Robert K. Ross- ABA and DIR/Floortime: Compatible or Incompatible?

1.5 Type II CE Credits/ 1.5 Ethics Credits

About the presentation:

Behavior analysts providing Early intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be asked to provide other interventions or collaborate with those providing other services. A large number of supplemental and or competing therapies exist, some of which have empirical support while many others do not.

This presentation is designed to comprehensively review the philosophical underpinning, assessment methods, instructional goals and specific instructional practices involved in the implementation of EIBI and DIR/Floortime. This review suggests that a number of specific practices of DIR/Floortime are in direct contradiction to and may undermine the effectiveness of behavior analytically based interventions used in EIBI services. Video exemplars will be use to illustrate these differences. The ethical issues associated with combining these two approaches will also be discussed.

Goals/Learning Objectives: At the end of this 50-minute workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the philosophical and empirical underpinnings for both EIBI and DIR/Floortime approaches.
2. State at least three instructional practices from ABA/EIBI and DIR/ Floortime and how they differ.
3. Describe how the implementation of DIR/Floortime practices could interfere with skill acquisition in EIBI interventions.
4. List at least two ethical issues associated with combining EIBI and DIR/Floortime approaches.