In the master's thesis I described the Floortime method. I have been using this method while working with the girl, who is 10 years and 9 months old, with autism spectrum disorder and severe intellectual disabilities. I was observing the girl’s improvement in communication and her functioning on the individual developmental milestones after intensive intervention using the Floortime method. I have researched the girl’s communication, her following of the activities in the individual sessions and her active engagement in the play at the beginning and at the end of the intervention.
Basic concepts and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder and children with intellectual disabilities are explained in the theoretical part of the thesis. I introduced different approaches and types of interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. Further on I described the Floortime method, its developmental milestones, strategies, and guidelines for working with children. In the empirical part of the thesis I described a case study of 12 weeks long intervention with the girl with autism spectrum disorder and severe intellectual disabilities using the Floortime method. My goal was to get to know the method better and research its effects on the girl’s communication and behaviour. I did that by using a rating scale from Luigija Griolametta (translation and adaptation: Martina Ozbič, Damjana Kogovšek and Barbara Penko), a rating scale for the Floortime method from Stanley Greenspan (translation and adaptation: Sabina Korošec Zavšek) and a checklist, made by myself, for analyzing notes during sessions using the Floortime method.
The results have shown a smaller improvement of the girl’s assertiveness and responsiveness after the intervention using the Floortime method. The girl’s functioning on the individual developmental milestones has also improved. A smaller improvement has been measured at reaching the first milestone, at reaching and developing the second milestone, at stability of the third milestone, at reaching and developing the forth milestone and at maintaining stability of the sixth milestone. At the end of the intervention using the Floortime method the girl was more engaged in the activities during the individual sessions and was more actively involved in the play.
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