The core symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder are all addressed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s Floortime Approach. The three components of Dr. Greenspan’s Floortime Approach–a capacity for intimacy, an ability to communicate expressively, and the capacity for meaningful speech–address these missing or underdeveloped abilities of children with autism.
Each of these three missing or underdeveloped functional capacities in children on the autism spectrum require emotional engagement with other people. Going around this emotional engagement requirement, as Applied Behavior Analysis does to train basic and essential skills, does not support the development of the child with autism’s capacity for emotional engagement with other people, especially their parents or caregivers.
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.
Emotional engagement — the capacity to feel connected, interested, and emotionally invested in another person — is the gateway to all development for children with autism. Dr. Greenspan found that building warm, pleasurable emotional engagement is the first and most essential step in supporting children on the spectrum.
Greenspan Floortime builds emotional engagement by following the child’s lead, entering their world with enthusiasm and warmth, and creating joyful back-and-forth interactions. When children experience genuine pleasure in connecting with another person, the motivation for communication and development grows organically.
Signs of growing emotional engagement include increased eye contact, smiling in response to the caregiver, initiating interaction, prolonged back-and-forth exchanges, and showing obvious pleasure in the relationship. These are early and powerful indicators of developmental progress.