2026 Conference Schedule

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: Autistic masking has increasingly been recognized as a contributor to stress, anxiety, burnout, and diminished well-being. While masking may serve as a survival strategy in environments that feel unsafe or unaccommodating, it often comes at a significant personal cost.

This presentation explores masking through a developmental lens and examines how professionals, caregivers, and educators can help reduce the need for masking rather than simply addressing its consequences. Using the DIR® model as a framework, participants will explore how strengthening foundational developmental capacities, including regulation, engagement, communication, and self-awareness, can support authentic participation and reduce reliance on masking as a coping strategy. Practical DIRFloortime® strategies will illustrate how supportive human connections can foster resilience, competence, self-expression, and agency.

Rather than helping autistic individuals appear less autistic, masking prevention focuses on building the developmental foundations that reduce the need for masking in the first place.

Level: Parents and Professionals| Foundational

Description: Thirty years ago, when he was two and a half, our son Jacob was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder and we were told that “he was probably retarded and would have to be institutionalized.” Two weeks after that initial assessment, Dr. Stanley Greenspan told us, “You should put not limits on Jacob’s potential, he may not go to MIT but just might.” While Jacob did not go to MIT, he was a Georgia State Hope Scholar who majored in Creative Writing and minored in Philosophy. He has recently applied to social work school.

The presentation will provide an overview of our family’s “Floortime life:” We will discuss the impact the DIRFloortime methodology – therapeutically and beyond, challenges faced and lessons learned, and reflections on the emotional impact of the diagnosis and our immersion in Floortime on our family members.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation proposes a developmental framework for psychotherapy with neurodivergent adults based on DIR/Floortime principles. Many neurodivergent adults enter psychotherapy without a diagnosis and often have a long history of therapy where they felt misunderstood or unsuccessful, while the core difficulty was regulation rather than insight. Traditional verbal psychotherapy models focus on reflection and cognitive processing and assume stable self-regulation, reciprocity, and emotional engagement. However, many neurodivergent adults experience difficulties at earlier Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities, including regulation, shared attention, reciprocity, and emotional engagement. Based on clinical experience of integrating DIR/Floortime into psychotherapy, this approach focuses on individual differences and sensory processing, development of regulation and co-regulation, and adaptation of the pace of therapy and communication. Supporting development across Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities can lead to faster and more effective therapeutic progress and provides therapists with new clinical tools for working with neurodivergent adults.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: An exploration of the influences of the sensory systems on our Floortime practice. We will look at exploring the "Brain body disconnect" of praxis, to support non-speaking/minimally speaking/unreliably speaking autistics. Further investigation into "why" is our sensory profile important beyond assesssment, a deep dive into how we use this information as influential in our practices to support others - looking at a strengths based approach of primarily the auditory and visual system, and how we can integrate AGILE into each of these systems to develop our practice further.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: A panel of five parents who practice DIRFloortime will share their lived experiences of building connection with their Autistic children. Autistic children often communicate and connect in ways that differ from neurotypical expectations, and these moments can be easily missed or misunderstood. Through an attuned DIRFloortime approach, each parent will describe how they learned to recognize and respond to their child’s unique ways of relating and communicating. Panelists will offer meaningful, real-life examples of connection that emerged through following their child’s lead, emphasizing the importance of observation, curiosity, and flexibility. They will highlight how shifting perspective can open up deeper, more authentic relationships. Participants will leave with practical insights and a greater awareness of subtle communication including individualized cues for connection which they can apply supporting their own children or clients in a more responsive and relationship-based way.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation focuses on the power of a transdisciplinary approach using DIRFloortime as we explore individual differences in a complex and highly discrepant profile in order to support growth through the developmental capacities. We will describe the case of a highly intelligent, academically capable 10 year old boy with a strong desire to connect while exhibiting significant challenges in emotional regulation, play and idea flexibility, and social communication which limited his social participation. We will review our reflective process for evaluation of the child’s individual differences and discuss how this informed our approach in co-treatment. Through photos and specific case examples, we will illustrate the collaborative use of occupational and speech therapy perspectives as DIRFloortime® practitioners in praxis, ideation, regulation and social communication and the impact of this on the child’s development and return to school, sports, and making friends.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

