The Greenspan/DIR™ Model and Greenspan Floortime® are Strength-Based
**Stanley I Greenspan MD Inc. does not support ICDL or its DIRFloortime.
Dr. Greenspan’s Greenspan/DIR™ Model draws inspiration from Piaget’s concept of progressive development, emphasizing the building blocks of child development. Throughout his 40 books, he uses “Milestones,” “Levels,” and “Stages” to illustrate how children grow by achieving increasingly complex skills, with each step rooted in earlier progress. This strength-based framework highlights the positive trajectory of child development.
In contrast, some non-Greenspan/DIR approaches focus solely on “Capacities,” which describes a child’s abilities without explicitly recognizing the sequential nature of development and the interconnectedness of skills. This difference between the use of “Milestones” and “Capacities” reflects a different perspective on how children learn and grow, and the sole use of “Capacities” does not describe a strength-based framework.
An example of this strength-based feature of Dr. Greenspan’s framework is how we use his Milestones to describe a child’s individual profile and support their optimal social, emotional, and cognitive development/growth. One of the most common and observable developmentally progressive moments is when a child begins to show reciprocity within caregiver-child interactions, Greenspan/DIR™ Milestone 3: Two-Way Communication (i.e. closing and opening circles of interaction).
- As the child begins to master Milestone 3, the child consistently responds within interactions (closing circles) and begins to initiate interactions (opening circles).
- Initially this sub-capacity is used by the child to get a caregiver’s attention and also to help get different needs met.
- By engaging in fun and frequent interactions within a meaningful relationship with an adaptive adult, Milestones can become mastered.
- The more frequent the opportunities to practice these sub-capacities, the stronger Milestones become.
- Initiating in order to get a need met (Milestone 3: Closing and Opening Circles) is also used for Shared Social Problem Solving within Milestone 4
Dr. Greenspan’s Greenspan/DIR™ Model emphasizes the crucial role of playful, problem-solving interactions in fostering children’s social-emotional and language development (Shared Social Problem-Solving, a sub-capacity of Milestone 4). By engaging in enjoyable challenges with attuned caregivers, children develop longer, more complex, and flexible communication patterns.
This Continuous Flow of Interaction, a sub-capacity of the Greenspan/DIR™ Milestone 4, has been recognized by neurologists as a precursor to language, termed “proto-conversations.” It establishes the foundation for Milestone 5, which involves the Meaningful Symbolic Use of Ideas.
Dr. Greenspan believed we could use a child’s strengths to encourage growth without targeting a ‘deficit’ or what’s missing. His official framework, the Greenspan/DIR Model and The Greenspan Floortime Approach, underscores the importance of capitalizing on children’s inherent strengths and fostering their natural developmental progression through joyful, shared experiences.
Read more about the importance of using Milestones vs Capacities and why the terminology we choose matters.
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A strength-based approach focuses on what a child can do and builds from their existing capacities, rather than fixating on deficits or what they cannot do. The Greenspan/DIR Model is inherently strength-based: it begins by understanding each child’s developmental level and individual profile, then meets them exactly where they are and builds up from their strengths and interests.
The Greenspan/DIR Model is strength-based because it begins with the child’s interests, passions, and current capacities — not a list of deficits to be corrected. Following the child’s lead, the core principle of Greenspan Floortime, is itself a strength-based act: it says ‘I see what you love and I’m going to build on that.’ Every Floortime session starts with what the child can do.
Deficit-based approaches focus on what is wrong or missing — what behaviors need to be eliminated, what skills are lacking. Strength-based approaches like Greenspan Floortime focus on building genuine capacity from within. This difference is not just philosophical; it affects outcomes. Children develop more fully when their strengths are honored and built upon rather than when their deficits are the constant focus.
Yes. The Greenspan/DIR approach honors the unique strengths that come with neurodivergent ways of thinking and experiencing the world. A child’s intense interests, keen pattern recognition, or sensory sensitivity can become pathways for engagement and connection in Floortime — turning what is sometimes framed as a deficit into a doorway for developmental growth.