Expert perspective: Developmental treatment for autism and other challenges

 

In this edition of expert corner, Dr. Esther Hess, Los Angeles developmental psychologist, discusses Floor Time, a play therapy method for treating children with significant developmental delays such as autism.

What is Floor Time?
Floor Time is a form of therapy that involves playing with your child in a specific way to encourage the development of communication abilities and social skills. Parents play on the floor with their child, using methods they have been taught by the Floor Time expert. In this way, parents deepen the connection with their child and foster the growth of their child’s intelligence and skills.

Floor Time focuses on creating emotionally meaningful learning experiences that support children’s growth. It teaches children to relate to adults and peers with warmth and intimacy, to communicate meaningfully with emotional gestures and words, and to think with a high level of abstract reasoning and empathy.

What type of problems can Floor Time address?
Floor Time is a developmental play therapy technique that has the capacity to reach children affected by issues such as autism, sensory and cognitive processing delays, problems dues to intrauterine drug and alcohol exposure, trauma, sudden loss, learning disabilities and severe phobias.

For instance, children exposed in the womb to drug and alcohol often have severe sensory processing difficulties, which can make them over or under sensitive to the environment. These children often shy away from interactive play activities with others because they can’t handle all of the sights, sounds and touch involved. People may mistakenly interpret their behavior as rejecting or oppositional, when in fact, these children are coping as best as they can with the overload of stimuli around them.

How does Floor Time help children?
The developer of this method, the child psychiatrist, Dr. Stanley Greenspan, discovered that conditions such as autism limit children’s ability to interact with the environment. This influences their ability to socially interact with other people, and even disrupts their ability to play.

Play experiences give children the opportunity to explore their world and learn language, social skills, spatial and number relationships, and other critical abilities.

Floor Time is an approach that connects children with their parents through play. This strengthens the bond between parent and child and gives the child opportunities to learn about the world. The parent is taught which type of activities will be the most beneficial to stimulate their child’s growth and improve skills that are slow to develop.

Because the approach emphasizes interaction between parent and child, it helps to develop the essential communication and social skills that can be affected by conditions such as autism.

Will Floor Time alone “cure” my autistic child?
Floor Time is not a stand alone program. It is part of a holistic approach to the treatment of children with developmental delays and or regulatory disorders. Other treatment components that are often needed include occupational or physical therapy, speech therapy, educational therapy, vision therapy, biomedical intervention, and family/home intervention.

How many sessions do you recommend?
The number of sessions needed depends upon the severity of the child’s problem. Floor Time sessions run for one and a half hours. We usually recommend one or two sessions per week.

Is there scientific research to indicate that Floor Time is helpful?
Yes. Dr. Greenspan has published the results of his research in the Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders and in other publications.

Dr. Esther Hess is a developmental psychologist in Los Angeles with over 30 years of experience. She specializes in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with developmental and/or regulatory disorders utilizing Floor Time. Dr. Hess is the executive director of Center for the Developing Mind, a multidisciplinary treatment facility in West Los Angeles for children and their families impacted by developmental delays such as autism.

Dr. Hess may be reached by email at drhess@drhessautism.com or by phone at (310) 652-7581 or (310) 652-7582.

Visit Dr. Hess’s website.

Dr. Hess's upcoming presentations:

When: September 8, 2009
Where: Los Angeles, California
September 8, 2009 at Temple Isaiah in Beverly Hills, CA
"How to Use Floor Time in the Classroom"

When: September 9, 2009
Where: Los Angeles, CA
September 9, 2009 at Sunshine Preschool in Los Angeles, CA
"How to Use Floor Time in the Classroom"

If you have an article idea to submit or a comment on this article, please email Dr. Kari Miller at klmiller555@sbcglobal.net.
Visit Dr. Miller's website

Check back soon, or subscribe using the link above, to Dr. Miller’s email alerts for updates on this and similar stories. (Your email address will not be shared.)

Permission is granted to include short excerpts of this article on websites, social media sites, newsletters, and other print media as long as a link to this original article is included with the excerpt. This article is copyrighted © and should not be reprinted in its entirety without Dr. Miller’s permission.