No recording available for this presentation

Description: Let us continue to introduce you to a key player in D (Developmental), I (Individual Difference) and especially the R (Relationships) aspects of the DIRFloortime® model- the Motor System! It plays a more important role in supporting the FEDC’s then meets the eye. In this presentation, we will highlight ways in which motor development informs affect and sensory development, while also integrating the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) used within the Dance/Movement therapy paradigm to support the body-mind connection and development of sense of self. Foundations for motor development and rhythmic movements as they relate to, and enhance the understanding of, the FEDCs will be discussed. To deepen exploration, participants will engage multiple interactional learning experiences to promote an understanding of ways to incorporate movement, motor development and rhythmic movements into their Floortime practice. This presentation builds upon our presentation at the 2026 International DIR conference- first time attendees welcome too!

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Feeding challenges are highly prevalent across pediatric populations, with clinical estimates suggesting up to 80% of children served in developmental and neurodivergent contexts experience some form of feeding difficulty. Despite this, many approaches remain rooted in compliance-based, ableist, and outcome-driven models that overlook safety, relational trust, and the child’s lived experience.

This presentation introduces a DIR-informed approach to feeding that invites clinicians to shift their lens and reframing mealtime as a relational, dynamic process grounded in comfort, connection, and curiosity. Emphasis will be placed on these principles and what they mean for how we view mealtime, as feeding is an incredibly intimate and individualized experience. .

Through case examples and authentic clinical reflection, this session will explore how these principles emerged and their impact on assessment, intervention, and the broader mealtime experience. Attendees will leave with a holistic framework that expands possibilities for meaningful, individualized, and joyful mealtime.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Play is central to DIRFloortime, but as children grow, meaningful play increasingly happens in the digital world. Rather than treating video game use as something to restrict, this presentation invites practitioners to consider how a child's interest in games can be harnessed as a legitimate therapeutic medium for building Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities.

Drawing on emerging research and de-identified case examples from clinical practice, this session explores how Floortime strategies can be applied within digital play, following the child's lead, expanding circles of communication, and supporting social-emotional development through a medium that is already meaningful to them. Practitioners will leave with a practical framework for assessing when and how video games can be incorporated into relational, play-based intervention.

Level: Professionals & Parents| Foundational

Description: For an individual, unmasking in a world that frequently caters to neurotypical individuals can initially be an overwhelming and unwelcome task. However, with the empowering support of the DIR framework and the principles of Floortime, this journey of unmasking becomes an opportunity for self-discovery and the development of personal agency. The dyad will document this journey, showing how DIR serves as a crucial catalyst for the unmasking process.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Recording Not Available

Description: This topic explores several dimensions of affect: identification, awareness and tolerance. These play a central but seldom-discussed role in the DIRFloortime model. Better appreciation of affect tolerance can be key in supporting development across domains, and the therapeutic process in general, across disciples, and within other therapeutic frameworks. In addition to the power of affect to organize thoughts, feelings and actions (i.e., affect diathesis), affective awareness and tolerance can contribute to self-knowledge, and the development of empathy, quality of life, and self-care. This presentation will consider developmental capacities 1-16, individual differences, relationships and self-reflection through the lens of affect tolerance.

Research data and case material will be used to illustrate various aspects and benefits of affect tolerance. Guidelines and strategies aimed at developing and supporting affect tolerance within a DIRFloortime framework will be reviewed. These will include: watch/ wait/wonder, the just-right challenge, and following the other’s lead.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation shares best-practices learned from school-based interdisciplinary interventions (OT and Psychology), in Italian preschool classrooms.

Since 2023 we used different intervention formats, ranging from brief classroom visits with minimal teacher involvement to a more structured intervention.

We will share both what didn't work (e.g. one-time classroom interventions, limited collaboration with teachers) and why these approaches had limited impact on classroom practice, and what facilitated (e.g. (prior introductory training for teachers, in-class modeling of Floortime practices, coaching embedded within classroom routines, and regular reflective meetings with teachers).

Case vignettes will illustrate how Floortime interactions, small-group activities, and “micro-moments” can be embedded in daily preschool routines to support engagement, co-regulation, and inclusive peer interaction. We will also address common teacher concerns (e.g., large class sizes, limited time/resources) and present strategies for supporting inclusive peer interaction and sustainable implementation in early childhood settings.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: For many young people, learning to drive is a key milestone toward independence. However, autistic individuals often encounter barriers that make traditional driver education less effective or even inaccessible. These barriers may include sensory sensitivities, differences in processing speed, anxiety, or difficulty with multitasking and social cues on the road.

