As a MA developmental therapist/special educator 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

Sessions conducted in your home or a family setting of your choice has proven to be the best place for growth and development to happen. We consistently guide you and your family during each session in your home to learn how to go to your child’s level and engage your child around his/her natural intent or 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 [Self Regulation and Taking Interest in the World]. We guide you each and every moment in helping you facilitate your child’s increased comfort and ability to begin to internally regulate his/her emotional states during simple back and forth two-way engagement around your child’s daily needs, desires and requests, for example, food, toys, play, etc. [Engaging and Relating to Purposeful Two-Way Communication]

Critically, we focus not on “child task-compliance” or on adult-directing child behaviors but on helping to naturally shift your child’s autonomic arousal states of defense, fight/flight or shut-down (i.e., All or Nothing responses/tantrums or withdrawal) to increased feelings of felt-safety and, thereby, supporting the Developmental-foundations of healthy engagement which will promote your child’s sustained use of spontaneous 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 [Complex Communication and Problem Solving]

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 [Using Symbols and Creating Emotional Ideas]. 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.) [Logical Thinking and Building Bridge Between Ideas]. 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. [Multi-Causal Perspective-Taking and Gray Area Thinking to Reflective Thinking from an Internal Standard of Self ]

My practice is also strongly informed by Polyvagal Theory which involves understanding the autonomic nervous system foundations that support co-regulated interactions The focus is on your child’s interoceptive cues of felt-safety with others beneath the words with an emphasis on social attunement to other’s subtle facial gestures, auditory-prosodic vocalizations, breath and natural movements. This significantly aids in reducing sensory processing challenges and, thereby, allows your child greater access for spontaneous two-way reciprocal engagement and sustained social-pragmatic communication/language to emerge. The emphasis is on the critical importance of the capacity and resiliency of your child’s autonomic nervous system shifting from cues of defense to cues of registered felt-safety which are necessary for engagement throughout all social interactions. Certified provider of the Polyvagal SSP (Safe and Sound Protocol).

I also regularly consult with developmental pediatricians, pediatric neuropsychologists, occupational 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 outcomes and support. Participation in scheduled school family/child review meetings are a regular part of our services.

For families where distance/travel time is prohibited, Zoom sessions are available as an option. In addition to our regular scheduled in home or virtual sessions, we encourage you to send weekly video during off session times of you and your child implementing what is practiced during our regular sessions. It will be confidentially reviewed with feedback at no additional cost.  All initial phone consultations are quite extensive and non-fee based.

https://www.dirdirectory.com/united-states/fort-lee/dirfloortime-practitioner/neil-samuels