with Eleanor Cyrce
Experiencing the benefits of joyful, loving and safe connection
Stanley Greenspan, MD ~ Child Psychiatrist,
Greenspan Floortime Approach
Over 40 years ago, Dr. 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. Ultimately, Dr. Greenspan developed The Greenspan Floortime Approach to make his techniques, tips, and tools available to parents and those who work with children.
The genius of the late Dr. Stanley Greenspan has transformed the lives of countless children throughout the world. As a theoretician, diagnostician, and clinician, he redefined the understanding of child development— how infants, young children and adolescents feel and think. His ideas will continue to improve the lives of children for generations to come. He left us the Greenspan Floortime Approach to carry on this work with children.
One parent reports, “My 3-year old boy was regressing and falling away from everyone especially his therapists. I was told he was autistic and retarded. We made a family commitment to Floortime and saw amazing and immediate results. All I wanted was a child who would not be isolated completely. What I have, because of Floortime, is so much more. He is an 8 year old with friends, fully conversational and keeping up with his peers in a general education classroom.”
While President of Zero to Three, Dr. Greenspan led the effort to bring the mental health problems of infancy to the attention of the clinical community. Part of this effort was the creation of Zero to Three’s DC:0-3 (Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood), the intent of which Dr. Greenspan explains in this historic video from the early 1990s. His efforts, together with those of his mentor Dr. Reginald Lourie, and his friend Dr. Berry Brazelton, were largely responsible for emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis and treatment for infants and young children—to make, in his words, working with infants and young children a “legitimate field.” In this video clip, Dr. Greenspan explains what inspired him to devote his career to helping infants and young children.
Dr. Greenspan was author of over 100 scholarly articles and chapters and author or editor of over forty books, translated into over a dozen languages. His research has been featured in all the major media.