Social skills - ABA: 

As the name suggest, ABA examines social exchanges as behaviors which can be learned.  Each individual skill needs to be learned.  

DIR/ Floortime is Child-led and Developmental:

A child with autism has peaks and valleys in his/her development.  DIR/Floortime looks at the individual developmental levels of each child and uses play within relationships to build and strengthen the child’s abilities.  As a result, many skills begin to naturally emerge.  

​​Communication - DIR/Floortime:

DIR/Floortime helps a child expand circles of communications by meeting the child at his own level.  A child learns to express himself and communicate thoughts and ideas even before words are present. 

Communication - ABA:
ABA helps children learn the skill of language and words.  As a child learns one skill the next skill is introduced and taught. 


What does DIR stand for?
Developmental Individual-difference Relationship-based model (DIR) 

Social skills: As the name suggest, ABA examines social exchanges as behaviors which can be learned.  Each individual skill needs to be learned.  

What does ABA stand for?

Applied Behavior Analysis

ABA is Skill Based:

ABA breaks down development into skills.  Each skill is taught regardless of whether a child met the developmental milestones necessary to achieve the skill.  ABA uses discrete training to teach each new skill.

Teaching U, LLC     Early Intervention and Autism Therapy​


ABA vs. DIR/Floortime: Which is right for you?


Social Skills - DIR/Floortime:

DIR/Floortime recognizes that social skills are a result of a child connecting and relating.  DIR/ Floortime uses play and a child’s own interests to help a child understand the subtleties of relationships.  

​At teaching U, we believe there is a place for ABA and DIR/Floortime. 

ABA meets the needs of a child learning skills such as reading and math.  Once a child has developed to the level of being regulated, engaged, initiating and maintaining communication, he may need some behavior techniques to help him learn skills.    

DIR/Floortime meets the needs of a child struggling with social skills and the developmental milestones of engaging and communicating.  For the child who may be great at physical skills, but still has difficulty with eye contact, playing in a way which helps the brain to remap itself is beneficial.  The child will then be able to make eye contact without being prompted.   

It’s important that a child relate to others and communicate prior to learning skills.  A child can learn a skill without developing the desire to communicate with others and without that desire to communicate, It is very difficult for a child to use words to express her ideas or emotions.  By laying the foundation of helping a child to relate and naturally develop the desire to be with others, she will be able to share her dreams.  ​​