I said I would provide feedback on a workshop I attended on DIR/Floortime with Mindbuilders inc. It was this morning in Islington, nice room and a nice smallish number of people. We did a little bit of telling people about our children, there was a child psychology and development student there as well as some parents and a couple of teaching assistants, who both turned up nearly an hour late and then kept hijacking the discussion to witter on about their experiences of teaching. Maybe just me (although I don?t think so) but I was so much more interested in talking to the other parents about their experiences and their children. Anyway, we went through the six stages of development (info I googled here www.icdl.com/dirFloortime/overview/SixDevelopmentalMilestones.shtml ) using videos of children and parents she had worked with (all of whom of course gave their permission, but we agreed to confidentiality so I won?t talk much about them). She also talked us through her philosophy and what she would expect to see in a successful DIR/Floortime programme. It wasn?t expensive at all, and it was really useful for me to see illustrated the developmental stages, and I could easily identify where DD has a deficit in her development. I also appreciated the opportunity to see how different ways of interacting did and didn?t work with children who share some of the same attention and sensory problems that DD can have. All in all, it was a helpful way to decide if I want to book her to come and work with DD, and although I need to discuss with DH, I definitely think we want at least one session with her, if not more.
She?s running a few more dates, details here, and a few other workshops as well www.mindbuilders-consulting.org/Training_consultancy_and_workshops.html
I attended ?Autism is not the end of the world?. DD has no diagnosis and isn?t in assessment, but it was relevant for any child with communication difficulties, attention problems, sensory integration issues etc. She?s also super nice to talk to on the phone.