FLOOR TIME
Developmental Individual
Differences Relationshipbased Intervention
(DIR)
Floor time is one component
Developed by psychiatrist
Stanley Greenspan and
psychologist Serena Weider.
Help the child build the healthy foundations
for relating, communicating and thinking.
Mastering these healthy developmental
foundations also helps children overcome
their symptoms, usually more effectively
than attempts to change symptoms alone.
The Floortime component of DIR - working with
children at their current developmental level
inducing them to interact and engage with others.
This often requires the parent or professional to get
down on the floor with a child - “Floortime.”
Practitioners follow the child’s lead, using intrinsic
motivation to help the child move up the
developmental ladder.
The claim is that intensive DIR therapy can
lead to children with ASD becoming
warmer, more engaging, and more
communicative.
One of the advantages to their approach,
they feel, is that children can learn to be
more flexible and spontaneous
The D (Developmental) part of the Model
describes the building blocks of this
foundation.
Understanding where the child is
developmentally is critical to planning a
treatment program.
I (Individual differences)
describes the unique biologically-based ways each
child takes in, regulates, responds to, and
comprehends sensations such as sound, touch,
and - planning / sequencing of actions / ideas.
Biological Challenges 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.
R (Relationship-based)
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.
Floortime is a specific technique to both
follow the child’s natural emotional interests
(lead) and at the same time challenge the
child towards greater and greater mastery
of the social, emotional and intellectual
capacities.
With young children these playful interactions
may occur on the “floor”, but go on to
include conversations and interactions in
other places.
• 1. Floortime™, spontaneous interactions during
which the caregiver follows the child's lead and
helps her elaborate
• Follow the child's lead
• Join in at the child's developmental level and
build on her natural interests.
• Open and close circles of communications
• Create a play environment with rattles, balls,
dolls, action figures, cars, trucks, schools, etc.
that will provide a vehicle for the child's natural
interests and facilitate opening and closing circles
of communication.
• Broaden the child's range of interactive
experience
• Broaden the range of processing and motor
capacities used in interactions
• Tailor your interactions to the child's
individual differences in auditory
processing, visual-spatial processing,
motor planning and sequencing, and
sensory modulation.
Simultaneously attempt to mobilize the six
functional developmental levels
attention,
engagement,
gestures,
complex preverbal problem-solving,
using ideas, and connecting ideas for thinking
Younger children or children with developmental
challenges will master the later levels as they
develop
2. Semistructured, problemsolving interactions,
specific learning objectives
are worked on through the
creation of dynamic
challenges that the child
wants to solve.
3. Motor, sensory, perceptualmotor, and visual-spatial
physical activities
to strengthen important
processing foundations.
Greenspan’s Functional Emotional
Development Scale:
• Self-regulation and interest in the world (3 mos.)
• Forming relationships, attachment and
engagement (8 mos.)
• Intentional two-way communication (9 mos.)
• Complex sense of self (12-36 mos.)
• Emotional ideas ( 24-36 mos.)
• Emotional thinking ( 36-48 mos.)
Self-regulation and interest in the
world:
Emerging interest in the world through the senses
Critical in successful adaptation to the environment
Result of physical maturation, caregiver responsivity
and the infants adaptations to environmental
demands
Co-regulation - This is the basis for affect atonement
If this doesn’t develop, withdrawal from arousing
stimuli may occur
Emotional Ideas:
! The creation, elaboration and sharing of
symbols and meanings
! The individual’s ability to represent or
symbolize experience is illustrated in the
pretend play, the verbal labelling of feelings
and the functional use of language
! Internal sensations and unstable images
become organized as multi-sensory, affective
images
! The development of both object permanence
and perspective-taking
Emotional Thinking:
! Building logical bridges between ideas
! Shared meanings are used to elaborate wishes
and feelings and to categorize meanings and
solve problems
! The child begins to differentiate actions of others
from his own and between what is real and what
unreal and what is right and wrong
! As well, impulse and mood regulation, dealing
with conflict and finding prosocial outcomes
What is Floortime?
! 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted play time
! Greenspan suggests 5 sessions per day
! Provide a play space that allows for some
movement and exploration.
Goals of Floortime
! Engagement
! Two-way communication
! Shared meaning
! Emotional thinking
Strengthen Development:
! Motor
! Sensory
! Language
! Cognitive
Desired Goal Behaviors:
! Be alert and aware
! Take initiative
! Be flexible
! Longer sequencing of actions
! Problem solving
! Tolerate frustration
! Take pleasure in learning
! Communicate gesturally and verbally
! Plan and execute
Steps in Floor Time:
•
•
•
•
•
! Observe
! Open circle
! Follow child’s lead (or his intent)
! Extend and expand play
! Child closes circle
Floor timers use:
! Slow approaches
! Calm voices
! Speaking slowly
! Gentle looks
! Supportive gestures
! Non-intrusive
! Supportive listening
Floor time behavior
! Mimic child’s rhythms
! Get into child’s themes
! Observe child
! Respect child
! Empathy for child’s feelings
! Understand child’s needs
Ask open-ended questions:
! Who?
! What ?
! Where?
! When?
! Why?
! How?
Use Everyday Activities:
! Dressing
! Meal times
! Car times
! Transition
! Bath time
! Reading time
! Bed time
Props Needed:
! Toy food
! Transportation
! Empathy and Nurturing of others
! Fantasy play
! Communications
! Reading
! Aggression fantasy
! Construction play
! Art play
! Outdoor play
! Constructive obstruction props
Problem solve changes in:
! Routines
! Expectations
! Personal wishes
! Daily challenges
Encourage emotional themes of:
! Closeness
! Pleasure
! Excitement
! Assertive curiosity
! Anger
! Limit setting
! Distress
! Recovery