2025 Conference Schedule

Level: Parents and Professionals | Foundational

Description: I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail (Maslow, 1966). Professionals and parents often rely on familiar tools, frameworks, and practices when supporting neurodivergent children. However, the Law of the Instrument, as described by both Abraham Kaplan (1964) and Abraham Maslow (1966), warns against the tendency to overapply familiar methods. This presentation will explore the implications of these cognitive biases within DIRFloortime practice, with a particular focus on the "I" - Individual Differences. Individual differences in sensory, motor, emotional, and communication domains are inherently complex. Yet, when we over-rely on a limited set of conceptual frameworks or intervention strategies, we risk oversimplifying these complexities. This presentation will encourage participants to reflect on how the Law of the Instrument may influence their own approaches and discuss strategies for maintaining a flexible, observation-driven mindset.

Level: Parents and Professionals| Foundational

Description: There are a number of mistakes and misunderstandings that make it hard for people to use DIRFloortime to its maximum effectiveness. There are also points of emphasis, that if understood, would help your clients make the progress they are entitled to. In this presentation, Dr. Tippy will offer simple changes you could make that would maximize your time and your client, or loved one's investment!

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Offered Again on October 28th

Recording Not Available

Description: Join Helen and Laura for a fun, interactive session. Their presentation will offer you the opportunity to consider how you might add the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) to your DIR Profile Building process. Together we will watch a video of a caregiver-child interaction, and then you will have the experience of scoring the FEAS at home, alongside Helen and Laura. As you watch and listen to their live discussion of the video you can document your own observations and grow your clinical thinking and reasoning capacities. What did Helen and Laura observe in the video and how does this grow their understanding of the dyad? How does understanding of the child’s individual differences influence their clinical thinking about the child’s FEDC’s? How are these TL’s thinking they would like to support the deepening and expansion of this caregiver-child relationship? What coaching moments do they anticipate?

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Description: This presentation explores how the core principles of DIRFloortime —developmental progress, individual differences, and relationships—naturally align with Middle Eastern cultural values. By focusing on family connections, social-emotional growth, and individualized learning, DIRFloortime provides a culturally resonant approach to supporting autistic children in the region. The presentation will highlight how Middle Eastern caregiving practices and community structures complement the developmental foundations of this model, fostering emotional regulation, social engagement, and higher-level thinking.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Many children, some with seemingly otherwise good verbal skills, have difficulty with conversations. They may talk too much, or not enough. They may not always respond to others’ overtures, may have difficulty with topic maintenance, or may constantly interrupt. Some may not seem interested. All of these examples describe challenges in social pragmatics. How can we support these children through the use of the DIR model? Through video, power point and discussion, this presentation will attempt to define “conversation”, and will list the abilities needed to participate in conversations successfully. The development supportive of conversational competence will be suggested, as well as factors that may influence that development. Finally, ways in which caregivers can be more supportive conversational partners through use of the DIR model, will be explored.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Offered again on October 27th

Recording Not Available

Description: Four online DIRFloortime moments, with four different autistic children of various ages and interests, show how the therapeutic relationship and the child's engagement can transcend spatial barriers. Can the DIRFloortime approach in an online setting be just as effective as in-person sessions? The fact that the setting is not controlled or structured by the therapist might lead to some of the most amazing DIRFloortime online moments? Despite all the challenges, can the therapist— even online — be the best toy in the room and create space for the joy of interaction and meaningful, two-way communication? And how can parents support this process? Let’s explore and learn together about online DIRFloortime — even when we’re apart!

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Offered again on October 23rd

Recording Not Available

Description: Our goal as Floortimers is to promote and practice DIRFloortime everywhere- but it can be challenging to do in a school that utilizes a different model, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) or even an eclectic mix of models. This presentation follows the journey of one Floortimer currently practicing in mixed model school and discussing the challenges, the successes, the emotions, and the wonderings she encounters on a daily basis. Suggestions and ideas for how to navigate and promote DIRFloortime in a mixed model school- while supporting your own regulation and safety- will be shared through videos, interviews as well as moments for open discussion.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Offered again October 24th

