Connecting Before Expanding: Using Floortime Strategies to Support FEDCs 1–3
You sit down beside your child with a toy.
You make a suggestion.
Nothing.
You try another toy. Ask a question. Make a funny sound. Call their name.
Still not much response.
When we are trying to help a child connect, communicate or play with us, it can be very easy to start doing more. More talking. More prompting. More questions. More ideas.
Floortime invites us to begin somewhere different.
Rather than asking, “How can I get this child to engage with me?”, we can become curious about where their attention, interest and emotional energy already are, and how we might respectfully join them there.
That shift is particularly important when supporting the first three Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities, or FEDCs, within the DIR model: regulation and interest in the world, engagement and relating, and intentional two-way communication. ICDL describes these early capacities as part of the developmental foundation upon which increasingly complex communication, thinking and relationships are built.
Although they are described in a developmental sequence, they are not simply boxes that a child passes through once and leaves behind. DIR conceptualises developmental capacity as fluid and non-linear, and a child may show different levels of capacity depending on stress, context, relationships and individual differences.
The goal is not to push a child through the stages.
It is to create interactions in which connection can grow.
FEDC 1: Start with regulation and interest in the world
The first FEDC is self-regulation and interest in the world.
Before we think about teaching a new play skill or asking for more communication, it helps to notice whether the child is available for interaction at all.
Are they comfortably alert and curious?
Are they moving constantly because movement seems to help them organise themselves?
Are they becoming overloaded by the noise, pace or sensory demands around them?
Are they deeply absorbed in something that feels important or regulating?
DIR asks us to consider the child’s individual differences, including how sensory, motor, communication and other developmental characteristics shape the way they experience and respond to the world. Floortime strategies are adapted around that individual profile rather than applied as a standard script.
Sometimes supporting FEDC 1 means doing less.
You might move to a quieter space. Sit nearby rather than directly in front. Slow your movements. Reduce your language. Let the child move while you interact rather than asking them to sit still.
For another child, regulation may be supported through more animation, movement, rhythm or physical play.
There is no single “regulated look” we are aiming for. Still bodies and eye contact are not prerequisites for meaningful engagement. Grow Through Connection similarly prioritises participation, autonomy, communication and individual sensory needs rather than expecting children to perform conventional signs of attention.
The useful question becomes:
What helps this child feel organised enough to notice and participate in what is happening between us?
FEDC 2: Find the spark of connection
FEDC 2 is engaging and relating.
This is where Floortime can look deceptively simple.
Your child rolls a car back and forth.
Instead of immediately showing them how to build a road, asking what colour the car is, or introducing a new game, you watch.
You notice the rhythm.
Then perhaps you roll another car nearby.
They glance towards yours.
You pause.
They roll theirs again.
You roll yours.
A little interaction has begun.
Following the child’s lead is a central Floortime strategy. ICDL describes this as attuning to the child’s experience, motivation and intent, joining their preferred activity, and then helping expand the shared interaction.
Following a child’s lead does not mean copying everything they do forever or allowing them to control every situation. It means using what already has emotional meaning for them as our doorway into relationship.
If your child loves jumping, join the jumping.
If they repeatedly open and close a toy door, become interested in the door.
If they are watching bubbles drift across the room, watch them too.
If they are making a particular sound, perhaps answer with another sound and see whether they notice.
The interaction begins with: I am interested in what interests you.
That is different from using their favourite thing only as a reward for doing what we want.
Connection is not a trick for obtaining compliance. In the Grow Through Connection framework, warmth, attunement and co-regulation are part of the conditions that support development, rather than something children earn through particular behaviour.
Your affect is part of the interaction
Floortime does not require adults to become exaggerated children’s entertainers.
But our face, voice, movement, timing and emotional energy can make an interaction easier to notice and enjoy.
Imagine your child pushes a toy dinosaur off the couch.
You might gasp gently.
“Whoa!”
Then pause.
If they smile and push it again, perhaps your response becomes a little bigger.
“BOOM!”
Pause again.
The important part is not the word “boom”.
It is the back-and-forth emotional experience developing between you.
Research into DIR-based parent-mediated approaches has found that increases in responsive, affective parent-child interaction can be an important mechanism through which children’s social engagement improves.
Some children enjoy large facial expressions and playful suspense. Others find intense affect overwhelming and respond much better to quiet warmth.
Attunement means noticing the difference.
FEDC 3: Build circles of communication
The third FEDC is intentionality and two-way communication.
Communication here is much broader than spoken language.
A child might look towards you, pull your hand, move closer, smile, gesture, vocalise, push something away, bring you an object or change what they are doing in response to you.
One person communicates.
The other responds.
Then the first person responds again.
In Floortime, this back-and-forth is often described as opening and closing circles of communication. The emphasis is on reciprocal interaction rather than requiring a particular form of communication.
Imagine your child reaches towards a container they cannot open.
You could open it immediately.
Or you might hold it for a moment and look interested.
They look towards you and push it into your hand.
You say, “Open?”
They bounce excitedly.
You open it.
Several circles of communication may have happened without requiring the child to answer a question or repeat a word.
We are giving their communication meaning.
You did something. I noticed. I responded. You affected me.
That experience can be powerful.
Pause long enough for the child to have a turn
Adults are fast.
We fill silence quickly.
“What do you want?”
“Do you want the car?”
“Red car?”
“Say car.”
“Here you go!”
Sometimes the child has barely had time to organise a response before we have completed the whole interaction ourselves.
A Floortime approach often involves more waiting.
You blow a bubble.
Pause.
Your child reaches towards the wand.
You raise your eyebrows.