Despite these challenges, research and real-world outcomes show that with tailored instruction, many autistic individuals can become safe, confident drivers. Unfortunately, there is a lack of widespread, structured programs designed specifically to meet their needs.

This presentation describes the development of a program of a specialized driving training program for autistic teens and young adults led by occupational therapists and grounded in the DIRFloortime framework. It will demonstrate how a relationship-based, individualized approach can improve learning outcomes, safety, and confidence behind the wheel.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation explores the critical role of interoception in understanding regulation, particularly in children with trauma histories, through a DIRFloortime lens. Using a real clinical case, participants will examine how disruptions in internal body awareness can impact behavior, emotional regulation, and relational engagement. The session will move beyond theory to highlight how interoceptive differences are often misinterpreted in practice, leading to missed opportunities for connection and co-regulation. Through guided analysis, attendees will learn to differentiate sensory, interoceptive, and relational contributions to dysregulation and apply a practical framework for intervention. Emphasis will be placed on translating insight into action, including strategies to support safety, body awareness, and meaningful engagement. Participants will leave with concrete tools and a deeper understanding of how “listening to the body” can transform assessment and intervention in DIRFloortime practice.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: In this presentation, I share my personal experience as a mother of a child with a rare genetic condition, reflecting on our journey through traditional medical and educational systems. Through this lens, I aim to connect with other parents navigating similar paths, acknowledging the challenges of society’s conventional views. This talk invites a shift in encouraging us to embrace individual differences, and to see each child through strenght-based lens.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: This presentation explores how war-related trauma shapes child development and caregiving across generations through a DIRFloortime lens. Drawing on clinical insights from regions impacted by conflict, including the Gulf War, Lebanon, and Palestine, it reframes trauma as a developmental disruption rather than a set of symptoms. Participants will examine how trauma impacts Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs), particularly regulation, engagement, and symbolic thinking, and how caregiver nervous system states influence relational patterns. Using the principles of DIRFloortime, the session highlights practical strategies to support co-regulation, expand circles of communication, and facilitate meaning-making through play. Emphasis is placed on culturally responsive, relationship-based interventions that move beyond behaviour management toward rebuilding developmental pathways. This presentation positions DIRFloortime as a powerful model for intergenerational repair, restoring safety, connection, and emotional growth in trauma-affected families.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: This presentation details a six-year DIRFloortime® journey of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, presented through an integrated, multidisciplinary lens. The intervention combines psychological support for the entire family, psychomotor therapy focused on functional emotional capacities, and speech-therapy addressing a severe Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

Feeding, which was initially a source of intense stress and anxiety, was gradually transformed into a shared, joyful, and relational experience. By leveraging the power of relationships, other daily challenges were similarly turned into meaningful successes.

The narrative is supported by longitudinal data, video documentation, and first-person testimonies from both the mother. It highlights how an ecological approach, one that engages every system surrounding the child, facilitates significant developmental progress. Central to this process is parent coaching, which empowers the mother as an active partner in therapy. This presentation illustrates how a dynamic, systemic DIRFloortime model promotes development while fostering family well-being and resilience.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Autistic girls and women are frequently overlooked or diagnosed later in life due to gendered social expectations that shape how neurodivergence is expressed and perceived. Many girls learn early that certain behaviors, such as stimming, direct communication, sensory seeking, or emotional intensity are socially discouraged. In response, they often engage in masking or camouflaging strategies to appear socially acceptable. While masking can function as a short-term adaptation to social environments, it often comes at a developmental and emotional cost.

