Writing for the New York Times, Melissa Fay Greene provides a sympathetic view of the variation on D.I.R.-Floortime (D.I.R. stands for “developmental, individual-difference, relationship-based) methods employed by The Community School of Decatur (GA, US). In “Reaching an Autistic Teenager,” Ms. Greene describes several youths behavior and progress at the school, which was started by a parent of one of the students.
The Floortime approach is based on Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate and Think by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Wieder. Research on the effectiveness of the Floortime approach is limited. I only found two studies that examined Floortime outcomes, neither of which meet reasoned standards for proving the efficacy—let alone, the effectiveness—of the approach (see my colleagues’ and my chapter from 2006 for a description of standards). In one study, based on their retrospective review of clinical records for 200 children whom they had evaluated and treated for two or more years, Greenspan and Wieder (1997) reported that 58% of the children had “good to outstanding” outcomes and only 25% continued to have difficulties or had worse outcomes; there was no control group or condition nor other protections against bias in the study. In the other, Solomon and colleagues (2007) reported increased scores on Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) from pre-test to post-test for about half of 68 children whose parents received consultation in employing Floortime for about 15 hours a week over 8 to 12 months; there was no control group, but the people who rated video tapes for the FEAS were blind to the training. From her rich description of the language and behavior, the students seem to be relatively high functioning.
Ms. Greene is the author of many books and articles. She previously wrote about Autism for Good House Keeping magazine in 2003. Link to her article for the Times magazine.
Greenspan, S. I., & Wieder, S. (1997). Developmental patterns and outcomes in infants and children with disorders in relating and communicating: A chart review of 200 children with autistic spectrum diagnoses. Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders, 1, 87–141
Lloyd, J. W., Pullen, P. L., Tankersley, M., & Lloyd, P. A. (2006). Critical dimensions of experimental studies and research syntheses that help define effective practices. In B. G. Cook & B. R. Schirmer (Eds.), What is special about special education: Examining the role of evidence-based practices (pp. 136-153). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Solomon, R., Necheles, J., Ferch, C., & Bruckman, D. (2007). Pilot study of a parent training program for young children with autism: The PLAY Project Home Consultation program. Autism, 11, 205-224.
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In one study, based on their retrospective review of clinical records for 200 children whom they had evaluated and treated for two or more years, Greenspan and Wieder (1997) reported that 58% of the children had “good to outstanding” outcomes and only 25% continued to have difficulties or had worse outcomes; there was no control group or condition nor other protections against bias in the study.
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julee
Hi, Julee. Thanks for dropping the comment. However, it appears simply to be a quotation from my post. Given that and the domain name to which your link points, I’m suspicious that your comment is actually just an advertising ploy. So, you have a legitimate comment to make, please do so. In the meantime, I’ll disable the link.