenspan explains his DIR Floortime method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJHPqQgVlLk&feature=emb_title

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