Recording Not Available

Description: DIRFloortime is a developmental, relationship-based framework that supports and promotes the individual difference of communication and language as an individual moves along the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities. This presentation will tell the DIRFloortime story of one family with their 8-year-old boy. The parents and DIRFloortime Speech Language Therapist will use parent stories and video illustrations to show the child's communication and language development over the past 5 years. This boy is a total communicator. He communicates using spoken words, gestures, actions, facial expressions, and an AAC device (augmentative and alternative communication). The parents and provider will illustrate the child's progression as the parents and provider partner together to support and promote his development. The parents and provider are eager to tell the story and engage in discussion with the audience about DIR and communication and language.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: One of the tenants of Floortime is to "be the best toy in the room", but what does that mean? This presentation will help not only define that statement but also provide suggestions for making it happen. Through the use of PowerPoint and video review, ideas for being the best toy in the room through the use of affect, voice, and body will be discussed. Please come ready to share the ways you become the best toy in the room!

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Many parents struggle to understand the value of Floortime when it appears to be "just play." This presentation will explore effective ways to communicate the why behind Floortime and how to meet families where they are to foster genuine buy-in. Attendees will gain practical strategies, scripts, and concrete examples to support parental education on the DIR® model, helping families see beyond the surface of play and recognize the deep developmental benefits of engagement, connection, and regulation.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: This presentation aims to explore the components of reflective supervision, the role of the supervisor, how we can use reflective supervision and DIR Coaching to support developing excellence in practicing DIRFloortime, and how collegial intervention can support this process. We will discuss case studies, and supervisors and supervisees will share their experience in developing DIRFloortime skills in these settings. We will also discuss how this kind of support can impact moving forward in legislation and accreditation and promoting DIRFloortime on a larger scale.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: In this presentation, I will share how various approaches can be merged to support the higher FEDCs. Considering DIR as the central axis, I will present different methodological tools that accompany the higher capacities from a psychoeducational approach and all the creative and reflective work that Gestalt therapy applied to childhood and adolescence brings us.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: When Dr. Stanley Greenspan was alive, he met with the Rebecca School staff weekly to support individualized DIRFloortime program development for students in the school environment, he also consulted with parents during these case conferences. When Dr. Greenspan passed the Rebecca School carried on with "Greenspans" to continue to highlight the importance of transdiciplinary, individualized programming at the Rebecca School. In this presentation the attendees will have an inside look at "Greenspans" case conferences at the Rebecca School. During Greenspans a team of professionals presents a chosen student's case to the Rebecca School staff of over 150 employees. Parents start off the case conferences by telling the story of their child from birth to current date followed by the school team presenting the student's current program. Finally, the team gains insight and support from the Rebecca School staff to develop the students program.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Offered again October 27th

Recording Not Available

Description: This presentation highlights how DIRFloortime can be adapted for a hospital setting, turning challenges into opportunities for play and connection. Using the Circle of Security model, we explore ways to build trust, encourage exploration, and support children's development. Practical strategies for engaging older children and involving parents are shared, helping clinicians create a nurturing environment even in unfamiliar clinical spaces.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Analytic language processors are children who develop language by learning single words. Over time, they combine these words to form phrases and sentences. In contrast, gestalt language processors speak in larger “chunks” or “gestalts” (e.g., echolalic phrases). These gestalts carry meaning or emotional significance for the child, even if they appear unrelated to the context. For years, therapists often overlooked gestalt processing as a valid developmental difference. As a result, children who used this style frequently lacked appropriate support. In this presentation, we will explore analytic and gestalt language processing and their influence on Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs). We will also examine how these processing styles shape communication and development. Finally, we’ll discuss effective strategies for supporting language growth while respecting individual differences. By understanding these two distinct approaches, we can better tailor interventions to meet each child’s unique needs and promote meaningful communication.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Description: Coaching is a valuable tool that can be used to give parents and caretakers the opportunity to learn from a professional in a natural way by playing with their child. It is an opportunity for the professional to share how the understanding of individual differences can positively impact the development of relationships as well as the functional emotional developing capacities (FEDC’s). The value and differences of in-the-moment coaching and on-the-moment coaching will be shown through video clips. The link between the coaching methods and the individual differences, FEDC’s and the relationship of the play partners will also be evident in the video clips.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: This presentation shares a five-year clinical experience of integrating the DIRFloortime approach into a national pediatric palliative care service in Latvia. With around 50% of patients presenting neurodevelopmental disorders, the model has been used both in direct therapy and caregiver coaching. Observed benefits include improved affective communication, even among non-verbal children, and enhanced parent–child emotional connection. The session explores how a developmental, relationship-based approach can offer a meaningful alternative to behavioral strategies in complex care contexts, especially at the end of life. Clinical insights are supported by existing research and advocate for compassionate, individualized interventions that preserve dignity and promote joy in interaction.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Recording Not Available