This presentation examines masking among autistic girls and women through the developmental and relational framework of DIRFloortime. Using DIR’s emphasis on affect, individual differences, and developmental capacities, the presentation will explore how chronic suppression of authentic affect and sensory expression may influence Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs) across the lifespan.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

No recording available for this presentation

Description: This presentation will focus on the necessity of the presence of two human beings in a meaningful interaction that will support development. Subjects will include Artificial Intelligence, toys and appliances intended to take the human being out of the child rearing interaction, and other technologies described as "help," but which actually hurt human development.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: This presentation will feature video reviewers from the DIR Institute from multiple disciplines. The group will review a video from each of their perspectives, then come together to set developmental, relationship-based goals that also respecting individual differences.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: Developmental consultations often focus on diagnosis, symptoms, and therapy recommendations. In contrast, DIRFloortime invites clinicians to understand children through their developmental capacities and relationships while supporting parents as active developmental partners. This presentation explores how developmental consultations can become the starting point for DIRFloortime parent coaching. Drawing from clinical work by a physician and an occupational therapist practicing DIRFloortime in the Philippines, this session highlights how developmental formulation, reflective dialogue, and intentional language can help parents shift from focusing on “fixing behavior” to understanding their child’s developmental needs. Case examples from developmental consultations and therapy sessions will illustrate strategies for reframing behaviors and guiding parents in everyday interactions that support regulation, engagement, and flexibility. Cultural considerations relevant to Filipino caregiving contexts—including extended family caregiving, relational values such as pakikipagkapwa, and expectations of medical authority—will also be discussed.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Learn about the benefits of providing Floortime services using the aquatic modality. Key components of this course will include:

-the importance of water safety for the autistic community

-the hidden benefits of aquatic therapy, including but not limited to social engagement, vocalization of speech, executive functioning, sensory regulation, and motor planning

-how floortime merges naturally with aquatic-based therapies

-video examples of floortime in the pool, focusing on FEDCs 1-6

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Floortime practice is typically viewed through the lens of dydadic relationships. But what do we make of the relationship between Floortime practitioners and their workplaces?

Most would agree that organizational culture will impact the quality of Floortime practice within. Can the DIRFloortime® model can impact the culture of our organizations in return?

In this presentation, we will take a look at:

-Some of the cultural elements that support Floortime practice in our organizations.

-Common obstacles to "Floortime culture."

-Passive and active ways that Floortime can shape the culture around us.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: While DIR-Floortime is often applied within neurodivergent populations, this presentation expands its use as a universal communication framework. It demonstrates how supporting developmental capacities through everyday interactions—using tools like “Yes, And,” the capacity for “No,” and feelings-and-needs language—can deepen connection, flexibility, and shared meaning across all neurotypes.

Participants will leave with immediately usable strategies that deepen relational safety, expand circles of communication, and support the full range of emotional development in naturalistic settings.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Intermediate

No recording available for this presentation

Description: This presentation explores Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) through both clinical insight and powerful parent perspectives. It highlights the sudden and often overwhelming changes children experience, and how the DIRFloortime approach can support regulation, connection, and development. Through real family experiences, Floortime videos and interviews, participants will discover how relationship-based and developmentally attuned support can provide a framework for supporting children with PANS.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: In many Mandarin-speaking families, children’s quietness is often interpreted as respect, self-regulation, and attentiveness. Within DIR Floortime, reduced verbal participation and slower initiation may be misinterpreted as disengagement. Cultural values emphasizing humility, emotional restraint, and social harmony may limit opportunities for overt emotional expression and co-regulation, shaping early relational experiences and influencing progression through FEDCs.

These patterns may be observed in FEDC 2, where children and caregivers may have fewer models of shared emotional expression and co-regulation, and in FEDC 4, when persistence may be perceived as disrespect. FEDC 5 may also be affected with avoidance of conflict and emotional discussion can limit opportunities to practice perspective-taking and complex emotional thinking.

Drawing on clinical work with Mandarin-speaking families, this presentation will explore how quiet engagement can support gradual initiation and will offer culturally responsive DIR strategies to help families integrate emotional connection with valued goals of academic and holistic development.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: Play is the primary vehicle through which DIRFloortime® promotes development across the lifespan, yet many clinicians lack a nuanced framework for identifying developmental stages of play and understanding how they relate to Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs). Children rarely move directly from exploratory manipulation to complex imaginative narratives; instead, they progress through subtle transitional stages that are often overlooked.

This presentation explores how stages of play development—ranging from sensory-motor exploration and functional play to symbolic, dramatic, and collaborative play—can be meaningfully mapped onto the FEDCs. Participants will examine how different qualities of play reflect underlying emotional and relational capacities, including shared attention, reciprocity, intentional communication, problem solving, and symbolic thinking. Clinical examples will illustrate how play themes, play complexity, and interaction patterns signal developmental progress across FEDC levels.

