When a parent or caregiver hears the words “Your child has autistic spectrum disorder” from a psychologist or physician, it can often sound to that parent or caregiver like a life sentence. They believe that their child will always be autistic. That autism diagnosis, however, is dynamic not static.
What does it mean that your child’s diagnosis is dynamic? It means that it can change. A static diagnosis does not change. For example, a child’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis is static. That diagnosis will not change. Dr. Greenspan says that an autism diagnosis is dynamic.
Dr. Greenspan, in his book Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think that he authored, emphasized that an ASD diagnosis is dynamic. They stress that emotional engagement with other people, that underdeveloped or missing capability in youth with autism, can be developed through Floortime treatment efforts.
Floortime treatment efforts for children and youth with autism help to develop their capacity for intimacy, grow their ability to expressively communicate, and enhance their meaningful speech. These three components to Floortime autism treatment efforts require children to emotionally engage with others.
Dr. Greenspan’s dynamic view of autism gives hope to parents of ASD children. Parents, do not give up on your withdrawn child. Do not give up hope for your recalcitrant child. Their autism diagnosis is dynamic not static.
Learn more about Floortime and how it can help children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder develop that all-important emotional engagement with their parents, caregivers, siblings, classmates and others. The Floortime Center, by implementing Floortime therapy, helps children and young people grow in their capacities for expressive communication, intimacy and meaningful speech.
Greenspan Floortime is a comprehensive, evidence-based approach developed by Dr. Stanley I. Greenspan that uses emotionally meaningful play interactions to support children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and communication development. It is the foundation of the DIR™ model.
An autism diagnosis describes a child’s current functional profile — it is not a fixed, permanent description of who they will always be. With appropriate support, children with autism can make remarkable developmental progress, and their diagnostic picture can change significantly over time.
Dr. Greenspan strongly believed that children with autism have enormous potential for growth, and that the right relational and developmental support can lead to profound changes. He documented many cases of children who, with intensive Floortime intervention, moved off the autism spectrum entirely.
Greenspan Floortime helps children with autism grow by building the foundational developmental capacities — emotional engagement, intentional communication, and symbolic thinking — that are often affected by autism. Progress in these areas can shift a child’s entire developmental trajectory and change how autism presents over time.