DIR 101 in Yerevan: Introductory DIRFloortime® Course

DIR 101 in Yerevan · 24–25 October 2026
Introductory DIRFloortime® course for parents and specialists. In person, in Russian.

What is DIR/Floortime? It is an approach that helps us support a child’s development gently and with respect for the child’s natural pace. The approach draws on current research in brain development. Recent scientific findings have supported Stanley Greenspan’s ideas, first proposed more than 30 years ago, about the central role of emotions and warm, safe relationships in brain development.

Floortime is not just playing on the floor. It is a relationship with a child built on equality, mutual respect, and the pleasure of being together. Because of this, Floortime can become part of everyday family life, rather than a separate and exhausting set of tasks.

Many people who learn this approach notice that their relationships with other family members also improve, including relationships with adult children. More importantly, it creates the kind of atmosphere in which we can support a child’s growth gently, following the child’s own energy and interest.

Floortime teaches us exactly this and offers many tools for helping a child work through social and psychological difficulties. The gentleness of the approach lies in using the natural mechanisms of psychological development: we do not go against the child’s nature, but work with it.

I am a licensed ICDL expert trainer and am authorized to teach DIR/Floortime and train specialists within the international ICDL system.

DIR 101 is a licensed introductory DIRFloortime® course for parents and specialists. Participants receive an ICDL Institute (USA) certificate of attendance after attending all course hours.

DIR 101 in the training system

In the training program, DIR 101 is the introductory Floortime course. It is followed by courses 201, 202, 203 and beyond. All later courses, starting with 201, are practice-based: deeper theory is combined with participants’ practical work.

Completing these courses gives specialists the right to call themselves DIR/Floortime practitioners at the basic, intermediate or advanced level. Certification requirements include both theoretical and practical components of the work.

Introductory DIR 101 course programme

• 12 lecture hours, plus time for your questions;
• the core principles of the DIR/Floortime theory;
• how Floortime tools are applied in practice: description and video;
• watching and discussing videos together;
• answers to your questions;
• and much more.

Course topics

• how to use the DIR/Floortime model to assess and support a child;
• current research in neurobiology, neuropsychology, autism, and brain development;
• why a child’s emotional development is a crucial foundation for overall personality development;
• how to include the family and parents as active and central participants in the developmental program;
• how each person’s differences can become a support, rather than an obstacle, in development;
• what practitioners need to understand about themselves and their own individual differences;
• how to see contact, regulation, communication and developmental capacities in everyday interaction.

After completing the course and meeting the attendance requirements, participants receive a certificate from ICDL Institute (USA). ICDL

Format of the completed course

• City: Yerevan
• Format: in-person course in Russian, 2 days
• Audience: parents and specialists
• Dates: 24–25 October 2026
• Status: course completed; registration and payment are closed.

Related materials

• The DIRFloortime® section on this site
• Certified DIRFloortime® Expert and Training Leader
• Play and play therapy in the family

Photo: Unsplash.

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