Floortime is a specific technique, in which a caregiver gets “down on the floor” to interact with the child, and characterizes all daily interactions with the child.
- The D (Developmental) Understanding where the child is developmentally is critical to planning a treatment program. This includes helping children to develop capacities to attend and remain calm and regulated, engage and relate to others, initiate and respond to all types of communication beginning with emotional and social affect based gestures, engage in shared social problem-solving and intentional behavior involving a continuous flow of interactions in a row. These developmental capacities are essential for spontaneous and empathic relationships as well as the mastery of academic skills.
- The I (Individual differences) part of the Model describes the unique biologically-based ways each child takes in, regulates, responds to, and comprehends sensations. It describes the various processing issues that make up a child’s individual differences and that may be interfering with his ability to grow and learn
- The R (Relationship-based) part of the Model describes the learning relationships with caregivers, educators, therapists, peers, and others who tailor their affect based interactions to the child’s individual differences and developmental capacities to enable progress in mastering the essential foundations.
