Training Floortime Players to Support Children in Interactions with Peers: A Model for Camps, Recess, and Social Groups

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Presenter: Rosemary White, OTR/L

Facilitating peer interactions is an essential component of Floortime intervention and develops the friendships every parent desires for their child. Summer camp provides the ideal focus for this. This presentation will review the intensive training process to develop “Floortime Players”, both professionals and paras, who serve as key staff in a 4-week DIRFloortime® Summer Camp for children ranging in age from 3 to 23 with the majority being 4 years to 10 years old. There is a morning and afternoon camp session each with 30 campers and 32 players, led by camp director, Rosemary, and a co-leader for each camp. The training process for the players includes 8 hours of pre-camp training, coaching the staff in the moment as they interact with campers, and daily 1-hour reflective tutoring sessions, during which video clips from the previous days sessions are reviewed with key aspects of the model and highlights styles of interaction with the campers and between campers. In addition, Rosemary conducts separate parent nights for the parents with children in the morning camp and for the parents with children in the afternoon camp. The parent nights are during the second week and during the fourth week of camp to review the philosophy of the camp, to share video examples of ways campers are supported and to provide a forum for parent discussion. After camp, if the parent requests, Rosemary will create a video montage of their child’s camper experience illustrating how support was provided and changes over the course of the 4-week camp. Many request this to then share with family and other providers, including their child’s support staff at school.