2021 International Live Online DIRFloortime® Conference
Conference Schedule
All times shown in United States Eastern Time Zone (Please note that daylight saving time ends November 7, 2021)
Monday, November 1
7:00 - 8:30 PM Opening Keynote: Ethical Considerations in Autism Services
Julia Bascom, ASAN Executive Director with Opening Remarks from Jeffrey Guenzel, ICDL Executive Director
Tuesday, November 2
12:00 - 1:30 PM: A Study of Societal Stigmatization of a Child's Illness Using Examples from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus: A therapeutic approach to healing stigma based on DIRFloortime®
Elena Akulova , Psychologist and DIR-Expert
9:00 - 10:30 PM: What a Rubber Band Can Teach Us about Supporting Development from the Inside Out
Jackie Bartell, MSEd, DIR-Expert and Sanjay Kumar, OT, AHPC-R Singapore, DIR-Expert
Wednesday, November 3
8:00 - 9:30 AM: "Inside Out": Playful Floortime Ideas through a Pixar Movie
Maude LeRoux, OTR/L, DIR-Expert
10:00 - 11:30 AM: When Is It a Good Time for Playful Obstruction? And When Is It Not?
Colette Ryan, MSEd, IMH-E, DIR-Expert
Thursday, November 4
10:00 - 11:30 AM: Promoting Development Through the Lens of Social Justice in Early Intervention: Exploring provider perceptions of preparedness and comfort
Kathleen Schlenz, ABD, OTR/L
8:00 - 9:30 PM: Relating and Resilience: A look at how Floortime families continued to develop in this year of uncertainty
Dawn Capelli, LICSW, DIR-Expert
Friday, November 5
8:00 - 9:30 AM: Becoming Symbolic with Simple, Low-Cost Materials to Encourage Play at FEDCs 4-6
Sibylle Janert, MA, DIR-Expert
12:00 - 1:30 PM: Floortime Fundamentals Discussion Group: The Floortime process
ICDL's Clinical Consultants, Senior Advisors, and the DIR® Institute Experts
Saturday, November 6
10:00 - 11:30 AM: The Zipper Effect: Uniting LAMP and Floortime
Joleen R. Fernald, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, DIR-Expert and Jessica N. Steiner, MEd, MS, CCC-SLP, DIR-Advanced
12:00 - 1:30 PM: From Isolation to Friendship: How the DIR model and AAC improves social development and social integration of a child with complex needs. A case study from a private clinic in Greece
Vikki Skarlopoulou MA, SLP, Bsc, Rcslt, HCPC, reg, DIR- Advanced
Sunday, November 7
(USA Daylight Saving Time Ends 3:00 AM)
1:00 - 2:30 PM: Becoming Symbolic with Simple, Low-Cost Materials to Encourage Play at FEDCs 4-6
Sibylle Janert, MA, DIR-Expert
3:00 - 4:30 PM: Co-regulation 101: Helping our children feel safe
Denise Wilson, OT, DIR-Expert
7:00 - 8:30 PM: When Is It a Good Time for Playful Obstruction? And When Is It Not?
Colette Ryan, MSEd, IMH-E, DIR-Expert
Monday, November 8
10:00 - 11:30 AM: DIRFloortime® Music Therapy: Combining approaches for an individualized intervention with parental involvement to support Autistic preschoolers
Dr. Giulia Campatelli, DIR-Expert, Dr. Giovanni Vizzano, DIR-Proficient, Giusi Burgio, and Barbara Cravero
7:00 - 8:30 PM: A Journey of Self-Reflection in Supporting Our Children
Daria Brown, MA, DIR-Advanced and Mike Fields, MS, LPC, DIR-Expert
Tuesday, November 9
10:00 - 11:30 AM: The Affect-Based Language Curriculum (ABLC): An intensive program for families, therapists and teachers combines the strengths of the DIRFloortime® model with developmental speech-language therapy in a step-wise, highly structured format
Diane Lewis, MA, CCC-SLP
1:00 - 2:30 PM: DIR meets Playback Theater: Experience in applying the DIRFloortime® approach to working with adults with disabilities in a playback theater project
Yaroslava Khudenko, Psychologist, DIR-Expert and Tamara Nauk, Social Worker, DIR-Basic
Wednesday, November 10
12:00 - 1:00 PM: What's With the New Kid? My Autism, My Story
Turrell Burgess, Author and Jeffrey Guenzel, ICDL Executive Director
1:00 - 2:30 PM: Relating and Resilience: A look at how Floortime families continued to develop in this year of uncertainty
Dawn Capelli, LICSW, DIR-Expert
7:00 - 8:30 PM: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Using a DIRFloortime® Lens
Gloria Andrade, PhD, IMHM, DIR-Expert and Gerard Costa, PhD, IMHM, DIR-Exeprt
9:00 - 10:30 PM: Floortime Fundamentals Discussion Group: Promoting development from the inside out
ICDL's Clinical Consultants, Senior Advisors, and the DIR® Institute Experts
Thursday, November 11
8:00 - 9:30 AM: Working with parents: bottom-up approach
Kingkaew Pajareya, MD, DIR-Expert