Grounded in neurodiversity-affirming practice, the session emphasizes meeting children where they are developmentally while supporting authentic connection and participation

Level: Professionals | Foundational

No Recordings Available for this Presentation

Description: Inspired by The Sound of Music, this presentation explores the role of parallel process in DIRFloortime coaching with neurodivergent caregivers and clinicians, with a focus on ADHD profiles. Through a detailed case study featuring video and transcript analysis, participants will examine how shared individual differences shape the coaching relationship and create opportunities for mutual growth.

Drawing on themes of self-reflection and developmental change, this session highlights how both caregiver and clinician engage in a process of recognizing and building upon their existing capacities. Just as Maria’s spontaneity, curiosity, emotional depth, and energetic nature initially appear mismatched to her environment—but ultimately become the very qualities that foster connection—neurodivergent traits in both caregivers and clinicians can be harnessed as strengths within the coaching relationship. Through this lens, coaching becomes less about delivering strategies and more about helping both participants “find their rhythm,” allowing authenticity, presence, and relationship to guide developmental growth.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description:Expansion is a core concept within DIRFloortime, yet it is often misunderstood as adding complexity through new materials, novel activities, or increased demands. In practice, meaningful expansion occurs within the context of connection, where shared experiences are deepened to support developmental growth. When clinicians and caregivers prioritize attunement, repetition, and engagement, expansion can emerge naturally without introducing new ideas or increasing obstruction.

This presentation will explore expansion across the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs) through the use of a single shared activity. Participants will see how interaction can be expanded within the same play routine to support regulation, engagement, communication, and shared problem-solving. This approach highlights the growth that occurs when play is allowed to develop organically.

Through video examples, reflection, and practical strategies, attendees will learn how to scaffold development in a way that honors autonomy, builds connection, and supports meaningful, intrinsic growth.

Level: Professionals | Advanced

Description: This presentation explores the conception of “meet them where they are,” one of the two broad principals of Floortime described by Greenspan in Building Healthy Minds (2000). From a psychological perspective, it analyzes the challenges of fostering meaningful therapeutic relationships that embrace individual differences while supporting the progression of functional emotional developmental capacities. Particular focus will be placed on the therapist’s role in facilitating the emergence of higher-level capacities—especially FEDCs 6–9—over the sense of shared experience. Drawing on concepts from Developmentally Based Psychotherapy (1997), the discussion will highlight the therapist’s roles as empathizer–clarifier and regulator–engager–interactor, emphasizing the role of collaborative co-constructor of emotional experiences. Through clinical vignettes, the presentation will illustrate how meeting individuals where they are can support emotional integration, reflective capacity, and the gradual expansion of self-awareness and autonomy.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

No recording available for this presentation

Description: In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), surface behaviors often mask internal states, creating significant diagnostic ambiguity. This case study examines a three-year-old boy whose social approach—characterized by a persistent smile—presented a clinical puzzle. Using a multi-cue interpretive strategy, we utilized experimental modulation of social distance and environmental demand to distinguish between positive affect, curiosity, and fear.

By triangulating the smile with body control and communication quality, a "fearful smiling" phenotype emerged. This revealed the smile as a masking mechanism for anxiety rather than a social invitation. This presentation demonstrates how shifting from single-signal observation to a security-based assessment allows for more accurate internal state inference. The session concludes with follow-up data showing how identifying this phenotype led to targeted, empathetic interventions that successfully resolved the child’s underlying distress.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Intermediate

No recording available for this presentation

Description: In my clinical practice, there are some children with developmental challenges who had found ways to self regulate themselves, not through co-regulation, but from their own resources. Or some of them looks stuck in the same repetitive behavior after any kind of mismatch in relationship or frustration so they re-enact the same pattern. But this pattern only escalates their arousal more and leads to shutdown-withdrawal reaction. I’ve seen through the years following-reinforcing or letting them carry out this child’s inefficient way makes limited progress in terms of social emotional growth. These behaviours vary from presmybolic to symbolic capacities.

