What is Floortime?
I fell in love with the idea that I could personally treat my child through an adapted form of pretend play. And indeed, that approach served us well. Not only did my son build skills and emotional connectedness, we also had fun together.
Of course, Floortime isn't for everyone. It's a very open-ended, parent-driven approach; it's rarely supported through schools; and floortime therapists are rarely paid for by health insurance. In addition Floortime (like most other autism therapies) has not been thoroughly researched: while there is some evidence that it is effective, most of that evidence has been gathered by professional floortime practitioners (and not by independent researchers).
Last spring, I was a guest on the web radio show hosted by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, co-developer of the Floortime/DIR therapy for autism spectrum disorders. I asked Dr. Greenspan a number of questions, which he answered in depth. The first of those questions was "What Is Floortime -- And How Is It Different From Ordinary Play?"
Comments
You say that there “is some evidence that [Floortime] is effective.” What evidence is that? Anecdotal reports from “floortime practitioners” hardly constitute evidence. I am well versed in Floortime having been to many of Greenspan’s workshops and I can tell you, there is no evidence. His work is riddled with explanatory fiction, lacks empirical evidence (in fact, he really only sites his own work in presentations,) and, in my opinion, is misleading for the consumer.