Dear Friends and Colleagues,It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of the passing of Dr. Stanley Greenspan yesterday. As many of you know, Dr. Greenspan has been battling medical issues for some time. With courage and determination, he extended his life more than once against great odds.Dr. Greenspan was a great supporter of the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation’s work with children and adults who have sensory processing issues. Dr. Greenspan knew early on that intervention for sensory issues in children was a crucial step toward ameliorating engagement and social issues. For decades, his work and the work of occupational therapists and others involved with sensory issues dovetailed. He also partnered with Georgia DeGangi, PhD, OTR, for many years, and together they forged many new ideas.
In recent years, Dr. Greenspan has put countless hours into the organization he founded, the Interdisciplinary Council on Learning and Developmental Disorders (ICDL). Several years ago, it was our honor to work closely with him on revision of the IDCL Diagnostic Manual. It is partly due to this tremendous collaboration that Sensory Processing Disorder is still being considered for inclusion in the DSM-5.
The field of child development has lost a great leader, but the world has benefitted immeasurably from his life’s work. As Margaret Mead said:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
It is also true that every small group needs a visionary, a dreamer, and a leader to move it forward. For ICDL, that visionary was Dr. Greenspan.
We will all miss your energy and wisdom, Stanley, but we will celebrate your lessons. And we promise we will continue to teach our students what you have taught us about children and regulation . . . and in turn they will teach their students for generations to come. In that way, your knowledge and methods will help children with developmental, sensory, and regulatory disorders forever.
Please join us in honoring Dr. Greenspan’s lifetime of work with special children by making a memorial donation to his dream to educate future leaders in the assessment and treatment of developmental, sensory, and regulatory disorders.
Sincere regards,
Lucy Jane Miller PhD, OTR
Executive Director
Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation