On April 28, while I was preoccupied with my own life, an important person in it died. Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a brilliant and encouraging psychiatrist who wrote this book. ----> His approach, known in special ed circles as simply "floortime", gave me some of the most important first insights into how to reach Melissa when I was at the beginning of this journey. Dr. Greenspan's book gently guided me to assess my daughter and her strengths, which is where we started working, a welcome contrast to the many voices which were shouting her weaknesses. He was so respectful to identify how very individual all children are, and how special needs children are never easy to classify. This helped me, since Melissa stumped the experts for several years who wanted a "label".
The simple goal of increasing the number of "circles of communication" between Melissa and me gave me something to do daily. "Does she want outside? I'll stand in the way. She'll have to shove me with her body. That's a circle of communication! Hooray!" Much better for my mental health than "I think she wants outside...why doesn't she ask me to help her...why doesn't she look at me? What is WRONG!"
I have pulled this book out of the bottom of my pile and am glad to read it again, in Stanley's honor, and with gratitude.
I have pulled this book out of the bottom of my pile and am glad to read it again, in Stanley's honor, and with gratitude.
