Functional Developmental Levels: Application to Play-Based Therapy
Melanie Brown, SLP Student
When working with children on the autism spectrum, many therapy providers are experts at looking at what a child is currently doing, and providing opportunities within a therapy session for the child to begin building their next set of skills. One framework that can be especially helpful in understanding where a child is at and where to go next, is knowledge of the Functional Developmental Levels, developed by Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider as a foundational component of the DIR® Floor time model. D.I.R. stands for Developmental, Individual-differences, and Relationship-based. Understanding of typical development allows us to know where a child is at, meet them there, and strive to increase skills and engagement at that level. Let’s dive into each of the six foundational levels and learn what to do to help a child grow.
FDL 1: Self Regulation and Shared Attention (Begins at Birth to 3 Months)
At this level, the child connects his emotions to his actions and sensations (Baby turns to Mom’s warm voice.) He can remain calm and regulated enough to share attention with people and can sustain brief episodes of interaction. However, in many children with autism, they have difficulty regulating sensory information, and so they often turn to Comfort Zone activities. Understandably, this is often an attempt to keep the world the same, as it can feel overwhelming for them. Comfort Zone activities look different for every child, but some common examples are stimming, scripting, and lining up objects. When you see frequent Comfort Zone activities, the child has holes in FDL 1. To increase engagement, you can join the child in their Comfort Zone by asking yourself: where is the child attention and what is the child’s intention?
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Sustaining shared attention with adult in sensorimotor interactive play.
• Regulating the sensory system in order to sustain shared attention across a variety of activities and shared play.
Strategies for providers:
• Harness all senses to help the child stay calm and regulated in order to draw child into shared attention.
• Increase the number of interactive circles of communication between therapist and client within sensorimotor play activities.
Some activity ideas might be: giving deep pressure, dancing together, tickling the child, singing songs, adding silly sound effects to sensory play, playing in front of a mirror, running back and forth together, and picking up the child and spinning around. Anything that meets the sensory preferences of the child can be helpful in increasing engagement.
FDL 2: Engaging and Relating (Begins Between 2 and 7 Months)
At this level, there is more sustained attention, and true engagement begins to emerge. When the child’s name is called, he turns and looks. This is where true Circles of Communication begin. Babies love peek a boo at this age. For the child with autism who has holes at this level, the therapist has to ‘sweat’, or pull out all the stops to get engagement from the child. It is important to follow her lead by joining in with her interests and adding in silly or unexpected ideas to encourage connection.
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Responding to overtures from adults via eye contact, laughter, or happy body language (i.e. stimming).
• The child staying happily/willingly engaged in play.
• Sustained engagement in reciprocal social interactions.
Strategies for providers:
• “Woo”/entice the child into engaging with delight.
• Go for the “gleam in her eye”.
• Help the child maintain engagement during stress/sadness.
Some activity ideas might be: imitating the child, playing peek-a-boo, parachute or blanket, sensory bins, turning light or water on and off, opening and closing doors, adding silly sounds to play, and putting objects on your head and sneezing them off.
FDL 3: Intentional Two-Way Communication (Begins Between 3 and 10 Months)
At this level, the child begins opening and closing 6-10 circles of communication. He usually enjoys simple cause and effect games. He is also using gestures to initiate interaction and play with others. Many babies want their caregivers close to them all the time and enjoy having the attention on them. For children with autism who have holes at this level, our goal is to ‘create monster’, so that the child doesn’t want to leave you alone, and that he has a desire to seek out others for playful interactions. This is the ‘wait’ level. You have to WAIT to see if he will initiate (i.e. open circles). This is the beginning of understanding routines, as well as the beginning of first single words.
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Child will initiate/indicate his or her own ideas.
• Child will act with purpose/intention (i.e. gestures, sounds, words).
• Child will open and close several circles of communication.
• Child will increase length of interaction/number of circles.
