Meet Dr. Greenspan

Over 40 years ago, child psychiatrist Dr. Stanley Greenspan recognized the importance of meeting children on their level—both developmentally and physically—in order to maximize communicating, interacting, and learning. This meant getting on the floor to engage the child’s attention…

History of DIR and Floortime

Dr. Greenspan pioneered a new approach to understanding child development in the late 1970s. He recognized that existing theories were incomplete, so he drew inspiration from diverse fields like psychology, psychoanalysis, and occupational therapy to create a comprehensive model. He aggregated the works of thinkers like Erickson and Freud illuminating the power of relationships and emotional bonds, while Skinner shed light on human behavior, Ayres on sensory-motor development, and Piaget on cognitive growth and progressive milestones. He further refined and developed the DIR Model and the Floortime intervention with years of real world clinical experience…

Floortime and DIR/Floortime have become terms used by many professionals and organizations who do not follow Dr. Greenspan’s core principles as outlined by Stanley I Greenspan MD Inc. Non-Greenspan Floortime organizations have changed the terminology and definitions of important elements of his framework changing the application of ‘non-Greenspan Floortime’. The Greenspan Floortime Approach is Dr. Greenspan’s version of Floortime. It places an emphasis on building meaningful relationships and child-led interactions, and being a Thinking-based approach. It is designed to help children with developmental challenges, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), reach their full potential by strengthening their social, emotional, behavioral, and intellectual capacities…