In my presentation I would lay the theoretical foundations regarding ideas above and present case vignettes with session videos and explain in detail how I manage those moments in children with developmental challenges through compassionate guidance and dyadic involvement while adding the family in the context.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Intermediate

Description: "Pay attention!" : a phrase echoed in classrooms around the world, yet rarely examined through the lens of neurodevelopment. For many students, particularly those with autism and ADHD, attention does not function as a broadband signal to be switched on by instruction. Instead, it follows a monotropic pattern: deep, channeled, and highly dependent on genuine engagement and relational connection. FEDC 2 - shared attention and engagement - is not merely a precursor to learning; it is the learning. In educational settings, fostering true shared attention means moving beyond compliance and eye contact as proxies for engagement, and instead asking: is this child excited to share? Are they answering questions with investment? Is there a gleam in their eye? This presentation explores what FEDC 2 looks like in schools, how individual differences shape attentional patterns, and why building upward through the FEDCs depends entirely on getting Two right first.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: As Floortime practitioners, we know that "circles of communication" and "following a child's of lead" signal the beginning of reciprocity. However, it's lengthy contingent, intentional communication that signals the beginning of complex reciprocity. This presentation will focus on complex reciprocity as it relates to the emergence of capacity four. Three critical and foundational abilities of complex reciprocity will be shown in video and discussed: 1. our role as a member of a dyad - how the "just right challenge" can show our partner that we have differing intentions 2. the concept of interactional "snapshots" verses interactional "movies" which involve contingent initiations and responses, and, 3.communication breakdown and repair: the beginning of social problem solving.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: Dr. Greenspan suggested that Sensory-Affective-Motor (SAM) differences were often the individual differences underlying disruptions in the unfolding of the FEDCs. Stackhouse has elaborated the SAM to match neural networks in the brain, thereby connecting this concept to current neuroscience. This session introduces this elaborated SAM model.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This course presentation uses video examples, clinical case studies, and guided discussion to illustrate how the transdisciplinary team at the Rebecca School—led by occupational therapists—collaborates in weekly meetings to map student profiles using the SpIRiT© (Sensory Processing/Integration Reasoning Interactive Tool), developed by Tracy Stackhouse.

The session highlights how this tool supports pediatric occupational therapists in making their clinical reasoning visible and more systematic. By visually mapping the dynamic relationship between sensory processing and motor systems, therapists gain a deeper understanding of how these systems interact and influence a child’s development.

Participants will explore how this enhanced understanding informs a strengths-based, individualized approach to intervention. Emphasis is placed on meeting each child at their current developmental level, identifying their unique sensory and motor profiles, and selecting targeted strategies that promote growth, regulation, and functional participation.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: This presentation introduces an integrative, neurodiversity-affirming framework combining DIRFloortime, Sensory Integration, and mentalization-based approaches for children with complex developmental profiles. Grounded in the developmental progression from co-regulation to meaning-making, the model supports shared engagement, symbolic play, and relational development aligned with the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs).

A clinical case (“Yujin”) will illustrate how sensory processing differences, engagement variability, and emerging symbolic capacities can be supported through affect-based interaction, sensory modulation, and therapist-guided mentalization. The presentation emphasizes strengths-based, individualized intervention and highlights practical strategies applicable across settings.

This session is designed for clinicians seeking an integrated, developmentally respectful approach that supports relational safety, symbolic development, and meaningful engagement in children with diverse developmental profiles.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: One of the fastest growing subgroups within the homeschooling movement is families of autistic and neurodivergent learners who turn to home education in response to unmet needs and school distress. Unlike families who choose homeschooling by design, reactive homeschoolers arrive there because they feel they have no other viable choice. Autistic students experience school distress at disproportionate rates, and this reality is a driving force behind the rise in reactive homeschooling.

This session draws on original doctoral research exploring one mother-clinician's lived experience navigating her autistic son's school distress, their transition to homeschooling, and the neurodiversity-affirming, DIR-informed pedagogy that emerged. Grounded in the neurodiversity paradigm, DIRFloortime®, polyvagal theory, and sensory integration, this presentation illustrates how a regulation-first, relationship-centered approach to home education became both a powerful framework and a path to thriving. This session offers clinicians insights for supporting reactive homeschool families, and offers parents hope, language, and guidance.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: This multidisciplinary presentation explores how to use dual relational partners, two trained DIR professionals or caregivers, within DIRFloortime sessions to support individual differences and deepen relationships. Grounded in sensory integrative processing, motor learning, and gestalt cognition, this will define roles and functions of dual partners. Video case examples illustrate application across developmental levels. The presentation will highlight how two adults can scaffold regulation, communication, and thinking.

