The Effectiveness of DIRFloortime® for School-Aged Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Jennifer B. Andersen, M.S.
Chair: Geoffrey Goodman, Ph.D.
Abstract
Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) show core deficits in social and emotional functioning. Research has shown the effectiveness of early behavioral intervention in improving the social and emotional deficits of children with PDD. Despite a wide body of literature supporting highly structured behavioral intervention, newer research has shown that more naturalistic, child-initiated interventions lead to more generalized responding, increased spontaneity, and more positive affect on the part of the children and their treatment providers (Schreibman, 2007). The Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based/Floortime (DIRFloortime®) Model is a recent intervention for children with PDD that uses child-initiated techniques to emphasize learning through social relationships. DIRFloortime® has been useful in reducing symptomatology of PDD and increasing children’s functional emotional developmental levels (Greenspan & Wieder, 1997). The majority of the existing literature has focused on the effects of DIRFloortime® in early childhood (prior to age 6). The present study examined the change in socioemotional functioning for children who began receiving DIRFloortime® services at a specialized school after age 4 and prior to age 10. After one year of treatment, children with PDD showed significant improvements in socioemotional functioning, measured by the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS). There was a positive relationship between length of treatment and improvements in socioemotional functioning for children who began with a lower baseline score. The improvement between baseline and Year 1 scores was not significantly different between the group of children who received individual psychological services during Year 1 and children who did not receive this service, perhaps due to the unknown effects of other services that participants were receiving at the time. The implications of these findings for training and clinical practice are discussed.