Strategies for providers:
• Follow child’s lead and challenge him to communicate – when you can see the child is motivated by a game or activity, it is important to PAUSE so they have the chance to initiate that they want it to continue.
• Build on child’s interest – expand on the things that they love to do.
Some activity ideas might be: playing in a tunnel, wind up toys, bubbles, balloons, a chase game, stacking/knocking over blocks, playing cars, and playfully ‘getting in their way’ so they have to let you know to move or stop.
FDL 4: Complex Two-Way Communication (Begins Between 9 and 18 Months)
At this level, the child is opening and closing 10-30 circles. During playful interactions, he is totally ‘with us’, and there is continuous flow of interaction. The child combines gestures with words to become a robust communicator. He imitates what he hears and sees others do. Understanding of language increases so he can follow one step spontaneous commands. His feelings are more organized and he is a little problem solver. He has his own ideas and begins to communicate them. This is also the beginning of simple pretend play.
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Imitation of motor actions or actions within simple pretend play.
• Using multiple modes of communication to clarify ideas: gestures, vocalizations, or words
• Understanding emotions
• Sequencing/motor planning to execute an idea
Strategies for providers:
• Play dumb and pretend not to know what the child wants so they have to clarify or persist in communication.
• Use motivating routines to increase the number of back and forth circles (pause during each step of a favorite game).
• “Forget” what comes next in a game or routine
Some activity ideas might be: animal sounds or car sounds, playing with puppets, looking at books, asking what/where questions within games, or adding additional sequences or steps to the games the child already loves.
FDL 5: Shared Meanings and Symbolic PLAY (Begins Between 24 and 30 Months)
The child at this level exhibits classic two year old communication: using 1-2 word phrases, answering simple questions (What, Where, Who, Yes/No), and following 1-2 step directions. She can engage in one thematic pretend play with adults (feed the baby, put the baby to sleep, take baby on a walk). At this level, ideas within the play come not only from the child, but also from their play partner, and she is eager to accept those ideas and incorporate them into her play. There is much more ‘give and take’ in these interactions.
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Using ideas (words or AAC) to convey feelings and intentions
• Initiation of realistic ideas in interactive imaginative play
• Involvement of others in play
Strategies for providers:
• Model words and phrases the child can use to express ideas
• Engage in make believe/pretend play
Some activity ideas might be: hide and seek, dress up, play doctor/house, act out familiar routines (eating, sleeping, washing), incorporate mock emotions into pretend, play follow the leader, simple board games, or read books and identify pictures together.
FDL 6: Emotional Thinking (Begins Between 36 and 48 Months)
At this level, the child is able to build bridges between ideas. He identifies his own and others’ feelings and recognizes the relationship between feelings, behavior and consequences. He can now engage in two thematic pretend play that has a simple story. He can talk in sentences and carries on simple conversations. He answers ‘why’ questions and can recall the immediate past. The child is becoming more interested in engaging in play with peers.
Some goals for children at this level might be:
• Engaging in pretend play that has multiple themes and the story “makes sense”, with logically
connected, emotional ideas.
• Closing all or nearly all circles of communication in play and in conversation
• Responding to “Wh” questions
Strategies for providers:
• Model pretend play that has a story: beginning, middle, end
• Create connections between feeling states: “I feel happy/sad/mad when . . .”
• Engage in logical conversation with the child (why/because
Some activity ideas might be: playing house, play good guys/bad guys, go on a pretend adventure or treasure hunt, play charades, Simon Says, tell stories together, and discuss friends. By applying this knowledge with your clients, you can help them to fully develop their social, emotional, and intellectual capacities.
For additional help determining which level a child is currently at, go to the following screening tool: https://www.icdl.com/dir/fedcs/functional-emotional-developmental-levels-basic-chart.
For additional information on DIR Floortime, visit https://www.icdl.com/dir or www.playproject.org.
Book recommendations:
“Engaging Autism” by Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder
“Autism: The Potential Within” by Richard Solomon
*Information adapted from DIR®Floortime and The PLAY Project.