The Floortime model is a relationship-based therapeutic technique where the therapist follows the child's natural emotional interests while challenging the child toward greater achievement. The therapist meets the child at the child's developmental level and builds on the child's strengths. The Floortime model also emphasises the critical role of parents and other family members.
Relationship-based treatment involves child centred activity that aims to improve the child's functional, emotional, and communication abilities. As the process is child-centred, it involves following the child's lead and honouring the child's choices. The caregiver then aims to encourage and support the child to expand communication, ability to relate and regulatory capabilities through meaningful relationship-based interactions.
Relationship-based treatment, as presented in Greenspan's Floortime Approach (Greenspan & Wieder, 1998) is interaction that is enjoyable and spontaneous which encourages engagement and interaction.
Floortime techniques provide a good basis for beginning sensory integrative treatment and support throughout intervention. These techniques can assist in establishing good rapport, increased trust within the child-caregiver relationship and promoting feelings of safety in the child within the relationship (Schore, 2003b). It may also provide increased motivation to interact and increase the level of meaning the child attributes to child-caregiver interactions. This allows the child to feel more able to actively interact and explore enhanced sensation when it is available and produce an adaptive response.
 For more information on Floortime, visit the official Floortime website.
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