Description: My initial sessions with a new child and their family often come with challenges. As a DIR-informed speech-language pathologist, my goal is to increase parental sensitivity and awareness of their child, while simultaneously supporting the child's development. By focusing on this connection, we can support the child’s development in meaningful ways. After each session, I carefully review the video recordings, analyzing them moment by moment. I then share a link with the family so they can observe both their own interactions and mine with their child. In my presentation, I will describe the theoretical foundations and practical application of my DIR work that I have found useful in my culture while working with families. To start, I’ll show one of my vignettes that I made for a family. Participants will learn the art and science of trauma informed DIR work and how to teach both the theory and practical tools to families.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Description: The world of emotions can be a confusing and frustrating place, especially when language processing skills are a relative challenge. Creating storyboards--comic strip-style stories of salient emotional events--can provide a lot of opportunities to support clients in strengthening their sequencing and narrative abilities, and to support them in developing a shared understanding of events that have a strong emotional component. With collaborative storyboarding, practitioners can support clients in reflecting on what happened, cataloging and understanding emotional responses to situations (both their own and those of others), and gradually developing a sense of perspective-taking and shades of grey thinking. Storyboarding can be useful in individual and group work, and can be adjusted to a wide range of developmental profiles to support growth. This presentation will use video examples and discussion to provide participants with practical skills to apply in a variety of contexts.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Let's explore the WONDERful world of DIRFloortime together! This presentation will provide an overview of praxis in relation to the DIRFloortime model. We will Zoom in on one aspect of praxis called affordances and highlight how this concept relates to all Floortimers. The application of using an affordance lens to support social emotional development within the DIRFloortime model will be explored and concepts will be tied to tailoring the environment and our interactions to facilitate the "just right challenge." Lastly, we will embark on a journey of wonders related to the application of an affordance lens in strengthening the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDC’s).

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: The goal of this presentation is to highlight the ways in which DIRFloortime® can be used to develop more supportive psychological testing practices and environments, and how in turn, accurate and robust psychological testing can give us insight into a student’s individual differences and can be instrumental in developing DIRFloortime® programming. The function of cognitive testing is to get a snapshot of what an individual can do at their best. However, these instruments are not designed with neurodiversity or sensory processing in mind. As a field we are doing these individuals a disservice by not creating an environment in which they can be successful and are therefore often not reporting accurate scores. Many reports wrongfully label individuals as noncompliant or untestable. However, an understanding of the functional emotional developmental capacities can help to tailor the testing environment to a student’s individual needs to glean more accurate data.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: We need DIR in schools now more than ever, but how do we get there?  What would an ideal DIRFloortime school look like?  How can we design a DIR-centered curriculum that aligns with standard educational frameworks? Join us in using the DIR process to envision the ideal DIR school as we wonder and problem-solve practical ideas together.

Level: Parents | Foundational

Description: Shared joy in relationships is one of the fundamental goals within DIRFloortime play. Some people are more able to experience joy than others, and autistic people who speak about “autistic joy” describe it as perhaps more intense. However, when autistic children are lost in a joyful moment, carers may not know how to join in the moment or may even inadvertently spoil the fun. This talk explores how parents can be coached in how to adjust what they do, how to play in joyful ways and how to tune-in to their autistic child’s joy, to reach a place of sustained shared joy. This includes exploring their own experience of joy, adapting their Floortime play to their child’s sensory needs and pleasures, creating a sense of safety and balance, and a willingness to embrace the joyful micro moments their autistic child reveals to them.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

