S. I. Greenspan; psychiatrist who created autism therapy

In a career spanning 40 years, Dr. Greenspan drew praise for his research on infant development and found a wide following as an author and public speaker. At the time of his death, he was a professor at George Washington University’s medical school.

In the 1970s, while at the National Institute of Mental Health, he was at the forefront of a movement that saw human interactions and loving relationships as the foundation for a child’s emotional and intellectual growth.

In books such as “First Feelings’’ (1985), “The Essential Partnership’’ (1989), and “Playground Politics’’ (1993), Dr. Greenspan gave parents a map of the developmental stages that most children experience from birth to age 7. He said parents could best help their children by engaging in intensive, child-led play for half an hour every day.

Such floor time, wrote Dr. Greenspan, teaches children how to confidently take initiative and “creates the whole basis for security, trust, and self-worth that a child will need from here on.’’

In 1995, Dr. Greenspan published “The Challenging Child,’’ about raising difficult children, including those who are aggressive, defiant, or highly sensitive.

“Engaging Autism,’’ his 2006 book co-written with Serena Wieder, received positive reviews as autism diagnoses were skyrocketing. The book explained how the floor time method could be tailored to address the social and emotional deficits of children with autism.

Trademarked as “D.I.R./Floortime,’’ Dr. Greenspan’s method focused on developing children’s underlying ability to form relationships and react to new situations. It received widespread attention as an alternative to more traditional methods that use rewards and punishments to shape specific behaviors.

“What he did was give us a way to begin to reach these children early and give them a chance to develop to their potential,’’ said T. Berry Brazelton, a noted pediatrician, author, and Harvard professor who wrote “The Irreducible Needs of Children’’ with Dr. Greenspan in 2000. Dr. Greenspan thought that “you don’t teach a child what to do; you let the child do, and you reinforce them for what they’ve just done,’’ Brazelton said. “That way they begin to feel more and more competent and begin to flourish right in front of your eyes.’’

Stanley Ira Greenspan was born in New York. He struggled with reading as a boy and developed methods for meeting academic requirements, scanning books for key ideas, for example, rather than reading each word closely. He frequently worked with co-authors.

Overcoming his learning difficulties taught him two things, he told The Washington Post in 1996: “One, that kids have different learning styles that are real and need to be paid attention to. And, two, that people have an enormous capacity to use their strengths to compensate for any areas of vulnerability.’’

His first marriage, to Helen Hans, ended in divorce. In 1975, he married Nancy Thorndike, with whom he wrote several books. He leaves Ms. Thorndike, along with three children from his second marriage, Elizabeth Greenspan of Boston, Sarah Greenspan of Silver Spring, Md., and Jacob Greenspan of the District of Columbia.

Dr. Greenspan graduated from Harvard in 1962 and Yale University medical school in 1966.