The Greenspan Floor Time Model

Content
Greenspan's Model of Stages of Relating and Communicating
Specific Goal Behaviors and Strategies to Attain Them
Five Steps in Floor Time
Strategies for Floor Time Intervention
Questions to ask Yourself if you are a Good Floor Timer
Props Needed for Floor Time
Extending Problem Solving
Home-Based Opportunities for Floor Time

Greenspan's Model of Stages of Relating and Communicating

Stage 1: Engagement (from birth to 8 months)
• Does the baby smile joyfully in response to vocalization and facial expression? What are the kinds of gestures the baby uses to elicit responses?


• How does the baby use senses such as hearing, sight and touch to form attachments? Is child beginning to exchange motor movements?


• How would you describe baby's temperament (stable, intense, irritable, unresponsive, assertive)?


Stage 2: Two-way Communication (6 to 18 months)
• What evidence is there that the child is reciprocating and copying your behaviors and emotions?


• Does the child begin to instigate activities based on own needs and wants, rather than by imitation alone? How?


• Provide examples of how the child combines gestures and words to communicate.


Stage 3: Shared Meanings (18 to 36 months)
• Provide examples of how the child is beginning to communicate ideas through words.


• How does the child use pretend play to communicate emotional themes such as curiosity, independence and rejection?


• Describe ways in which child makes wants, desires, and emotions know through pretend play. Describe how pretend play becomes more complex.


Stage 4: Emotional Thinking (3 to 5 years)
• How are feelings expressed?


• What evidence do you have the child realizes the relationship between feeling, behaviors and consequences?


• How would you describe the child's relationship with adults? Peers?


• How does the child control impulses and stabilize moods?


Specific Goal Behaviors and Strategies to Attain Them
The goal is for the child to become more alert and aware by noticing something is different and discriminating visual, auditory and other sensory information or recognizing that they are facing an obstacle. Also have as a goal encouraging the child to take the initiative and to be less passive in the environment as well as assisting the child in becoming more critical and ready to take action to help herself. It is critical to wait to give the child a chance to recognize problem and realize she must be one to start doing something about it.
Another goal is to help the child become flexible by creating small changes and problems to help child notice, initiate and tolerate changes. You want the child, through actions, gestures and words, to be able to mediate more ways to solve problems. Guide the child through the process of solving problems, but do not tell or show how to do a skill.

Five Steps in Floor Time
Step 1: Observation
Both listening to and watching a child are essential for effective observation. Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body posture, and word (or lack of words) are important clues that help you determine how to approach the child.
Step 2: Approach---Open Circles of Communication
Once a child's mood and style have been assessed, you can approach the child with the appropriate words and gestures. You can open the circle of communication with a child by acknowledging the child's emotional tone, then elaborating and building on whatever interests the child at the moment.
Step 3: Follow the Child's Lead
Be a supportive play partner who is an "assistant" to the child and allows the child to set the tone, direct the action and create personal dramas. This enhances the child's self-esteem and ability to be assertive and gives child a feeling that "I can have an impact on the world." As you support the child's play, the child benefits from experiencing a sense of warmth, connectedness and being understood.
Step 4: Extend and Expand Play
Extending and expanding a child's play theme involves making supportive comments about the child's play without being intrusive. This helps the child express his own ideas and defines the direction of the drama. Ask questions to stimulate creative thinking to keep the drama going, while helping the child clarify the emotional themes involved--suppose a child is crashing a car, respond empathetically. Say things such as "those cars have so much energy and are moving fast. Are they trying to get somewhere?"
Step 5: Child Closes the Circle of Communication
The child closes the circle when the child builds on your comments and gestures with comments and gestures of her own. By building on each other's ideas and gestures, the child begins to appreciate and understand the value of two-way communication.


Strategies for Floor Time Intervention

• Follow child's lead and join him--it does not matter what he is doing as long as he initiate the move.


• Persist in your pursuit.


• Treat what the child does as intentional and purposeful; give new meanings.


• Position yourself in front of the child.


• Do not treat avoidance or "no" as rejection.


• Expand, expand, expand: keep going, play dumb, do wrong moves, do as you are told.


Questions to ask Yourself if you are a Good Floor Timer

• Do you use a calm voice and give gentle looks?


• Do you demonstrate calm and supportive listening?


• How often do you allow the child to take the lead? Do you follow that lead?


Props Needed for Floor Time
To aid floor time, a number of props will make play more productive. Store them in clear, plastic containers to keep the play area tidy and also aid in choosing the toy.
• Food


• Transportation toys


• Dolls


• Plastic figures and animals


• Play telephones


• Easel with white board or chalkboard


• Alphabet and numbers


• Toy soldiers


• Blocks


• Art supplies


• Play structure


Extending Problem Solving
The goal is not to frustrate child, but to mobilize child's thinking and acting in face of something that matters personally to the child.
• The child will be surprised, amused or frustrated when faced with the changes and obstacles you create for her.


• Approach the child with a supportive attitude, sharing surprise.


• Help the child solve the problem, but wait for him to recognize the problem first and then encourage the process.


Home-Based Opportunities for Floor Time
• Dressing and undressing. Giving the child choices about what to wear or not or what to take off first allows the child to take the lead.


• Mealtime. Choose one meal a time with enough time--talk may focus around food preparation, different foods being served, which foods are particularly enjoyable or any topic relating to the child's life.


• Car time. Engage the child in a relaxed conversation in which the child takes the lead or sing-along for which he chooses songs


• Bedtime. Bedtime is often accompanied by a ritual, but it is also a moment to feel close and loving. Children sometimes share important thoughts and feelings during the last moments before falling asleep. Although you will not want to rev-up the child up prior to sleeping, you can respond with empathy and stay close until the child is calm and feels safe enough to sleep.

Resources:

Stanley Greenspan's Homepage: http://www.stanleygreenspan.com/
The Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders at http://www.icdl.com