Affect Autism

This episode we are covering intensives at ICDL's DIR® Institute in New Jersey where families come for a week to just do Floortime and get Floortime parent coaching. My guests are two mothers of two children each. Daniela Bishop is in the Toronto area like me and Samantha Moran is from Colorado. Daniela is a registered nurse who has an 9-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old autistic son. Samantha is a stay-at-home mother of a 6-year-old neurodivergent daughter and a 3-year-old daughter. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/12/06/intensive/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents Thank you to Toronto recording artist Ayria for the intro/outro song permission: https://ayria.bandcamp.com/track/the-next-time

This episode my guests are Educator Becky Gottlieb who is the Floortime Intensives Program Coordinator at ICDL’s DIR® Institute in New Jersey, and Occupational Therapist, Gretchen Kamke, who is ICDL’s Accreditation Coordinator. Both are Expert Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) Training Leaders who teach certificate courses and mentor professionals as part of ICDL’s Institute team and who were both my Floortime coaches at my intensive with my son this past August. We will be talking about intensives at the DIR® Institute, and next episode I’ll be interviewing two parents who had their own family intensives. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/11/22/intensives/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

My returning guest is Dr. Colette Ryan, an Infant Mental Health Specialist who is an DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader and part of a group starting up a new Floortime school in Toyko Japan, The Neurodiversity School, as the Floortime Supervisor. Today we are covering a topic near and dear to Colette’s heart, parent self-efficacy, the topic of her recent PhD dissertation. She recently presented on this topic at the 2024 ICDL DIRFloortime® conference. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/11/08/self-efficacy/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

There’s been a lot of talk about how autistic girls are not recognized and diagnosed and on social media around many women being diagnosed as autistic after their children are diagnosed. Dr. Robert Naseef has been diagnosing children and adults with autism since 2008 and especially after the pandemic, he has seen an increase in females seeking diagnosis. This episode we discuss diagnosis and examples of autism in girls and late-diagnosed women. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/10/25/females/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

I am absolutely thrilled to have returning guest, Educator Kasheena Holder back, who is a DIRFloortime® Expert and Training Leader with the International Council on Development and Learning and owner and director of Legacy, an inclusive school in Barbados where about 60 percent of her students are neurodivergent and about 40 percent are neurotypical. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/10/11/signalling/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Brookes Barrack is a Speech-Language Pathologist and DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader who has a clinic just outside of Kansas City, Kansas with Occupational Therapist Emily Tritz called Kansas City Developmental Therapies where they offer DIR® services. This summer they became an official accredited DIR® Organization. She originally trained in Floortime at "the Bunker" with Drs. Greenspan and Wieder in Washington, D.C. and in the PLAY Project with Dr. Rick Solomon at his home. This episode we are discussing Gestural development : The D, the I, and the R. Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points here: https://affectautism.com/2024/09/27/gestures/ Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers by going here: https://www.icdl.com/parents