Pause.
They make a sound.
“You want more!”
Then you blow again.
The pause is not a test.
We are not withholding something until the child performs the “correct” communication.
We are simply creating enough space for their intention to enter the interaction.
Add a small challenge, not a roadblock
Once engagement is flowing, adults can gently make the interaction a little more complex.
If your child loves a bouncing game, pause before the next bounce.
If they are pushing cars down a ramp, place your car at the top and wait to see what they do.
If they repeatedly chase you, suddenly stop and make an expectant face.
The aim is to create a reason for the child to communicate, problem-solve or reconnect with you.
But there is an important difference between a playful challenge and deliberately frustrating a child until they respond.
If the child begins to lose regulation or withdraw from the interaction, the challenge may simply be too much for that moment.
Go back to connection.
This fits with DIR’s emphasis on both following the child’s lead and offering an appropriate developmental challenge, while remaining responsive to the individual child.
Sometimes the best Floortime happens in ordinary life
Floortime does not only happen when an adult sits on the floor surrounded by therapy toys.
It can happen in the bath.
While putting socks on.
Walking to the letterbox.
During a favourite song.
Waiting for toast to pop.
Your child puts their foot out for the sock.
You pretend to put it on your hand.
They pull it away, smiling.
You gasp.
They offer it again.
You reach.
They pull it away again.
For twenty seconds, getting dressed has become a reciprocal interaction.
You have regulation, shared enjoyment, intentional communication and multiple circles of connection sitting inside an ordinary morning routine.
This fits naturally with Grow Through Connection’s emphasis on small, usable changes in real family life rather than expecting parents to perform a perfect therapeutic technique.
Connection does not always look the way we expect
Some children will seek faces, laughter and energetic social play.
Others may connect beside you rather than directly with you.
They might bring you into their repetitive play, allow your hand into an activity, notice a small change you make, or return again and again to a particular shared sensory experience.
We can miss those openings when we are waiting for conventional signs of social engagement.
Floortime asks us to become careful observers.
Not only:
“Is my child looking at me?”
But:
“Are we affecting each other?”
Is the child noticing something you do?
Do they anticipate what might happen next?
Do they change their action because of yours?
Do they return to continue an enjoyable interaction?
Do they communicate, in whatever way is available to them, that they want the interaction to continue, stop or change?
Those moments matter.
What does the evidence say?
DIRFloortime has an emerging research base, particularly for autistic children and parent-mediated intervention. A 2020 systematic review identified nine studies of varying methodological quality and found outcomes were most commonly reported in socio-emotional development. The authors concluded that the evidence was promising but still developing, and called for higher-quality research.
A pilot randomised controlled trial of preschool children found greater improvements on several developmental and autism-related measures when home-based DIR/Floortime parent training was added to routine care. A broader systematic review of parent-training approaches also reported small-to-moderate pooled effects for DIR/Floortime, while noting the limited number of studies available for meta-analysis.
So it is reasonable to describe Floortime as an evidence-informed developmental and relationship-based approach with encouraging research, while avoiding claims that it has been proven to work for every child or is the only appropriate intervention.
Individual goals, preferences, family priorities and the child’s broader support needs still matter.
The goal is not to make the child more social on demand
At FEDCs 1–3, it can be tempting to count eye contact, prompts answered or minutes spent interacting.
But the deeper developmental work is relational.
Can this child increasingly remain organised enough to participate?
Can they experience another person as interesting, safe and enjoyable?
Can they discover that their gestures and actions have meaning within a relationship?
Can communication become a genuine back-and-forth rather than something they perform because an adult requested it?
Sometimes progress looks big.
Sometimes it is one extra glance, one more turn in a silly game, or a child coming back to restart an interaction they enjoyed.
We do not always need to pull children into our world first.
Sometimes development begins when we become curious enough to enter theirs, connect with what already matters to them, and build the interaction together from there.
References
Boshoff, K., Bowen, H., Paton, H., Cameron-Smith, S., Graetz, S., Young, A., & Lane, K. (2020). Child development outcomes of DIR/Floortime-based programs: A systematic review. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 87(2), 153–164.
International Council on Development and Learning. (n.d.). Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities (FEDCs).
International Council on Development and Learning. (n.d.). DIR glossary.
Pajareya, K., & Nopmaneejumruslers, K. (2011). A pilot randomized controlled trial of DIR/Floortime parent training intervention for pre-school children with autistic spectrum disorders. Autism, 15(5), 563–577.
Pajareya, K., & Nopmaneejumruslers, K. (2012). A one-year prospective follow-up study of a DIR/Floortime parent training intervention for pre-school children with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand, 95(9), 1184–1193.
Further reading
For parents and educators wanting to understand the developmental capacities in more detail, the ICDL overview of the Functional Emotional Developmental Capacities is a useful starting point. It describes FEDCs 1–6 and emphasises that developmental capacities can vary considerably across children and contexts.
The ICDL DIR Glossary is helpful for understanding terms such as following the child’s lead, developmental capacity, Floortime and individual differences without needing to read a full clinical text.
For clinicians or readers wanting a deeper professional resource, the ICDL Clinical Practice Guidelines bring together the developmental, sensory-motor, communication and relationship-based foundations of the model.
For readers interested in the research base, Boshoff and colleagues’ 2020 systematic review offers a balanced overview. It is particularly useful because it describes both the encouraging developmental findings and the limitations of the existing evidence.
The ICDL DIR Research page also collects research relating to DIR and DIRFloortime. Because this is produced by the organisation responsible for DIRFloortime, it is best read alongside independent peer-reviewed reviews when evaluating the evidence.
