Greenspan Floortime is Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s developmental intervention that follows the child’s lead through play, building the Functional Emotional Developmental Milestones through warm, relationship-based interaction.
Developmentally appropriate play is based on the child’s current Functional Emotional Developmental Milestone — where they are emotionally and cognitively — regardless of age. Dr. Greenspan taught that play should always meet the child where they ARE, not where they ‘should’ be for their age.
Children with autism may be working on early milestones regardless of their age. Offering age-appropriate but developmentally mismatched play can undermine engagement. The Greenspan approach always starts with the child’s developmental reality, not an age-based assumption.
Parents can identify their child’s developmental level using the six Functional Emotional Developmental Milestones — observing what attention, engagement, and communication the child can consistently sustain. The Parent Course at stanleygreenspan.com teaches parents how to assess their child’s profile and design Floortime accordingly.