Is there research demonstrating the effectiveness of DIR/Floortime?
There is currently insufficient research on any of the treatment approaches for treating children with autistic spectrum disorders. Clinical studies are needed to compare various approaches and to demonstrate the validity of DIR/Floortime. However, in one recent chart review of 200 children with complex developmental challenges, over 50% of children originally diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders and treated intensively with DIR/Floortime approaches for four to six years have become warm, engaged and loving. These children have become active learners with highly developed abilities in the areas of verbal skills, imagination, logical and abstract thinking, as well as pleasurable peer relationships. Many of them attend mainstream schools, and often their teachers are unaware of the child’s original diagnosis. Other children, because of greater neurological challenges, make slow and steady progress. Nevertheless, even these children can become warm, loving, more connected and make m