A note from the road, the clinic, and the heart of our community

Welcome to Developmental FX Learning Journeys' Insights newsletter, designed especially for clinicians. We are so happy you are here, and to offer a space where like-minded colleagues can learn from one another’s insights and 
collectively elevate our important work.

FEBRUARY 2026: ADAPTIVE RESPONSES

Not what calms it in the moment.


Not what occupies it.


Not a diversion or a hack.


But what supports adaptation and resilience. 

In Ayres Sensory Integration®, we often talk about the just-right challenge. Yet over time, that phrase has been compressed into a simple continuum: not too hard, not too easy. What gets lost is the lived moment inside the experience - the pause where a person senses uncertainty or possibility and thinks, I might be able to do this.

That moment matters. It is a moment of attunement, and the moment wherein the clinician learns what they need to understand in order to follow the child’s need and their lead. 

In this moment, we enter into the integrative space – the space Dr. Ayres referred to in this quote: “It is the events between sensation and response wherein the story of sensory integration lies.” ~Ayres (1972, p. 11)

When we engage in this space, we understand that development doesn’t happen through stimulation alone. It happens in the space between sensation and response. In this space, the nervous system is neurocepting safety or threat, predicting what might happen next, and deciding whether to lean in or pull away. This space is most accessible when ‘witnessed,’ or co-experienced. Within that shared space, magic happens. In that space, the experience is shaped by relationship, by context, by meaning, and by whether the opportunity asks something new without asking too much.

Sometimes what is needed is restoration, other times expansion. The art of therapy lives in discerning the difference.

This has implications far beyond any single intervention model. It asks us to slow down and notice:


• Is this nervous system ready to engage?
• Does this experience invite agency or compliance?
• Is this moment asking for support—or for stretch? 

What questions would you name here? 

Whatever the guiding questions may be, when we get this intention right, we understand that development doesn’t come from repetition of what is already mastered. It comes from standing at the edge of competence, held in relationship, and discovering the “I might…” space. That space has an edge - and that edge is where growth lives.

I’m revisiting the concept of the adaptive response in a longer piece - looking at how contemporary neuroscience, predictive processing, and neuroception deepen Ayres’ original insights. You can access that longer writing in our Learning Journeys Community. But for now, this is the reflection I’m carrying with me:

Therapy that truly fits doesn’t push or pull. It invites. And in that invitation, something new becomes possible.

Warmly, and in reflection,

Tracy

This month in the Learning Journeys Community...

If you’re interested in diving deeper into learning and discussion around adaptive responses, join us in the LJC! When you join you will have access to Tracy’s longer, updated article about the adaptive response – and you can join us today, February 19th at 2pm MT (find your time here) for a live AR discussion. We hope to see you there! (And if you can’t make it today, community members have access to the recordings!)


Coming up in March, our live community time will be focused on case processing - community members can sign up to bring a case to discuss! We’ll be sharing more about this in the community space soon.

More ways to connect...

DFX Learning Journeys Opportunities:


• The first meeting for our STEPPSI© 2026 Cohort is today (February 19th)! Enrolled participants will find the meeting link in a separate email.
  

Other Ways to Join Us:


• Next week Tracy will be presenting at the 2026 Avanti symposium - hear her on a panel about the power of intensity and in a presentation on “The Convergence of Sensory Integration Theory & Polyvagal Theory in Clinical Practice.”
  
• DFX is representing at this year’s ICDL conference in March!
  
• You can hear Tracy in her keynote address, “The Science of Being Together: Co-Regulation, S-A-M, and the Epigenetics of Flourishing.”
   
• DFX team members Sam Mulvey and Juliana Padilla are sharing insights from DFX’s Therapy that fits® approach in their presentation, “Bridging Language and Action: Exploring the Connection Between Gestalt Language Processing and Affordance-Based Development Through the Lens of DIR/Floortime.”
  
• Tracy will be back leading the practicum program at The Sensory Gym’s Jabiru in Australia in April! The practicum program includes training in the SpIRiT© model and mentoring throughout the week with lots of “hands on” learning. Learn more here. (You’ll also get to hang out with DFX’s Juliana Padilla and Hannah Burke, who are clinical support at Jabiru this year!) 
  
• In November, CPD Retreats is hosting Tracy for a second time as she leads “A Spirited Retreat” - an immersive learning experience in Bali, Indonesia focused on the SpIRiT© model. Learn more here.  
  
• Tracy was a guest on DIR® Dialogues for their episode, “Research Supporting DIRFloortime®.” Find the episode here. 

Learning Journeys

Learning Journeys Community

Spirited Conversations Podcast