When families in Bethesda, Maryland begin looking for the right educational environment for a child with developmental differences, they often face an overwhelming maze of options — traditional preschool, special education programs, inclusion classrooms, and more. For many children, none of these paths fully fits. That is exactly why The Floortime Center created TheraSchool™: a therapeutic school designed from the ground up to meet each child where they are, developmentally, emotionally, and socially.
TheraSchool™ is not a traditional school with therapy added on as an afterthought. It is a fully integrated therapeutic learning environment where the Greenspan Floortime Approach® is woven into every moment of the day — circle time, snack, play, transitions, and structured learning. Families from across Bethesda and the greater Washington, DC metro area choose TheraSchool™ because it offers something rare: a place where their child is genuinely understood.
What Makes a Therapeutic School Different?
A therapeutic school bridges the gap between clinical therapy and traditional education. At TheraSchool™, every activity is intentionally designed to support a child’s developmental goals. That means licensed occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and Floortime therapists work alongside teachers — not in separate rooms at scheduled times, but right there in the classroom, integrated into learning.
The result is that children are not pulled away from learning to receive services. Instead, therapy happens organically within the flow of the day. A child working on sensory regulation might engage in a carefully designed art activity that builds tactile tolerance. A child developing early language skills might practice communication through purposeful play with peers. Therapy and learning become inseparable.
This integrated model is particularly powerful for children ages 2 through 9 who have developmental delays, autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing differences, language disorders, social-emotional challenges, or other complex needs. These children often struggle to generalize skills learned in isolated therapy sessions into real-world settings. In TheraSchool™, they practice those skills in context, every single day.
TheraSchool™ at The Floortime Center: Program Details
TheraSchool™ at The Floortime Center in Bethesda runs two sessions to serve a wide age range while keeping groups intentionally small — a maximum of six children per group. Small group sizes are not just a preference; they are central to the therapeutic model. Every child needs consistent, individualized attention, and a ratio that allows therapists and teachers to follow each child’s lead throughout the day.
The Morning Program runs from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and serves children ages 2 to 5. This session focuses on early developmental foundations: building shared attention, developing functional communication, navigating first friendships, and establishing the regulatory capacity children need to learn and grow. For our youngest learners, play is the primary vehicle for all of this — and the Greenspan Floortime Approach® treats play with the seriousness it deserves.
The Afternoon Program runs from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and serves children ages 5 to 9. This session builds on those early foundations, adding more structured academic readiness, more complex social interaction, problem-solving, and emotional flexibility. Children in this age group are often navigating the early demands of academic learning while still working through fundamental developmental milestones — TheraSchool™’s afternoon program holds both of these realities at once.
Both programs run for the 2026/2027 school year. Enrollment is limited due to our small group model, and families are encouraged to reach out early to explore availability.
The Greenspan Floortime Approach® at the Heart of Everything
The Greenspan Floortime Approach® was developed by the late Dr. Stanley I. Greenspan, a pioneering child psychiatrist who devoted his career to understanding how children develop emotionally, cognitively, and socially. The approach recognizes that development does not happen in neat, isolated skill buckets — it happens through relationships, through play, through the back-and-forth interactions we call “circles of communication.”
At TheraSchool™, this means therapists and teachers are trained to follow each child’s lead and use their natural interests as the doorway into growth. A child fascinated by trains is not redirected to a “more educational” activity — their love of trains becomes the vehicle for building language, social reciprocity, problem-solving, and sensory regulation. This child-led, relationship-based approach creates the safety and engagement children need to stretch into new developmental territory.
The Greenspan Floortime Approach® also keeps families deeply involved. Parents are not passive recipients of reports about their child’s progress. They are partners in the process, learning the principles of Floortime so they can support their child’s development at home, at the dinner table, on the playground, and everywhere in between.
Is TheraSchool™ Right for Your Child?
TheraSchool™ may be an excellent fit if your child has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, sensory processing disorder, a language or communication disorder, or social-emotional challenges — or if you’ve noticed that your child struggles in traditional preschool or school settings despite having genuine ability and curiosity.
It may also be the right fit if your family has been seeking a program that truly integrates therapy and education, rather than treating them as separate tracks. If you’ve felt like your child’s therapy sessions are not translating into real-world progress, TheraSchool’s integrated daily model may be exactly what your family has been looking for.
To learn more about TheraSchool™ at The Floortime Center in Bethesda, Maryland, or to schedule a consultation for the 2026/2027 school year, visit thefloortimecenter.com or call our team today. Spaces are limited — we would love to talk with you about your child.