Affect Autism

This episode features an interview with Dr. Andrea Davis about her co-authored book, Floortime Strategies to Promote Development in Children and Teens: A User's Guide to the DIR® Model that supports parents and practitioners to promote the emotional, social and intellectual development of children with developmental differences including autism. The specific strategies allow us to outline the process of Floortime that will lead to the family's goals for the child.Link to the show notes with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the episode here: https://affectautism.com/2016/02/02/users-guide/Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network or becoming an Affect Autism member for bonus content and support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠⁠https://affectautism.com/support/

Expand the emotional range of a child with developmental differences to promote symbolic understanding and emotionally-rich pretend play by modelling different positive and negative emotions in different play scenarios to prompt a reaction from your child that you can help them work through.Link to the show notes with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the episode here: ⁠https://affectautism.com/2016/01/26/stumbling-blocks-5/Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network or becoming an Affect Autism member for bonus content and support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠⁠https://affectautism.com/support/

By playfully enticing your child with developmental differences to stay with an interaction, using high affect and creating pleasurable experiences–tailored to your child's unique sensory processing profile, you can support your child in sustaining longer chains of back-and-forth emotional interactions with you using a DIRFloortime® approach.Link to the show notes with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the episode here: ⁠https://affectautism.com/2016/01/19/stumbling-blocks-4/Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network or becoming an Affect Autism member for bonus content and support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠⁠https://affectautism.com/support/

By staying "in it" with your differently developing child, using high affect and creating pleasurable experiences–even being a "playful pest" to keep your child’s attention if you have to, you can support your child in developing and initiating purposeful emotional interactions using a DIRFloortime® approach.Link to the show notes with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the episode here: ⁠https://affectautism.com/2016/01/12/stumbling-blocks-3/Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network or becoming an Affect Autism member for bonus content and support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠⁠https://affectautism.com/support/

Tips for parents or practitioners working with autistic children or children with developmental differences to engage with their child and ways to relate with the child in ways that are fun and promote healthy development.Link to the show notes with links to key discussion points and other ways to view or hear the episode here: ⁠https://affectautism.com/2016/01/05/stumbling-blocks-2/Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network or becoming an Affect Autism member for bonus content and support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: ⁠⁠https://affectautism.com/support/

This episode discusses motor planning and sequencing challenges neurodivergent children can have that involve ideation, planning and execution. Examples are given for how to strengthen a child's capacity to motor plan and sequence.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/2015/12/16/motor-planning-and-sequencing/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

How do you promote your child's developmental when they tantrum, appear to ignore you, seem to be stuck in repetitive behaviour, are violent, overly anxious or completely overwhelmed by sensory input? We discuss tips to use in these situations with your child with developmental 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/2015/12/10/stumbling-blocks/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

By seeing their distress heard and felt by us in the DIRFloortime® approach, our children can move away from catastrophic emotional reactions to a sense of ease and connection through our tolerance and empathy in co-regulating.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/2015/11/28/co-regulation/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

The success of the practice of the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model and Floortime lies in the implementation of it. Discussed is the interaction of where the child is developmentally, D, their individual profile, I, their relationship with you, R, and how we conduct a Floortime session.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/2015/11/19/interaction/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

How to do Floortime with your child by meeting your child where they are developmentally, respecting unique sensory processing differences, and sharing joy in play.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/2015/11/12/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 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

A family with a child who requires extra support including autism is really a family requiring extra support who needs to play to the strengths of each family member in order to turn the challenges into constructive opportunities. This is a developmental approach to family functioning, as described by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, the creator of the DIR® model and DIRFloortime®.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/2015/10/22/family/⁠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