Affect Autism

Affect refers to the emotional messaging that expresses our ideas and emotions. It’s our authentic expression in our communication such as the tone of voice we use, our gestures, facial expressions and other non-verbal communication. This is our primary tool in Floortime!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/2018/07/16/affect/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

We develop within emotional relationships with our primary caregivers. This development progresses as a result of emotional exchanges between child and caregiver, or as Floortime calls them, "circles of communication." These affective reciprocal exchanges involve gestural and other nonverbal communication along with verbal communication. A continuous flow of back-and-forth signalling, or circles of communication, will defeat the need to be impulsive or withdrawn. DIRFloortime® works on the developmental capacities that regulate aggression. The earlier a child can develop these capacities, the less behavioural challenges as the child gets older and bigger because the child is happier, more in control of their world, and feels understood.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/2018/07/02/circles/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers her

A lot of programs and workshops attempt to teach emotions to children, but all you can really teach a child is how to label emotions. To learn what an emotion is, you have to be able to actually experience the visceral feeling of the emotion. This is best done through Floortime where we share back-and-forth, affective interactions with our child and can label emotions in the moment, as they happen spontaneously through play, or by commenting about the emotions witnessed when observing emotional expressions in others, and finally by co-regulating with our children when they are dysregulated.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/2018/06/18/can-you-teach-emotions/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

In order to facilitate our autistic or developmentally different child's growth using the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model and Floortime approach, we respectfully and playfully challenge them to initiate interactions with us and expand on these interactions to strengthen this capacity.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/2018/06/04/challenge/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Jackie Bartell is back with us this episode for a fantastic discussion about a concept so essential to the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model and Floortime, and that is that we are human beings not human doings. Jackie is a retired special educator with the International Council on Development and Learning (ICDL) and is a DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader.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/2018/05/21/being/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Virginia Spielmann from the Star Institute discusses the progression of cause and effect play in a child with developmental differences. Where it can seem to parents that the play is not progressing, Virginia walks through the many ways in which this play is evolving developmentally and how we can foster this development and growth through Floortime.Link to the full blog post with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the podcast here: http://affectautism.com/2018/04/09/cause-and-effect-play Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

How and when visual aids can be helpful in a developmental approach with autistic children or children with developmental differences and/or motor planning challenges is discussed.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/2018/03/26/visual-prompts/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents