Affect Autism

The goal in DIRFloortime® for children with developmental differences including autism is to challenge the child with just enough playful tension, while keeping in mind where they are developmentally, and that the child stays emotionally invested in it with you, “like driving with your foot simultaneously on the gas and brakes”. Being slightly bored and sitting in that place of tension and subdued frustration is where the learning happens to promote thinking, relating, and communicating.* Language Disclaimer: It’s important to note that the developmental components of the DIR® model are now referred to as “capacities,” rather than levels, stages, or milestones—terms previously used including when this podcast episode was recorded in 2016—because development is not necessarily linear. We no longer use the terms, “ladder” or “levels.”Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2016/07/19/developmentally/Caregivers: Cons

Before children reach the capacity to be abstract in their thinking, you have to take the responsibility for their behaviour rather than punishing or expecting them to control their impulses. Once children are abstract, they are capable of understanding that other human beings have experiences that are different from their own, so you can set limits and discuss appropriate behaviour. Compliance alone does nothing to facilitate the necessary development of thinking, relating, and communicating. Focusing on connection and trust with our children with developmental differences, such as autism, is most important in facilitating a continuous flow of interaction with DIRFloortime®, working towards abstraction where a child is intrinsically motivated to follow societal norms.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2016/07/05/limits/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded commun

In the developmental approach called DIRFloortime®, we consider the child's developmental capacities in order to meet the child where they are at so that we can then support moving them up developmentally.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/11/05/implement-floortime/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

In the developmental approach, DIRFloortime®, we individualize our play to the child's unique sensory processing profile which describes how a child has challenges with the five known senses, plus vestibular and proprioceptive senses, interoception, sensory modulation, and with motor planning and sequencing.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/10/30/sensory-processing-profile/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

In DIRFloortime®, a developmental approach to supporting individuals with developmental differences, including those with an autism diagnosis, we create those warm & nurturing learning relationships with genuine affect that are tailored to a person’s individual differences and will help them move ahead in their development by presenting the just-right playful challenges.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/10/15/introduction-to-floortime/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

The R in the DIR® model is the relationship-based part of the model. The R describes the learning relationships with caregivers, educators, therapists, peers, and others who tailor their affect-based interactions to the individual’s developmental capacities and individual differences. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/10/09/the-r/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This post I’ll talk about something so essential to the DIR® model: Individual differences. Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s writing is so easy to read and so intuitive. His eloquent description cannot be replicated by me, but I will give you my best interpretation.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/10/01/the-i/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This post is about the D in the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model: The functional emotional developmental capacities (FEDCs) for learning. There is a lot written about childhood development but only the DIR® model describes it in terms of functional emotional developmental capacities.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: https://affectautism.com/2015/09/24/the-d/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Human beings learn and develop within relationships, through emotional interactions with their primary caregivers, so in ⁠DIRFloortime⁠®, we can help our children with developmental differences, including autism, acquire the capacities to relate, think, and communicate by fostering consistent affective, reciprocal interactions with us. It's all about affect that orchestrates the motor, sensory, cognitive, affective, and emotional development systems.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: ⁠https://affectautism.com/2015/09/17/all-about-affect/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠https://www.icdl.com/parents⁠