BETHESDA, Md. — Jake Greenspan began working with children with special needs while he was still a high school student. As the son of Dr. Stanley Greenspan, who developed the Floortime methodology for treating children with autism and developmental disabilities, Jake said that he was involved from an early age “working with interns and doing direct research.”
In 2010, together with a colleague, Jake established the Floortime Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Today, Floortime is expanding its reach to Armenia.
“We founded the Floortime Center and we were providing Floortime therapy every day, often for eight hours at a time, we began bringing in more therapists. One of them is Marc Toureille, who is Armenian and has recently been working to make Floortime more accessible in Armenia,” Jake noted.
Marc Toureille is perhaps better known as the hip-hop artist Marc 2Ray. He has written and performed songs about the Armenian Genocide and the resilience of the Armenian people, including appearance at Armenian Genocide commemoration event in Times Square, New York. While his music has brought him public recognition, Toureille’s every-day job is that of a therapist. He has been working with Floortime for the past 12 years.
“In 2024, during a visit to Armenia, I had the opportunity to give a presentation at the Emili Aregak Center for Children with Special Needs in Gyumri and work with their staff,” Marc said, recalling how his cooperation with colleagues in Armenia began.
Over time, that cooperation expanded. Marc donated part of the proceeds from his Honoring the Hye music video to Emili Aregak “to support the important work they do.”
