DIR 101 - Introduction to DIR®/Floortime for Professionals Spring 2024

This course presents an introduction to the Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based model, pioneered by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, for working with children with developmental delays. Students will learn about the six functional developmental levels that a child must master including Shared Attention, Engagement, Two-Way Purposeful Communication, Two-Way Problem-Solving Communication, Emotional Ideas and Abstract Thinking. Students will also learn about Floortime, a strategic, goal-oriented, affect-filled way of interacting that encompasses assessment, goal creation and other tools to help a child initiate and respond at higher developmental levels.

Because emotional growth is integral to both social and cognitive learning, Greenspan maintains that subtle emotional interactions form the building blocks of all human intelligence and the origins of the highest orders of human capacity: morality, creativity, and even consciousness itself. The DIR® model places a special emphasis on helping the child develop and strengthen the special relationships in his or her life. Also, because processing difficulties can be at the root of the child’s problems with relationships, learning and interactions, the model considers and addresses the child’s unique biology and processing capacities.

The DIR® framework is particularly helpful when working with children with attention, behavioral, communication, regulation and sensory issues, as well as PDD/Autism. In this course, we’ll be focusing primarily on children from 0 to 5, with applications for older children as well.

This DIR 101 course meets the learning objectives and course requirements for the official introductory course DIR 101: An Introduction to DIR ® and DIRFloortime®. This course has been approved for MA Early Intervention competencies and may also be taken for Lesley University credit. See the course brochure for details.

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This course is the first of three Astra Foundation courses.  Intro to DIR (DIR 101) satisfies prerequisite requirements to continue with DIR 201 and DIR 202.  When all courses are satisfactorily completed, a DIRFloortime® Certificate of Proficiency (DIR-Proficient) will be awarded.

Instructors: 

Deborah Bauch, MS, OTR/L 

Karen Levine, Ph.D.