Expanding our Toolkit through Collaboration: DIR/Floortime and Dissociation-Informed Trauma Therapy for Children

This article describes the first author’s supervision of the practice of a therapist originally trained to work with developmentally delayed children using the DIR/Floortime Model. The Floortime therapist discovered that her practice contained children demonstrating dissociation and posttraumatic play and received supervision and certification in trauma therapy. The combination of Floortime techniques with awareness of trauma treatment principles led to rapid progress and developmental leaps with her clients. The authors describe how each of their practices were enriched by the collaboration. A case study describes how changing to a trauma-sensitive and dissociation sensitive perspective promoted the growth of a child with many autistic features.