What is "floortime"

n. A form of therapeutic intervention, used mainly with autistic children, in which the therapist meets the child at its current developmental level and entices it to move up a hierarchy of developmental milestones.

The Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based (DIR) model is a developmental model for assessing and understanding any child's strengths and weaknesses. It has become particularly effective at identifying the unique developmental profiles and developing programs for children experiencing developmental delays due to autism, autism spectrum disorders, or other developmental disorders. This Model was developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan and first outlined in 1979 in his book Intelligence and Adaptation. However, it has been listed by the National Autism Center in their National Standards Project Phase 2 as having an "unestablished level of evidence." "The Play Project" - a version of DIR which was developed by Richard Solomon, established evidence-based status for their approach through a 3-year study by NIMH which was published last year.