First Offered on October 20th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: Our goal as Floortimers is to promote and practice DIRFloortime everywhere- but it can be challenging to do in a school that utilizes a different model, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) or even an eclectic mix of models.  This presentation follows the journey of one Floortimer currently practicing in mixed model school and discussing the challenges, the successes, the emotions, and the wonderings she encounters on a daily basis.  Suggestions and ideas for how to navigate and promote DIRFloortime in a mixed model school- while supporting your own regulation and safety- will be shared through videos, interviews as well as moments for open discussion.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Offered again on October 25th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: It is often the goal of parents, caregivers and educators to elicit skills associated with the student’s chronological age (i.e., handwriting, walking, talking) leading to increased anxiety in service providers and the pressure to target these skills immediately. However, we hope to challenge everyone to consider important, more subtle foundational skills that support development through the capacities, such as sensory integration, postural control and presymbolic language development. By focusing on earlier capacities, such as regulation, shared attention and engagement within the context of occupational, physical and speech therapy, we offer our students richer and more robust learning experiences. As a transdisciplinary team, we all have our own unique perspectives on these critical skills and capacities; however, when we target them, our sessions can often look similar to one another. During this presentation, we will stress the importance and advantages of working within the context of a transdisciplinary lens.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: The concept of "Wait, Watch, and Wonder" is paramount to the practice of DIRFloortime. Additionally, it should inform the ways educators engage and support their students. Students with developmental disabilities benefit from this practice in one-on-one instruction, dyads, and groups alike. Through this presentation, we aim to showcase the importance of integrating processing time into the unique programs of each student at the Rebecca School.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Offered again on October 27th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: This presentation will focus on the developmental progress of a bilingual Bangladeshi boy from a low educational background through DIRFloortime coaching. We will take a look at his development over the years, beginning at age two, all the way to 18 years of age and from FEDC 1/2 to FEDC 9. In the process, linking family history, cultural background and flexible application of DIRFloortime as a philosophy as well as a method.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Join us as we discuss why DIRFloortime is educationally significant for school performance. Look at how the first 6 Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDC's) support different academic skills such as reading, writing and math. Discover how the depth of including a problem-solving approach on different levels is foundational for all academic skills. Consider individual differences and related functioning that could mobilize a students' mind towards academic proficiency and executive success.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: Multimodal support groups for parents of neurodiverse individuals faced with the war in its active phase link the therapeutic approach of DIRFloortime to a critical real-world challenge. These groups focus on supporting parents’ mental health, helping them to manage trauma, loss, and the existential dilemmas of navigating danger or adapting to new circumstances while supporting their neurodiverse youngsters. By regulating parents’ Autonomous Nervous System and ultimately reworking self-regulation capacities (FEDC1), groups’ “playful interaction” enables families to restore resilience and build new skills. Therapists also raise awareness of trauma’s effects on the clinical presentation of neurodiverse children and teenagers, extending strategies to support neurotypical siblings. Looking back at this work with parents is an opportunity to summarize the experience of the last two years of work with families.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

First offered on October 20th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: DIRFloortime is a developmental, relationship-based framework that supports and promotes the individual difference of communication and language as an individual moves along the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities. This presentation will tell the DIRFloortime story of one family with their 8-year-old boy. The parents and DIRFloortime Speech Language Therapist will use parent stories and video illustrations to show the child's communication and language development over the past 5 years. This boy is a total communicator. He communicates using spoken words, gestures, actions, facial expressions, and an AAC device (augmentative and alternative communication). The parents and provider will illustrate the child's progression as the parents and provider partner together to support and promote his development. The parents and provider are eager to tell the story and engage in discussion with the audience about DIR and communication and language.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Previously offered on October 23rd

