Sonfloor

Hi,
I am a mom who does what I like to call SONFLOOR with my 2 beautifull kids. I have been to the Sonrise startup and loved it....hoping to go back to the Option Institute for more training in October. I run one full time program for my older child (4) and one part time for my younger one (21 months). We have 12 people in our team, excluding family members. I run both programs, we have bi-weekly team meetings supervised by Floortime professionals...so we have taken the attitude and playroom set up from Sonrise, and the developmental model and coaching from Floortime. Both kids are thriving, the toddler is responding so fast that he might not need a program very soon...but I can not compare to ABA because when my oldest son was diagnosed (at 3, a year and a half ago) we fell directly into Floortime and Sonrise.
I would love to hear of any stories of families that have been sucesfull with relationship based models, and understand "how they have kept their spirits up" and how to keep the parents/family mental health, healthy!!! I guess this is where we struggle the most. My husband and grandparents all have had Floortime training and wouldn't have it any other way. However the daily stress and anxiety of having a child in the spectrum seems to be getting worse and I really want us to work at this. Any resources you all might know about would also be welcomed! someone told me last week about mindfulnes and how that can help the family's attitude towards the challenges ahead. I am willing to try anything that will help us stay healthy and happy during our relationship based sonfloor marathon :-)
thanks for listening!!
gretchen

Floortime is part of DIR, not DIR

Hi,

I am an OTR and the mother of a 4 1/2 y/o boy who has moderate level "autism", as well as many other chronic health issues. My son attends outpatient DIR SLP (1 hour) and DIR OT (2 hours) every week. Floortime is a component of DIR, meaning DIR therapy can be done without doing Floortime.

I love the DIR approach as an OT b/c, in my opinion, it uses the heart of OT theory. The client directs the activity, and the therapy focuses on what is meaningful to the client. If one is motivated by meaningful activity in therapy, s/he will have a natural "drive" to perform activities and to grow in skills and communication.

Amy