Entries by Mick

(2014) Focus on Survival Skills: When the Lights Go Out

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Published in Sensory Focus, Summer issue

An advertisement from an electric power company dropped through my mail slot today, shouting, BLACKOUT: Could It Happen Again? It got me thinking about survival skills. When an outage occurs and we can’t switch on the electric power, we must switch to our own power to get from place to place, prepare meals, communicate with others, and entertain ourselves.

Will we be prepared? Especially those among us with SPD and other physical challenges?

Alas, so much is done for us these days that we all are becoming “do-ees” instead of “do-ers.” Learned helplessness is everybody’s problem.

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(2013) The Out-of-Sync Child Grows Up

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Published in Sensory Focus magazine, Winter issue

If you are seeking information about SPD’s effect on children, you are in luck. An abundance of books is available to help parents, teachers, and other non-OTs learn to recognize SPD characteristics and support “out-of-sync” kids at home and school.

Alas, should you seek information about SPD’s effect as children mature, you will find fewer choices. Reader-friendly resources that describe “what happens next” are hard to write and hard to find.

Worrying and wondering, parents and teachers have many questions about their kids’ future.

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(2012) Be Still: Tips for Keeping Squirmy Kids in Their Seats

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Published March 15, on StrollerTraffic.com

Squirmy, wiggly kids can really try a mom’s patience. Sit still. Pay attention. Be polite. Uh-huh. Good luck with that.

“Scolding a child probably won’t get him to sit quietly,” says Carol Kranowitz, author of The Out-of-Sync Child, The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, and co-author of In-Sync Activity Cards.  “It’s frustrating because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do, but wiggly kids are just trying to get their bodies organized; they’re seeking sensory input. So let’s get them some input.”

With that in mind, here are Kranowitz’s tips for getting the wiggles out.

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(2010) Being an Editor: A Feast for All Senses, by Marian Lizzi

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May 4, published in Perigee Bookmarks: Improving Your World One Book at a Time

In my (gulp) twenty years as an editor of nonfiction, I’ve learned countless things from the authors I’ve worked with….  One of the most fascinating things I’ve learned comes from what also happens to be the first book I edited when I came to Penguin in the summer of 2004 — the revised edition of a special-needs bible called The Out-of-Sync Child, which has sold more than 750,000 copies to date.

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