Research

What is Evidence-Based Practice?

Evidence based practice refers to approaches that have been researched to show changes in children’s development and capacities, as well as parent’s development and capacities. It is important that families find practices and practitioners who are certified in using evidence-based approaches to support their child’s development and their capacities to support their child’s development and learning.

At My Therapy House®, we use a variety of parent mediated, child and family centred evidence-based approaches including DIRFloortime™, Circle of Security and the Hanen® Parent Training Programs which are designed to facilitate children’s language development.

DIRFloortime™ is an evidence-based approach developed over 20 years ago by Doctor Stanley Greenspan, M.D. and Doctor Serena Wieder, PhD and is understood as:

Developmental refers to a sequence of milestones that a person moves through as they develop the ability to remain calm, attentive, focused, engaged for communicating, problem solving, thinking and learning.

Individual differences describe how each person takes in and processes sensory information in their environment, through their five senses as they move through their day.

Relationships with family members, peers and other adults are the foundation for creating interaction, development and learning.

There are more and more research articles coming out about the effectiveness of relationship family-centred approaches. For more information please refer to these papers by Interdisciplinary Council for Development and Learning and Cullinane, Gurry and Solomon (July 2017)

The Circle of Security® parent-child attachment approach that we use at My Therapy House® is also evidence based. This model highlights the importance of the parent’s availability and wellbeing for the child’s wellbeing and development. Hence, at My Therapy House®, we see the parents’ development as being as important (if not more), as the child’s development.

Hanen® is another evidence-based program we use at My Therapy House® when working with children and families. Hanen was developed in Canada to help parents support their children’s social interaction, play and language development. This program is usually delivered to parent groups and may be delivered to families individually. At My Therapy House® we use Hanen® Programs as the core of our work when helping parents support their child’s social interaction, language and play development.

Occupational Therapy Evidence Based Resources
The Zones of Regulation is one of the frameworks utilised at My Therapy House® and is an evidence based approach. It has demonstrated positive outcomes across many studies and through application in clinical practice and school-based settings. The Zones Research and Scholarly Articles Spreadsheet highlights the evidence behind this approach.

My Therapy House® also utilises the standardised assessment called the Sensory Profile 2. The technical summary outlines the research Reliability and Validity associated in a pictorial format.

Everyone’s body and processing styles and capacities are different. The key is to understand how we learn, understand and act in our world and support each other in this process.

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