The Center for Developmental Play and Learning (CDPL) was created in March 2007 by Co-founders Patricia Marquart, MFT and Jeanne White, MFT with the intention of providing Developmental, Individual-difference, Relationship-based DIR® therapy for families who seek a comprehensive support for their child. CDPL appreciates the individual nature of each child’s profile, capacities and interests, and t
ailors the components of the developmental supports accordingly. The Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based DIR® model was formulated by Drs. Dr. Greenspan was Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School and Chairman of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders. He was also a founding president of Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. The DIR® model is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach which takes into account the childs feelings, relationships with caregivers, developmental level and individual differences in a childs ability to process and respond to sensory information. It focuses on the childs skills in all developmental areas, including social-emotional functioning, communication, thinking and learning, motor skills, body awareness, and attention. The DIR®/ Floortime approach stands in sharp contrast to earlier therapies that did not address underlying problems or the full range of skills children need to acquire. This approach involves meeting your child at his current developmental level, and building upon his particular set of strengths to help him develop. The approach suggests tuning in to the childs interests and desires in interactions and play to harness the power of his motivation and help him climb the developmental ladder. It also involves tailoring these interactions to the childs individual differences in sensory reactivity, processing and motor planning. DIR®/Floortime Supports Growth in the Following Key Developmental Milestones:
Level 1: Regulation and Shared Attention
Level 2: Relationships, Attachment and Engagement
Level 3: Two-way Purposeful Communication
Level 4: Behavioral Organization: Problem Solving and
Internalization (A Complex Sense of Self)
Level 5: Representational Capacity
Level 6: Representational Differentiation: Building Bridges
Between Ideas and Emotional Thinking
