From the author: A method for building contact and developing relationships in working with children with developmental disorders (in particular, a diagnosis of autism) is described. I continue the topic started in the article “How a psychologist can help a child with autism.” My practice began with working with parents and their neurotypical children at a family and child support center. Play therapy according to G. Landreth helps specifically in working with children. I liked this method of non-directive client-centered child psychotherapy. It allows you to successfully explore and work through behavioral and emotional symptoms in children. Working at the Center gave me the opportunity to learn how to easily establish emotional contact with a child, follow his interest, the urgent need to create and maintain a space for working out and playing out a painful topic. In this version of the work, the emphasis is on the child and his manifestations. Later, this experience was very useful when working in a medical organization for the treatment of neurological diseases in children. There I first met children with such an unusual diagnosis of “Early childhood autism.” When I started working, I experienced mixed feelings: from confusion, a feeling of complete powerlessness, hopes and illusions to faith in success. It was difficult for many reasons, but my interest won out. My difficulties at first were associated with ignorance of the techniques, methods and opportunities to approach such a child. I lived a long way of finding those special objects, toys and activities that would allow me to build a thin thread of a kind of contact with each child. Over time, I realized how difficult it is to experience the emerging feeling of uselessness and the lack of emotional feedback when working with such a child. It is very important to understand here that in such work, progress is small and extended over time. The psychologist will also have to learn to face and experience possible setbacks in the child’s development and partial loss of acquired skills. Therefore, another important task for me was the ability to notice and find the source of pleasure from the work done. I always try to sympathize with parents who often experience hopelessness and helplessness. It is difficult to accept such a diagnosis, and especially the information that the child cannot make contact himself, understand the facial expressions and feelings of other people, initiate communication and think creatively. There is always hope that everything can be fixed. Some parents experience rejection and rejection. Others have a lot of expectations and hopes that this problem can be solved quickly. In one course of treatment and several sessions, you can make your child normal. But - alas, this is not so. Dealing with such a child without medical support and treatment is unproductive. In my experience, there are examples when, against the background of treatment with microcurrent reflexology and long-term complex correctional and developmental work, children showed good dynamics. That is, it became possible for them to move from the first two complex groups in terms of their condition and level of development of mental functions to more adaptive groups such as , as 3 and 4. There is a standard classification of these violations by Nikolskaya O.S. and Lebedinskaya K.S. Among typical cases of childhood autism, there are four main models of behavior, differing in their systemic characteristics: Level of field reactivity. Level of affective stereotypies. Level of affective expansion. Level of emotional control. In children of group I we will talk about detachment from the external environment, group II - its rejection, III - its replacement and IV - overinhibition of the child by his environment. But no one will probably be able to completely rid a child with RDA of the manifestations of the disease or some of the peculiarities of his behavior... While searching for ways and options for working with children of this category, I came across and really liked the method of an outstandingAmerican doctor of medical sciences, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry Stanley Greenspan. In his book “Here you are with autism. Using the FLOORTIME methodology for development, communication and thinking"** describes the method of therapeutic work with children with developmental disorders, and in particular autism spectrum disorders, well, clearly and accessible. This method does not focus on the individual symptoms of these disorders, but on the problems that underlie them. This idea about “time on the floor” is close and understandable to me, in contrast to behavioral approaches, where they work mainly with the external side of behavior. The official name of this approach, which takes into account developmental characteristics, individual abilities, and the system of relationships, is the DIR concept (Developmen, Individual-difference, Relatioship-based).*** This concept is also often called the FLOORTIME technique.**** The goal of therapy within the DIR concept and FLOORTIME methods are the creation in natural conditions of the foundation for healthy development. With the help of this technique, children master key abilities that are absent or impaired during their development: the ability to have pleasant and warm relationships with others, purposeful and meaningful communication (first with gestures, then often with words) and, to varying degrees, logical and creative thinking. New opportunities open up for children who study using this method. The unique techniques offered by the author of the FLOORTIME method are based on the natural interests and emotions of the child. Interaction is built spontaneously. Methods are selected in accordance with the child’s sensory profile. In a child with disabilities, they can be specific (rocking, looking at and fingering fingers, unusual actions with objects and toys, intonation, vocalizations, etc.). Interpersonal contact is established with the child through the use of any, even unusual or strange, preferences of the child. For example, a child likes to open and close a door. A therapist using the floor-time technique does not prohibit the child from doing this. And he finds options - how to use and develop any action of the child in his interests. Experimental and gentle creation of obstacles for adults to do this action, or other unexpected, unusual actions while the child is doing his favorite activity will certainly interest and attract his attention. So, in this example, you can try to place and then quietly remove a small roller that prevents the door from closing, which will help attract the child’s attention. Further development of actions around the beloved object will allow the so-called “valuable joint attention” to arise. The main condition is that the child’s sensations and emotions be positive and bring him pleasure. S. Greenspan describes six clear stages of development of an ordinary child. The first is associated with the development of interest in the world around him, the second with affection (about six months of age), the third with the beginning of two-way communication (nine months), the fourth - with awareness of oneself as an individual, the fifth - with the expression of emotional ideas (two and a half years), the sixth - the stage of emotional thinking (four years). The authors of the methodology, based on the surveys conducted, are convinced that the primary problem in autism spectrum disorders is a deviation of a biological property that affects the connection between emotions and the motor system and, further, the ability to use symbols. For the above reasons, an autistic child is deprived of the ability go through all these stages in development. And usually tends to “get stuck” on one of them. The principles and methods of the DIR methodology provide a chance to get out of this stagnation, continue moving and begin two-way communication. Each connection experience closes one of the communication circles. In this case, the adult follows the child; he does not set the conditions of the game, but helps him establish new connections and rules. Developing emotional thinking allows you to close.