The Debut of Play Time, a Short Documentary on Autism, at the 20th Annual DIRFloortime International Conference in Orlando, FL

Brad Fenton, Susie Fenton, Dr. Lina Maria Moyano, Manuel Romero, Jeffrey J. Guenzel, Virginia Spielmann

Manuel Romero, student of the Bachelor Degree in Communications and Mass Media of United International College, and producer and director of Play Time  (2016), along with the film’s cast and DIRFloortime Professionals, screened the documentary at the 2016 20^th Annual International DIRFloortime Conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, FL

Mr. Jeffrey J. Guenzel, Chief Executive Officer of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental Learning, introduced the short documentary and recognized the importance of Play Time as a media initiative that creates awareness about DIRFloortime.

The Fenton Family, who is featured in the documentary, attended the conference and shared their thoughts during the Q&A session after the documentary screening. As parents of a child with autism, Mr. Fenton emphasized the significance of accessing therapy for them to be able to care for the needs of their child, Max. Also, Mrs. Fenton voiced the utterly value of becoming members of a support group. She said how attending their support group translates to belonging to a community of parents who all share similar experiences, thoughts, and an intense need to keep sharing.

“Play Time educates families about DIRFloortime. The documentary inspires families to keep on learning about DIRFloortime; and as a result, parents start taking action such as attending this important conference, and finding ways to implement this approach in their daily lives- Dr. Lina Moyano.”

Courtney Kearney reiterated the thoughts of Manuel’s professor, Dr. Marcela Moyano, who strongly believes that media must be a vehicle for social change and she said that Play Time is a clear example of how a documentary film can create awareness of such growing condition as autism.

Play Time is a documentary film that was produced as a class project in the MMC 416 Documentaries summer course 2016 at UIC. Manuel is eager and pleased to continue screening the documentary at various venues. He is in the process of translating it to other languages and launching a distribution campaign.