Greenspan Floortime is Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s relationship-based approach to child development. Following the child’s lead in play, it builds the emotional and developmental capacities — attention, engagement, communication, and thinking — that make all learning possible.
Dr. Greenspan defined resilience as the capacity to recover from setbacks, adapt to change, and continue engaging with the world from a place of emotional security. He believed resilience is built through the early developmental milestones — warm engagement and two-way emotional communication — which give children the inner resources to face challenges.
Greenspan Floortime builds resilience by creating thousands of warm, successful interaction experiences that establish the child’s sense of themselves as capable, connected, and valued. This emotional foundation — built through relationship — is the bedrock of resilience.
Children with autism can absolutely develop resilience. Dr. Greenspan’s research showed that when children with autism receive relationship-based intervention that builds their developmental capacities, they develop greater emotional regulation, flexibility, and the capacity to recover from difficult experiences. Resilience is built through experience — not fixed by diagnosis.