DIRFloortime®

Children with a wide range of emotional, sensory, regulatory, motor, learning, and developmental challenges including having an autism spectrum disorder

DIRFloortime® is designed to help children with a wide range of emotional, sensory, regulatory, motor, learning, and developmental challenges including having an autism spectrum disorder. DIRFloortime® is an intervention that is used to promote an individual’s development through a respectful, playful, joyful, and engaging process. It is designed to use the power of relationships and human connections to promote the development of the capacities for self-regulation; engagement; communication; shared social problem solving; and creative, organized, and reflective thinking and reasoning. It is used by teachers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, mental health professionals, parents, and many others that care for individuals with developmental challenges or other related needs.

Jeffrey J. Guenzel, MA, LPC

• Website: www.icdl.com
• Email: info@icdl.com
• Phone: (301) 304-8824

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

DIRFloortime® has materials available in the following languages other than English:

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed in this page).

Publicly available information indicates there is some training available for this program. See contact info.

Manual Information

There is not a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Type/Location:

Please reach out to the program representative listed in the Contact Information section for more information.

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are no pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for DIRFloortime®.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is no formal support available for implementation of DIRFloortime®.

Fidelity Measures

There are no fidelity measures for DIRFloortime®.

Established Psychometrics

There are no established psychometrics for DIRFloortime®.

Fidelity Measures Required

No fidelity measures are required for DIRFloortime®.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are no implementation guides or manuals for DIRFloortime®.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of DIRFloortime®.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement DIRFloortime®.

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

“What is included in the Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research section?”

• Pajareya, K., & Nopmaneejumruslers, K. (2011). A pilot randomized controlled trial of DIR/Floortime™ parent training intervention for pre-school children with autistic spectrum disorders. Autism, 15(5), 563–577. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361310386502

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Number of participants: 32

  Population:

  • Age — 24–72 months (Mean=51.5–56.6 months)
  • Race/Ethnicity — Not specified
  • Gender — 28 Male and 4 Female
  • Status — Participants were children who met clinical criteria for autistic disorders.

  Location/Institution: Thailand

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to test the efficacy of adding the home-based Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR)/Floortime™ [now called DIRFloortime®] intervention to the routine care of preschool children with autistic spectrum disorder. Participants were randomly assigned to typical treatment or treatment groups which added DIR/Floortime™ to typical treatment. Measures utilized include the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and the Functional Emotional Questionnaire. Results indicate that after the parents added home-based DIR/Floortime™ intervention at an average of 15.2 hours/week for three months, the DIR/Floortime™ group made significantly greater gains in all three measures employed in the study. Limitations include, the results could have been affected by involving families that were particularly interested in learning this new intervention, there was some contamination with varying types and amounts of interventions in the control group, small sample size, and lack of follow up.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

There are currently no references available for DIRFloortime®.