Greenspan Floortime is Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s child-led, relationship-based approach to developmental intervention. Through play and warm interaction, it builds the emotional and cognitive capacities that underpin communication, connection, and thinking.
In Greenspan Floortime, ‘having the child do to you’ means letting the child be the one who acts — who pokes, pushes, builds, leads, initiates. Rather than the caregiver directing, the child is in the driver’s seat and the caregiver responds. This builds agency, intentionality, and the experience of having an impact on the world through relationship.
When children with autism are positioned as the initiator — acting on the caregiver rather than being acted upon — they experience themselves as powerful, intentional communicators. This builds the sense of agency that is the core of all development. Dr. Greenspan emphasized that children need to feel they have an effect on their world.
Parents can practice this by becoming a willing, enthusiastic recipient of their child’s actions. Let your child pat your head, hand you objects, push you gently, or lead you somewhere — and respond with genuine delight. This makes the child the agent of the interaction and teaches them that their actions matter.