Affect Autism

I’m thrilled to welcome Chris Hernandez this episode for the first time after meeting him in March at the NYC DIR® Conference! He is an Ed Tech, coach, instructional designer, and a digital creator. He is also the Media Specialist at the Rebecca School in Manhattan, a Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model school and he holds a DIR® Certificate from the International Council on Development and Learning (ICDL), the home of DIRFloortime®. Everyone kept telling me I had to meet Chris who does the Rebecca Listener podcast. The more I learned about what Chris does, the more I realized I had to share it all with the DIR® world!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/2020/11/15/media/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Bridget Palmer is a DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader in the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model and a speech-language pathologist in Buffalo, NY. She runs a Floortime parent support group called Floortime Families which was in person but is now online during the pandemic.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/2020/11/01/parent-supportCaregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader and developmental and clinical psychologist, Kathy Platzman from Floortime Atlanta is here to cover a few topics: the transdisciplinary approach, parent guilt, and navigating social circles for parents with neurodivergent children--a question from a Patron.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/2020/10/25/navigatingCaregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Dave Nelson's son's needs were not being met by the public school system, so he started a school for him. Come hear Dave's incredible story about starting Threshold Community Program that serves adolescents and young adults with developmental differences including autism using the DIRFloortime® approach, or the Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based (DIR®) model.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/2017/10/23/threshold-community-program/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

This topic comes up when people haven’t heard of DIRFloortime®. They ask, “What about research? Can we justify this approach with research?” ⁠Dr. Diane Cullinane joins us this episode to review some of the research supporting DIRFloortime. She is a developmental pediatrician and an Expert DIRFloortime® practitioner in South Pasadena, one of the founders of the⁠ DIR® Coalition of California⁠ which advocates for DIRFloortime® and the author of Behavioural Challenges in Children with Autism and other Special needs: The Developmental Approach⁠. Dr. Cullinane wrote a white paper summarizing the research to date in 2017 which is on the research page of the International Council on Development and Learning. 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/2020/10/11/research/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Italian evolutionary psychologist, functional psychomotorist and DIRFloortime® trainer Serena Suman shares her insights on using individual differences in the sensory system and sensory processing to inform Floortime in the pool and all of the benefits it brings in promoting a child's development.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/2020/09/28/pool/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Jehan Shehata-Aboubakr joins us this episode. She is a Speech-Language Pathologist at Clinical Communication Consultants in Thornhill, Ontario (just north of Toronto). She is a DIRFloortime® Expert Training Leader faculty with Profectum. We did an episode last year on scripting and she’s back today to discuss what to expect from developmental, relationship-based speech-language therapy.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/2020/08/31/slp/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

 Dr. Stephen Porges joins us this episode to discuss the Polyvagal Theory, its implications for autism and the quarantine, and its therapeutic listening application, the Safe and Sound Protocol, which was designed to restore a calm physiological state.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/2020/08/24/polyvagal/Caregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents

Advanced DIRFloortime® practitioner Stephanie Peters joins us this episode to discuss the phase that those new to Floortime go through, especially when coming from other approaches to autism supports. Stephanie is an occupational therapist and has been coaching parents online during the pandemic. We discuss the differences in the way we see our neurodivergent children and how that affects our relationship with them and their capacity to thrive.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/2020/08/10/realizationCaregivers: Consider joining our DIR® Parent Network for support from a like-minded community of Floortimers here: https://www.icdl.com/parents