No recording available for this presentation

Description: It is often the goal of parents, caregivers and educators to elicit skills associated with the student’s chronological age (i.e., handwriting, walking, talking) leading to increased anxiety in service providers and the pressure to target these skills immediately. However, we hope to challenge everyone to consider important, more subtle foundational skills that support development through the capacities, such as sensory integration, postural control and presymbolic language development. By focusing on earlier capacities, such as regulation, shared attention and engagement within the context of occupational, physical and speech therapy, we offer our students richer and more robust learning experiences. As a transdisciplinary team, we all have our own unique perspectives on these critical skills and capacities; however, when we target them, our sessions can often look similar to one another. During this presentation, we will stress the importance and advantages of working within the context of a transdisciplinary lens.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Play is the primary occupation of childhood, but it can be incredibly complex. Through DIRFloortime and our understanding of social-emotional development, we can use play to support both physical and language development in a meaningful way. However, there have often been silos of information regarding motor and language development that can impact our understanding of the children we work with. Through case studies of collaboration between a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist, we will explore the parallels between representational praxis and symbolic language within the context of DIRFloortime. This presentation will dive into Dr. Iverson's decontextualization of play and the milestones that align so beautifully between motor and language development to support interdisciplinary collaboration. The more we can understand about development and individual differences, the more we can make meaning for our clients and children to foster their expression of ideas.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Description: With DIRFloortime, we often talk about waiting, watching, and wondering, of chasing the why. We're generally (and genuinely) curious. Recently I've worked with more individuals who lacked hope... and curiosity. They see themselves as victims. Things just happen to them and they had given up. I want to use their strengths to support them, but they struggle to identify assets and affinities. When asked if they wondered about why things felt that way, they said “no, that’s just the way things are.” Having hope is important, but hope requires goals, agency, and pathways. To identity those things, you really need curiosity. Ken Robinson says “you can’t just give someone a creativity injection. You have to create an environment for curiosity and a way to encourage people and get the best out of them." In this presentation we’ll discuss why curiosity is so important and how to promote it using DIRFloortime.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: We define I-DIR as a bi-directional approach that nurtures both Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs) and interoceptive awareness—the body’s internal sensing essential for regulation, emotional growth, and social engagement. It reviews recent research framing interoception as a whole brain-body system, explored through the DIR model lens. The discussion highlights how interoception is present and can be harnessed within each DIR component: developmental capacities, individual differences, and relationships. It examines interoception’s role in regulation, affect, and reciprocity, emphasizing their interconnection, and how DIRFloortime supports growth in interoceptive capacity across developmental stages. The presentation explores how parental interoceptive sensitivity shapes child development and reflects on interoception’s unique role in each FEDC and reflective practice. This case study demonstrates applying I-DIR principles using the 8 dimensions of the MAIA (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness) wheel. Finally, it considers DIR as both an intervention and measurement framework for interoceptive development.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: This presentation will focus on coaching parents while supporting the entirety of their FEDCs and their individual differences. Coaching is an integral part of DIRFloortime. In real time, practitioners feel stymied when their coaching techniques are ineffective for some families. The presenter will discuss some impediments to coaching and differing parental profiles. The presentation will look at some adult diagnoses through the lens of FEDCs to identify underlying developmental constrictions and developmentally matched coaching techniques. The presentation will utilize case study descriptions based on real life examples. This presentation seeks to offer techniques that support a wide range of FEDC constrictions so that all parents can access the DIRFloortime experience.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: It is an understatement to say that stress is ubiquitous. This presentation highlights the power of the DIRFloortime model to better understand stress and stress management. Because DIR is an inclusive model, concepts from attachment theory, positive psychology, and peak performance can be blended and understood more completely. Sources of positive and negative stress will be considered. This presentation describes neurodiversity neutrally with the potential of being not only a tremendous asset, but also as a potential stressor. DIRFloortime has the potential to help identify strategies that can improve quality of life and are not “one-size-fits-all”, but rather are tailored to individual needs and resources. These might include simple strategies (e.g., relaxation techniques after a “tough” day) as well as complex repair and reformation of one’s social and physical environments to mitigate against dangerous/toxic and/or chronic stress.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Offered previously on October 21st

No recording available for this presentation

Description: This presentation highlights how DIRFloortime can be adapted for a hospital setting, turning challenges into opportunities for play and connection. Using the Circle of Security model, we explore ways to build trust, encourage exploration, and support children's development. Practical strategies for engaging older children and involving parents are shared, helping clinicians create a nurturing environment even in unfamiliar clinical spaces.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Previously offered on October 20th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: Four online DIRFloortime moments, with four different autistic children of various ages and interests, show how the therapeutic relationship and the child's engagement can transcend spatial barriers. Can the DIRFloortime approach in an online setting be just as effective as in-person sessions? The fact that the setting is not controlled or structured by the therapist might lead to some of the most amazing DIRFloortime online moments? Despite all the challenges, can the therapist— even online — be the best toy in the room and create space for the joy of interaction and meaningful, two-way communication? And how can parents support this process? Let’s explore and learn together about online DIRFloortime — even when we’re apart!

