Summary: Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship Based Model (DIR), by Greenspan and Wieder, provides a foundational framework for assessment and intervention. It identifies and integrates levels of emotional and intellectual development (the “D”); the child’s individual ways of processing movement, sounds, sight, and other sensations (the “I”); and the interactive relationships that master relating, communicating, and thinking (the “R”). This introduction will illustrate the model with typical children and then how it is applied for children with autism spectrum and sensory processing disorders. Videos of Floortime will illustrate how affect based interactions advance relating and communicating, and address the emotional experiences of children and parents.
Level: Introductory
Intended Audience: Parents, caregivers, clinicians, teachers, mental health and medical professionals
Prerequisite: None
Presenter: Serena Wieder, PhD is a clinical psychologist who has pioneered the foremost approaches to diagnosing and treating infant mental health and developmental disorders from infancy to young adulthood. She is currently the Clinical Director of the Profectum Foundation which offers advanced training to multidisciplinary professionals and parents using a state-of-the-art internet platform. She co-authored with the late Stanley Greenspan, with whom she developed the DIR Model, Engaging Autism, The Child with Special Needs, and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, and the recent Visual/Spatial Portals to Thinking, Feeling and Movement with Dr. Harry Wachs. Her practice offers consultations, assessment and treatment of autistic spectrum and sensory processing disorders.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe what the D, I, and R profile
- Understand the importance of sensory-motor processing in the development of early relational capacities
- Explain why DIR intervention is comprehensive and tailored to each child
- Understand how Floortime advances relating, communicating, and symbolic development
Continuing Education: STAR Institute for SPD is an AOTA Approved Provider of Continuing Education. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
Upon full completion of the course video, participants must complete and pass a quiz with at least 80% accuracy to receive a certificate of completion.