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Floor Time/Circle of Communication

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Definition

Floortime is one component of the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-based (DIR®) approach for engaging children with autism spectrum and related socioemotional disorders. The DIR® model provides an interdisciplinary approach for practitioners, educators, and families to comprehensively assess and provide intervention according to the unique developmental profile of the child. Floortime focuses on creating opportunities of connection between the care-provider and student, fostering learning through emotionally engaging and meaningful interactions while encouraging mastery of six foundational stages of social, emotional, and intellectual development (Greenspan and Wieder 2006). Previous implementation suggested the ideal targeted population to be in the early toddler years; however, more recently the authors have expanded the target population to include older children and adolescents who have developmental differences. The initial goal of Floortime is to...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vermont Speech Language Pathology, University of Vermont, South Burlington, VT, USA

    Laura Bonazinga Bouyea

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  1. Laura Bonazinga Bouyea
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Correspondence to Laura Bonazinga Bouyea .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Bonazinga Bouyea, L. (2017). Floor Time/Circle of Communication. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_777-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_777-3

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