The role of social interactions in the development of a child
You may have heard of instances when people who were neglected as children growing up to be anxious, while those having received an ample amount of love and attention becoming confident and successful adults. According to child psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan, all children are born with emotional systems that need to be nurtured in order to enable the emotional, social and cognitive development of a child. Dr. Greenspan put forth this theory in a developmental approach to intervention for children with developmental challenges, in a model known as the DIR model.
The DIR model or the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-based approach is a developmental approach based on the premise that a child typically crosses several developmental milestones in their early childhood that form an indispensable foundation for further learning and growth. Children with autism spectrum disorders and similar developmental delays are usually unable to reach these crucial developmental milestones unless therapeutic intervention is employed. This is because this aspect of a child's growth requires emotionally meaningful learning interactions which autistic children find difficult to be a part of.
According to Dr. Greenspan, autistic children can be helped in achieving these milestones through Floortime therapy; the practical component of the DIR model. Floortime therapy involves fostering affective interpersonal interactions with the child which challenges them to develop key social, emotional and cognitive skills.
"The Learning Tree", a book co-authored by Dr. Greenspan, offers a comparison of the growth of a child with that of a tree. According to "The Learning Tree", children undergo three major phases of growth that can be compared to the growth of the roots, trunk and branches of a tree.
Let us have a look at how a child develops as theorized in the DIR model.
The roots of the tree / The foundation of a child's growth
Just like the roots of a tree need to be nurtured to help grow a healthy and strong tree, a child's emotional system needs to be nurtured to make way for a balanced and healthy adult.
When accorded with affection and considerate attention, a child develops ‘regulation' abilities that could be called the child's ‘roots' of development. These regulation abilities include:
Sensory modulation
This is the ability of the child to remain calm and organized while perceiving sensory stimuli.
Motor planning and sequencing
Motor planning and sequencing involves thinking of a motor plan to achieve a particular goal and executing that plan. For a child, this could start with crawling to grasp a toy or directing their parent's hand towards the knob of a door they'd like to open.
Visual-spatial processing
It's the ability to make sense of how the space around us is organized and how do we fit into it. Learning to visualize spaces you can't see and imagining people's faces are a part of this skill.
Auditory processing
It's the ability of the child to process and organize auditory stimuli.
Emotional modulation
The final aspect of regulation is being able to have a proportionate response to emotional stimuli. Children with autism may be hypersensitive to negative emotional stimuli and under sensitive to positive emotional stimuli.
The trunk of the tree / Developmental aspects of a child's growth
A child crosses six developmental milestones by the age of three and a half to four years. According to the DIR model/Floortime intervention, these milestones include:
The branches of the tree/ Development of academic and life skills
What follows the development of regulatory skills and other basic developmental skills is the fostering of other key academic and life skills such as developing pre-academic skills and the ability to empathize with others.
The DIR model/Floortime intervention suggests that children with developmental delays of relating and communicating, such as those with an autism spectrum disorder, need to be gently pulled into the world of interpersonal interactions. Being able to take part in affective interactions is a prerequisite for being able to learn several basic functional emotional developmental capacities without which the child would face severe setbacks in their learning and growth processes. Incorporating Floortime therapy into an autistic child's daily schedule or school curriculum can do wonders for their well-being and self-assuredness.To know more about DIR model visit: www.rebeccaschool.org/the-experience/the-dir-model
The DIR model or the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-based approach is a developmental approach based on the premise that a child typically crosses several developmental milestones in their early childhood that form an indispensable foundation for further learning and growth. Children with autism spectrum disorders and similar developmental delays are usually unable to reach these crucial developmental milestones unless therapeutic intervention is employed. This is because this aspect of a child's growth requires emotionally meaningful learning interactions which autistic children find difficult to be a part of.
According to Dr. Greenspan, autistic children can be helped in achieving these milestones through Floortime therapy; the practical component of the DIR model. Floortime therapy involves fostering affective interpersonal interactions with the child which challenges them to develop key social, emotional and cognitive skills.
"The Learning Tree", a book co-authored by Dr. Greenspan, offers a comparison of the growth of a child with that of a tree. According to "The Learning Tree", children undergo three major phases of growth that can be compared to the growth of the roots, trunk and branches of a tree.
Let us have a look at how a child develops as theorized in the DIR model.
The roots of the tree / The foundation of a child's growth
Just like the roots of a tree need to be nurtured to help grow a healthy and strong tree, a child's emotional system needs to be nurtured to make way for a balanced and healthy adult.
When accorded with affection and considerate attention, a child develops ‘regulation' abilities that could be called the child's ‘roots' of development. These regulation abilities include:
Sensory modulation
This is the ability of the child to remain calm and organized while perceiving sensory stimuli.
Motor planning and sequencing
Motor planning and sequencing involves thinking of a motor plan to achieve a particular goal and executing that plan. For a child, this could start with crawling to grasp a toy or directing their parent's hand towards the knob of a door they'd like to open.
Visual-spatial processing
It's the ability to make sense of how the space around us is organized and how do we fit into it. Learning to visualize spaces you can't see and imagining people's faces are a part of this skill.
Auditory processing
It's the ability of the child to process and organize auditory stimuli.
Emotional modulation
The final aspect of regulation is being able to have a proportionate response to emotional stimuli. Children with autism may be hypersensitive to negative emotional stimuli and under sensitive to positive emotional stimuli.
The trunk of the tree / Developmental aspects of a child's growth
A child crosses six developmental milestones by the age of three and a half to four years. According to the DIR model/Floortime intervention, these milestones include:
Developing shared attention or learning how to focus on an object or event that others are paying attention to
Learning how to engage with a caregiver, connect to them emotionally and acknowledging the emotional feedback they provide the child with
Initiating and responding to two-way communication that involves the child and another person
Being a part of more complex communication involving several reciprocal circles of communication
Social problem solving through a continuous flow of interactions
Connecting singular ideas to a logical composite whole
The branches of the tree/ Development of academic and life skills
What follows the development of regulatory skills and other basic developmental skills is the fostering of other key academic and life skills such as developing pre-academic skills and the ability to empathize with others.
The DIR model/Floortime intervention suggests that children with developmental delays of relating and communicating, such as those with an autism spectrum disorder, need to be gently pulled into the world of interpersonal interactions. Being able to take part in affective interactions is a prerequisite for being able to learn several basic functional emotional developmental capacities without which the child would face severe setbacks in their learning and growth processes. Incorporating Floortime therapy into an autistic child's daily schedule or school curriculum can do wonders for their well-being and self-assuredness.To know more about DIR model visit: www.rebeccaschool.org/the-experience/the-dir-model