DIR 101 in Yerevan: Introductory DIRFloortime® Course

DIR 101 in Yerevan
introductory DIRFloortime® course for parents and specialists
In-person course in Russian.
Schedule update: the in-person DIR 101 Floortime course in Yerevan will take place on October 24-25, 2026. The course will be held in person, in Russian. After you make the prepayment, we will contact you and confirm the participation details.

What is the DIR/Floortime method? It is an approach that helps us better understand a child’s individual profile and support development through relationships, play, emotional contact, regulation, and respect for the child’s differences. Current research on brain development supports the importance of emotionally warm, safe relationships and shared interaction for child development.

Floortime is not a set of separate techniques, but a way of building interaction with a child through respect, shared attention, enjoyment of contact, and support for the child’s initiative. In the course, participants learn how elements of the approach can be woven into everyday family life and professional practice.

In the course, we discuss how a supportive atmosphere, emotional safety, and following the child’s interest can help parents and specialists notice development, contact, and communication more attentively.

The course introduces the core ideas and tools of DIR/Floortime®: how to notice a child’s initiative, support shared attention, take sensory and emotional differences into account, and build interaction without pressure.

The DIR/Floortime® model for understanding individual profile and development, introduced from the first lectures, helps us do this.

Alena Akulova is an ICDL DIRFloortime® Training Leader and an official DIR® Provider in the DIR Directory. This course is offered within the ICDL DIRFloortime® training system.

DIR 101 is an introductory course in the ICDL DIRFloortime® training system for parents and specialists. For specialists, the program belongs to additional education and professional development.

DIR 101 In The Additional Education System

In the training program, DIR 101 is the introductory Floortime course, followed by 201, 202, 203, and further courses. All following courses, starting with 201, are practical courses where deeper theoretical study is combined with participants’ practical work.

Further ICDL courses have their own requirements and levels of completion. Statuses and certificates are determined by ICDL rules.

What We Will Study In The Introductory 101 Course

• 12 lecture hours, plus time for your questions;
• the core principles of the whole DIR/Floortime theory;
• using Floortime tools in practice: description and video;
• class discussion of viewed videos;
• answers to your questions;
• and much more.

What New Things You Will Learn

• the DIR/Floortime® model for understanding individual profile and development;
• recent research in neurobiology and neuropsychology of autism and brain development;
• emotional development as a crucial foundation for the child’s overall personality development;
• including the family and parents in a developmental program as active and central participants: family first;
• how each person’s differences and features become not an obstacle, but a support in a developmental program;
• what a specialist needs to know about themselves and their own features;
• why Floortime without enjoyment is not Floortime;
• and other observations that help participants look at development more attentively and gently.

What may change after the course: if you listen carefully to the lectures, study the additional materials, and take part in the discussion, the course may help you see child development, relationships, emotional contact, and gentle support in family and professional practice more broadly and deeply.

Who This Course Is Not For

Attention! The DIR/Floortime method is not for everyone.

• People who come to study formally and only “for a certificate”: this course is introductory, introduces the foundations of DIR/Floortime®, and further levels and requirements are determined by ICDL rules.
• People who are deeply convinced that children with autism and other developmental differences “do not feel like ordinary people and do not want to communicate” and are not ready to change this view.
• People who believe the main principle of upbringing is strictness, obedience, and discipline, and that all talk about a child’s emotions is empty romanticism.
• People who are sure they can no longer be taught anything new. Sadly, that is true.

Trainer

Alena Akulova is a psychologist, ICDL DIRFloortime® Training Leader, and official DIR® Provider in the DIR Directory.

The ICDL profile lists DIRFloortime® Practitioner (DIR-Expert) status and the highest DIRFloortime® Expert Certificate.

After the course, if ICDL requirements are met, participants receive an ICDL (USA) certificate of course completion.

For specialists, DIR 101 belongs to additional education and professional development. The program does not replace a university degree or other requirements for professional practice established by the laws of a particular country.

Format In Yerevan

• City: Yerevan
• Format: in-person course in Russian, 2 days
• For whom: parents and specialists
• Dates: October 24-25, 2026.
• Venue: Yerevan, address to be announced later.
• Participation fee: 250 USD (100 USD online prepayment).

Participation in the course is governed by the public offer agreement and by ICDL rules.

The course is educational and informational in nature. It is not a medical service, diagnosis, treatment, or psychotherapy.

If you would like to join the group in Yerevan or ask for details, you can write in advance. We will contact you separately and share the course venue address.

You can pay the 100 USD prepayment online. After payment, we will contact you and send you the course venue address.

Photo: Unsplash.

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