Nikki Magliaro

I began my clinical career in Early Intervention which first ignited my interest in the practice of family-centered clinical work. It was also around this time in my career that I was introduced to DIRFloortime® therapy.  The results were simply inspiring.  I was so impressed by the growth I witnessed between children and their families when the intervention approach is driven by meeting the child where they are at, working to understand their interests,  how they see the world, and supporting their growth from that place.  Beginning my training in DIRFloortime® as a result of this inspiration, I quickly realized this option of therapy was not readily available to all families in an equitable way in my community.  Seeing families denied an opportunity to decide which approach to intervention was best for their child was disheartening.  At the time, ABA was prevalent as the only choice accessible to most families. This experience is fundamental to my inspiration and remains the motivation I have to deliver relationship based, developmental approaches to intervention for families in our community.