I offer to all families with neurotypical and non-neurotypical developing infants. toddlers, adolescents and adults a comprehensive fully evidence-based peer-reviewed therapeutic approach based upon the DIR/Floortime model (Developmental, Individual Processing and Relationship based differences). DIR/Floortime was founded in the mid1980's by world renown child psychiatrist and former head of NIMH, Mental Health Study Center and the Clinical Infant Development Program, Stanley Greenspan, M.D.. and Serena Weider, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychologist). 

DIR/Floortime is a neurodevelopmental evidence-based treatment model that is used to comprehensively and systematically addresses  your child's primary functional emotional developmental capacities or milestones. Beginning in infancy, there are six primary core Functional Emotional Developmental milestones that are typically achieved during the first three years of life. Each developmental milestone represents a critical stage that every child must master before moving ahead with increasingly complex social engagement, thinking and communicating.

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and/or other biopsychosocial developmental and social communication challenges often have varying degrees of difficulty in mastering and/or fully integrating these six primary core developmental milestones. However, all individuals particularly when intervention is begun early can partially to often entirely master and integrate these peer-typical developmental milestones once their functional emotional developmental capacities and individual sensory-affect-motor processing differences are properly biopsychosocially assessed and warmly and systematically engaged. https://www.icdl.com/dir/fedcs

CHILD/FAMILY SERVICES OFFERED

We consistently guide you and your family during each session in your home setting to learn how to go to your child’s level and engage your child around his/her natural intent or affective interests. This begins with a focus on you developmentally understanding and encouraging your child’s optimal arousal to begin to naturally and pleasurably attend to his/her environments. Together we will help facilitate your child’s increased comfort and ability to begin to internally regulate his/her emotional states by co-regulated interactions with you during simple back and forth two-way interactions around your child’s daily needs, desires and requests (e.g., food, toys, play, etc.). This involves a focus not on surface behaviors but on helping shift your child’s autonomic arousal states of defensive fight/flight or shut-down (e.g., All or Nothing responses/tantrums or withdrawal) to increased feelings of underlying safety thus optimally supporting the development of your child’s spontaneous use of gestures and simple utterances/words toward more complex two-way social-emotional problem solving scenarios using combined words, emerging phrases and full social-pragmatic communication/language with peers.  

As your child begins to move up the developmental ladder the facilitation of more complex reciprocal interactions which support your child's emerging use of ideation/imagination (e.g., feeding, sleeping, waking interactions with favorite toy character figures) become the focus. A further  elaboration of this critical developmental milestone involves more nuanced and complex sequencing of symbolic play encounters (e.g., a logical flow and connection of ideas transacted between character figures, such as, Where are they going? How do they feel? Are they angry, sad, mad, scared? Why?, etc.).  This important emergent capacity allows for you and your child to explore new and more complex ideas and challenging emotions that are safely and soundly supported, guided and acted out through pretend play scenarios.

The focus throughout all sessions and daily activities is on guiding you as well at times when needed other clinicians to developmentally engage your child in peer competent spontaneous receptive and expressive social-pragmatic language/communication skills beginning with simple to complex emotional reciprocal gestures to single and combined utterances; emerging phrases and full sentence usage.  For older children and adolescents who have mastered these above milestones, deeper critical reflective thinking skills, multi-causal thinking, gray-area thinking and thinking from an emerging set of deeper or internalized values (i.e., more complex back and forth perspective-taking which reflects an emergent foundation of healthy autonomy) become the focus of the child/primary caregiver sessions in conjunction with more complex social-pragmatic communication language skills.

My practice is strongly informed by Polyvagal Theory which through the process of cultivating the underlying foundations of co-regulation focuses on your child’s internal cues of felt-safety with others (beneath the words) with an emphasis on slowing down and attunement to subtle facial gestures, auditory-prosodic vocalizations, breath and natural movements. The latter significantly aids in reducing sensory processing challenges thus allowing your child greater access for more spontaneous two-way reciprocal engagement and sustained social-pragmatic communication/ language to emerge.

I also regularly consult with developmental pediatricians, pediatric neuropsychologists, developmental psychologists, occupational therapists, oral motor therapists, physical therapists, nutritionists, art therapists and other professionals where there is required more specific attention to a highly specified area of concern or challenge.  Therapy sessions are conducted not in a clinic but in the convenience of your family home setting which promotes optimal therapeutic support.

For families where distance/travel time is prohibited, Zoom sessions are available as an option. In addition to in the home family sessions, video recording during off sessions times as an additional point of reference, review and assessment of daily therapist guided family implemented skills can be provided. All initial phone consultations are quite extensive and non-fee based.