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Using the tenets of DIR and DIRFloortime, we will examine ways to support children, parents, and caregivers through tough situations. Tantrums, attention seeking, refusal, and other behavior struggles often have underlying causes. This presentation will encourage parents and caregivers to become more curious and less furious about behavior. Parents and caregivers will leave with insight into how development and individual differences shape behavior, strategies to deescalate difficult situations, as well as tools for communicating with others helping to support the child.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Previously offered on October 24th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: This presentation will focus on the developmental progress of a bilingual Bangladeshi boy from a low educational background through DIRFloortime coaching. We will take a look at his development over the years, beginning at age two, all the way to 18 years of age and from FEDC 1/2 to FEDC 9. In the process, linking family history, cultural background and flexible application of DIRFloortime as a philosophy as well as a method.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: Educators face many challenges, including rising numbers of students in the classroom and differentiating instruction. Adding awareness of each student's DIR profile and individualizing curriculum to support their individual differences make it even more difficult. REConnections Education Center (REC), a DIR school in Tampa Bay, FL has incorporated weekly trainings and case studies in addition to on the floor coaching as solutions to support teachers. This presentation will describe the model of support REC has implemented over the past five years to help teachers create engaging classrooms.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Intermediate

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Discover the power of teaching as a human. In this session, SEN teacher, Stacey Duffy shares how embracing vulnerability, challenging norms, and relinquishing control transformed her classroom. Learn how authenticity fosters connection—and why showing students who we are can be the most powerful lesson of all.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: What if a child’s behavior was not something to fix, but a doorway into their sensory and emotional world? This presentation draws inspiration from The Little Prince to explore the core principles of DIRFloortime through the power of storytelling. Using quotes and imagery from the beloved book, we will highlight how emotional attunement, individual differences, and co-regulation shape development far beyond what is visible on the surface.

Participants will be guided to reflect on their assumptions about child behavior and to shift their focus from compliance to connection, from observation to understanding. By weaving together neuroscience, developmental theory, and poetic metaphor, this session offers a heartfelt yet clinically grounded perspective on supporting children through relationship-based practice.

This talk is ideal for professionals and caregivers seeking new language, and new eyes, to connect more deeply with the children they support.

Level: Professionals & Parents | Foundational

Description: Autism was historically understood as a severe disability that rendered individuals to be seen as incapable of participating in society or achieving independence. However, modern understanding now recognizes a broad spectrum of abilities and challenges, emphasizing neurodiversity and inclusion. Yet, what about those individuals with autism who require extensive support and may never be fully included? There remains a segment of the autistic population who may never find employment, achieve independence, or fully participate in society. How does the neurodiversity narrative of "difference" support these individuals and their caregivers? In this exploration, we delve into the I of the DIR® model, examining the realities of autism awareness, acceptance, and appreciation, while navigating the fine line between respect and dignity

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Previously offered on October 20th

No recording available for this presentation

Description: Join Helen and Laura for a fun, interactive session. Their presentation will offer you the opportunity to consider how you might add the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) to your DIR Profile Building process. Together we will watch a video of a caregiver-child interaction, and then you will have the experience of scoring the FEAS at home, alongside Helen and Laura. As you watch and listen to their live discussion of the video you can document your own observations and grow your clinical thinking and reasoning capacities.  What did Helen and Laura observe in the video and how does this grow their understanding of the dyad? How does understanding of the child’s individual differences influence their clinical thinking about the child’s FEDC’s? How are these TL’s thinking they would like to support the deepening and expansion of this caregiver-child relationship? What coaching moments do they anticipate?

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation will explore the interplay between prosody in the mother tongue (PMT), affect, and regulation in the construction of emotions. Polyvagal theory and acoustic regulation of state support calming and bidirectionality in the experience of emotions and social engagement. Understanding these interactions advances valuable insights into enhancing the social-emotional well-being for autistic children. Affect and attunement are foundational pillars of emotional communication and social engagement. Prosody, which encompasses rhythm/timing, intonation, and stress patterns in speech, is crucial in conveying emotions. PMT carries cultural and emotional significance for children and caregivers. In addition, languages/dialects possess characteristic prosodic signatures that influence communication and emotional expression. Caregivers can use familiar prosodic patterns in the mother tongue to create supportive environments and facilitate emotional regulation. We will discuss ongoing research and provide strategies to leverage PMT to support emotional expression and regulation. Attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and share their insights/experiences.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: "Teachers with self-reported lived experiences of anxiety with strict, cold parents, had higher capacities for emotional awareness. Teachers of grades 2-12 at a therapeutic school completed a brief narrative describing early positive experiences with touch and were administered the MAIA-2. Results were unexpected and counterintuitive and opened the door for closer observation of individual differences, relationships and the need to hold off on drawing conclusions from implicit bias expectations. In studies, we need to spend more time looking at outliers who do not fit into our preconceived expectations. How can lived experiences of anxiety with strict, cold parents contribute to higher capacities for emotional awareness?"