9:00 - 10:30 PM: Using Art to Support Early Childhood Development, Communication and Self-Esteem
Michele Havens, EdD, DIR-Expert and Faith Thayer, PhD, LPC, LCAT, ATR-BC , DIR-Expert
Friday, November 12
10:00 - 11:30 AM: Co-regulation 101: Helping our children feel safe
Denise Wilson, OT, DIR-Expert
12:00 - 1:30 PM: Why "Touch" Matters: Exploring how our tactile system affects the developmental process
Gretchen Kamke, OTR/L, DIR-Expert
2:00 - 3:30 PM: As Only Music Can! Musical-Play, Floortime and Circles of Communication
John Carpente, PhD
Saturday, November 13
10:00 - 11:30 AM Conference Keynote: Punished By Rewards: From "doing to" to "working with"
12:00 - 1:30 PM: Qualitative Analysis of Challenges Encountered by African American Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism
Jarilyn Conner, PhD
Monday, November 15
10:00 - 11:30 AM: Floortime Fundamentals Discussion Group: Floortime at home
ICDL's Clinical Consultants, Senior Advisors and the DIR® Institute Experts
7:00 - 8:30 PM: From Diagnoses to Therapeutic Choices: A 15-year journey
Renata Alencar Ponte, DIR-Expert and Parent
Tuesday, November 16
1:00 - 2:30 PM: New Research: Functional diagnostics of changes in the distribution of energy and neuro exchange in the cerebral cortex due to the use of the integrated DIRFloortime® approach in the rehabilitation of various developmental disabilities
Elena Gomozova, DIR-Expert and Mariya Spiridonova
7:00 - 8:30 PM: DIR and R: The use of reflection in DIRFloortime®
Kate Sullivan, MEd, DIR-Expert and Coleen Vanderbeek, PsyD, DIR-Expert
Wednesday, November 17
9:00 - 10:30 AM: Finding My Identity During the COVID-19 Pandemic from Three Different Perspectives: Autistic adult, specialist educator and PhD student
Emile Gouws, Autistic Self-Advocate
1:00 - 2:30 PM: "Inside Out": Playful Floortime Ideas Through a Pixar Movie
Maude LeRoux, OTR/L, DIR-Expert
ASAN Gala November 17 - 19
ICDL is a proud sponsor of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) annual gala again this year. We take a pause from our month-long conference to encourage all of our participants to join the ASAN gala to support their work and listen to their perspectives. Please click here to register.
Saturday, November 20
10:00 - 11:30 AM: You Don't Know What You Can't Know: The importance of learning from parents and self-advocates
Emile Gouws, Autistic Self-Advocate and Daria Brown, Parent, MA, DIR-Advanced
12:00 - 1:30 PM: Parent Partnership and Parent Coaching Using DIRFloortime® in Virtual and In-Person Therapy in Young Children
Bridget Palmer, MA, CCC-SLP, DIR-Expert with a Panel of Parents
Sunday, November 21
7:00 - 8:30 PM: Floortime Fundamentals Discussion Group: Our good friend affect
ICDL's Clinical Consultants, Senior Advisors and the DIR® Institute Experts
Monday, November 22
12:00 - 1:30 PM: DIR and R: The use of reflection in DIRFloortime®
Kate Sullivan, MEd, DIR-Expert and Coleen Vanderbeek, PsyD, DIR-Expert
8:00 - 9:30 PM: Why "Touch" Matters: Exploring how our tactile system affects the developmental process.
Gretchen Kamke, OTR/L, DIR-Expert
Tuesday, November 23
6:00 - 7:30 PM: Demystifying Reflective Capacity: Critical practice for developing intentional, deliberate, empowered and awake clinicians, and supporting responsive, attuned and insightful parents
Virginia Speilmann, PhD
8:00 - 9:30 PM: Promoting Development Through the Lens of Social Justice in Early Intervention: Exploring provider perceptions of preparedness and comfort
Kathleen Schlenz, ABD, OTR/L
Wednesday, November 24
12:00 - 1:30 PM: In Search of Strengths: Using DIRFloortime® as a diagnostic tool
Shoshana Levin Fox, EdD, LP, RPT-S, DIR-Basic
Monday, November 29
8:00 - 9:30 PM: Working with Parents: A bottom-up approach
Kingkaew Pajareya, MD, DIR-Expert
Tuesday, November 30
9:00 - 10:30 AM: What a Rubber Band Can Teach Us about Supporting Development from the Inside Out
Jackie Bartell, MSEd, DIR-Expert and Sanjay Kumar, OT, AHPC-R Singapore, DIR-Expert
1:00 - 2:30 PM: Finding My Identity During the COVID-19 Pandemic from Three Different Perspectives: Autistic adult, specialist educator and PhD student
Emile Gouws
8:00 - 9:30 PM: Floortime Fundamentals Discussion Group: The role of self reflection and reflecting on a month of learning and developing
ICDL's Clinical Consultants, Senior Advisors and the DIR® Institute Experts with closing remarks from Jeffrey Guenzel, ICDL Executive Director