Entries by Jennifer Cassell

(2012) Growing In-Sync Children

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Co-authored with Joye Newman and published in TYC – Teaching Young Children/Preschool, Vol. 6, No. 1, October/November

Between birth and about six, children learn about their world by feeling it and moving their body through it. The more opportunities children have to move, the more they will feel comfortable in their bodies — and “In Sync” with the world.

Are your students In Sync? Consider them as you look at the quiz below. The more checks, the more likely your classroom is filled with “In-Sync” children.

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(2012) Moving Experiences that Will Last a Lifetime

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Co-authored with Joye Newman in “Exchange: The Early Childhood Leaders’ Magazine Since 1978,” Vol. 34, Issue 1, No. 203, January/February

It’s 50 degrees and raining outside. The playground is all mud and puddles. The morning has just begun, and the preschoolers are full of energy. You, like most early childhood educators, want to give your young students a leg up and a head start in reading and other academic endeavors. So, how do you use this time? Do you:

  1. Set up your four-year-olds at the computers to play the latest ‘educational’ video games?
  2. Conduct a longer-than-usual Circle Time?
  3. Bring out the flashcards and try to entice the kids to call out quick answers?
  4. Take your children outside to splash in the puddles?

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(2010) Help Your Child Develop Motor Skills, by Amy Phelps

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Published April 29, online at MOVParent.com, and in the May issue of Mid-Ohio Valley Parent Magazine: Your Partner in Parenting

Child development occurs at different stages, but what can you do to help your child if he or she is a little behind, or “out of sync”? Based on the authors’ experiences working with children, this book gives you many different, fun activities to do with your children to help fine-tune their development skills.

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(2010) Revelation from a Paper Plate

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Published in S.I. Focus, Summer issue

Imagine coming to one of my “Getting Kids in Sync” presentations. You are here to learn new strategies for supporting children with SPD. At the door, you receive a warm welcome, a hefty handout, and two paper plates.

Get a cup of coffee and snack, but please, do not put food on the plates. We’ll use them in many different ways — just not for bagels and berries!

During our synergetic day, one activity is drawing on a paper plate.

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(2010) Two “Look-Alikes”: Sensory Processing Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder

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Published in National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Beginnings — A publication dedicated to the young minds of America from the NAMI Child & Adolescent Action Center, Summer issue

Brian is inattentive, impulsive, and fidgety. Does he have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – or Sensory Processing Disorder? Recognizing the differences between these two disorders and providing appropriate treatment can greatly benefit children and adults like Brian.

Like ADHD, SPD is a neurological problem affecting behavior and learning. Unlike ADHD, SPD is not treated with medicine. Instead, occupational therapy using a sensory integration framework (“OT-SI”) helps most. This therapy addresses underlying difficulties in processing sensations that cause inattention and hyperactivity.

 

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