Autism and Developmental Disorders:
A Developmental Approach
A site maintained by David G. Nelson, MS, LPC in
Please check out the new Floortime Atlanta website.
This site was last updated on 
This page focuses on a particular approach to working with children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, variously called autism, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), PDD-NOS and Asperger's syndrome. Other terms for the diagnosis may include regulatory disorder, multi-system developmental disorder, semantic-pragmatic disorder, hyperlexia, and sensory integration disorder. If you are concerned that your child may have some significant developmental challenges, The Unicorn Foundation provides an excellent checklist geared to your child's age. (This is an external link, so use your browser's Back button to return.) The Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) also has a Parent Resource Guide that provides excellent guidance and a list of resources.
The approach discussed here is what Stanley Greenspan calls a developmental, individual-difference, relationship-based approach (D.I.R.) to intervention--also known as "floor-time." The ideas of James MacDonald and others are also reflected in these pages. The web contains many sources of autism-related information (see below), and I will not try to replicate them here, although I do provide links to some of the most useful sites.
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The Approach: Relationship-Based Intervention, or Floor-Time |
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The Community School
(Decatur) The Hirsch Academy (Decatur) The Lionheart School (Alpharetta)
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Learning on the Log: Sensory-Based
Activity Programs |
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Click here for an article from Atlantic Monthly about one family's experience with floortime.
Click here to send an e-mail to Dave Nelson