Participants will learn practical strategies, including: pairing a “motor coach” with a “doer,” reducing communication stress by having adults model interaction with each other, dividing roles between affective engagement and language support, and using co-regulation across partners and children. Emphasis is placed on how these supports promote higher-level capacities (FEDCs 4, 5, 7, 8) and flexible, meaningful engagement.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

No recording available for this presentation

Description: Within a DIRFloortime® informed school model, interdisciplinary team case conferences—rooted in the work of Dr. Stanley Greenspan—guide individualized, relationship-based treatment planning across educational, therapeutic, and mental health domains. This presentation explores how treatment team goals are translated into relational and creative musical dialogue through voice, rhythm, and clinical improvisation within school-based music therapy for a young adult student within a developmental, relationship-centered framework.

Drawing on DIR principles and advanced training in improvisational and relational music therapy, this case highlights the student’s progression toward increased initiation, sustained reciprocal interaction, shared problem solving, and emerging symbolic emotional expression. Clinical improvisation through voice and rhythm supported the integration of interdisciplinary goals, including motor planning, emotional expression, and intentional communication, within co-regulated interactions.

Video excerpts illustrate how music therapy functioned as a relational bridge, fostering confidence, self-advocacy, and a more cohesive sense of self while deepening engagement in complex, meaningful communication.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description: This presentation focuses on the development of political/cultural thinking and perspective-taking in adults on the spectrum. We will explore the journey of two autistic men, now in their thirties, as their beliefs about politics and culture have evolved from childhood through adulthood. We will consider how their early life experiences might have impacted this development, including the possible effects of family influences, experiences in the world, and media exposure. We will also explore the possible effects of their individual information processing profiles and the relative strengths and challenges of their developmental capacities, with a particular emphasis on the power and possible limits of the effects of Floortime and the DIR Model on these individuals.

Level: Professionals | Foundational

No recording available for this presentation

Description: 

Level: Professionals | Foundational

Description: Floortime practitioners would leave this training with a clearer understanding that development is not culturally neutral—and neither is intervention. They would learn that many core assumptions within DIRFloortime (e.g., child-led play, emotional expressiveness, independence) are grounded in Western developmental values and may not align with all families’ goals. The training emphasizes using cultural humility to pause interpretation, observe interaction patterns, and understand the meaning behind surface behaviors such as reduced eye contact, quieter affect, or more adult-directed play. Practitioners would deepen their ability to “Wait, Watch, and Wonder” not just about the child, but about the family’s cultural framework. They would also gain practical strategies for adapting Floortime—balancing child-led interaction with respect for family structure, incorporating relational and community values, and partnering with caregivers as cultural experts. Ultimately, they would become more effective in building trust, aligning goals, and supporting development in ways that preserve identity and belonging.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was more than a children's show; its calm, predictable rhythm pioneered modern developmental and relationship learning. It demonstrated that child-led engagement, emotional safety, and genuine connection are fundamental to all learning. This philosophy underpins DIRFloortime, and the child development principles modeled in the show have been validated by neuroscience decades later. We will examine how lessons from the Neighborhood align with DIRFloortime and how neuroscience continues to support this model.

Level: Parents & Professionals | Foundational

Description: This session will explore self-compassion as a capacity building practice - inviting you to examine your own perspective and understanding of self compassion and how it shapes the way you show up in relationships. Drawing on current research and DIR® principles, participants will examine how self-compassion supports regulatory capacity, enhances reflective practice, and ultimately expands your ability to be a present, attuned, and effective Floortime partner.

Level: Professionals | Intermediate

Description:  This session will discuss two studies that arrive at the same conclusion: DIR is far more than an intervention. One draws on doctoral research grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, exploring how professionals who integrate DIR experience identity-level shifts - changes that ripple into their practice, confidence, well-being, and personal lives. The other examines leadership through the lens of neurodivergence, with findings that align with DIR's core principles, suggesting that what neurodivergent people need from leaders mirrors what DIR has long advocated for in development and practice.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how integrating DIR into professional practice can influence practitioners at an identity level, with potential effects on professional growth and well-being  

2. Explain how DIR principles can be applied beyond direct intervention, including in leadership practice and organizational culture.

3. Identify at least one concrete way to embody DIR values beyond direct intervention - in their professional practice, leadership, or organizational culture.