Articles

(2014) Why Your Kid Can’t Just Sit Still, by Dayna Abraham

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Published in September on the Lemon Lime Adventures website. If you’re wondering why your child […]

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. Read more'>

(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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The Washington Post. Children have long regarded recess as a highlight of the school day. Last week, unstructured play breaks got an endorsement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.   Read more'>

(2013) New AAP Statement Calls Recess ‘Crucial’ to Child’s Development, by Mari-Jane Williams

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Published January 7 in The Washington Post.

Children have long regarded recess as a highlight of the school day. Last week, unstructured play breaks got an endorsement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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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. Read more'>

(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.

Read more

MotheringintheMiddle.com, the blog for new midlife mothers and fathers The arrival of summer and the unleashing of cooped-up young bodies always bring me back to my child-rearing-roots. Only a few days have passed since the carpool line, the packing of lunches, and the buzzing of early alarm clocks stopped and I am already thinking, “How can I keep them away from the TV and feed their bodies and minds?” With sensory smart activities of course! Read more'>

(2012) A Sens-ational Summer — Here We Come!, by Jane Samuel

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Published June 2 on MotheringintheMiddle.com, the blog for new midlife mothers and fathers

The arrival of summer and the unleashing of cooped-up young bodies always bring me back to my child-rearing-roots. Only a few days have passed since the carpool line, the packing of lunches, and the buzzing of early alarm clocks stopped and I am already thinking, “How can I keep them away from the TV and feed their bodies and minds?” With sensory smart activities of course! Read more

Bethesda Magazine Today, Carol travels around the country speaking about SPD. Back home, she spends time with her five grandchildren and four step-grandchildren, all of whom range in age from 3 to 11. None has SPD, but she has brought elements of her classroom into her basement via a sensory gym. She made a crash pad by stuffing a duvet cover with pillows and got scraps from local upholsterers to fill a dress-up trunk with velvet and yards of beautiful Chinese silk. She has a therapy ball, marbles, a net swing, a platform swing and a collection of rhythm band instruments made from twigs, nuts, shells and gourds. Read more'>

(2012) The Sensory Gym, by Jenny Rough

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Published in the January/February issue of Bethesda Magazine

Today, Carol travels around the country speaking about SPD. Back home, she spends time with her five grandchildren and four step-grandchildren, all of whom range in age from 3 to 11. None has SPD, but she has brought elements of her classroom into her basement via a sensory gym.

She made a crash pad by stuffing a duvet cover with pillows and got scraps from local upholsterers to fill a dress-up trunk with velvet and yards of beautiful Chinese silk. She has a therapy ball, marbles, a net swing, a platform swing and a collection of rhythm band instruments made from twigs, nuts, shells and gourds.

Read more

The Irish Times Health plus When Carol Stock Kranowitz was a teacher of music and movement at a nursery school in Washington DC, she used to be puzzled by the occasional child who would not take part in the fun activities all the other young children enjoyed. There was the boy who turned away, covering his ears with his hands, when music was played; the girl who lay on the floor “too tired” even to strike two rhythm sticks together; the boy who buzzed around the room while all the other pre-schoolers sat down singing songs. Their behaviour disrupted the fun for others. Read more'>

(2012) Certain Senses Can Hit a Nerve, by Sheila Wayman

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Published April 24, in The Irish Times Health plus

When Carol Stock Kranowitz was a teacher of music and movement at a nursery school in Washington DC, she used to be puzzled by the occasional child who would not take part in the fun activities all the other young children enjoyed.

There was the boy who turned away, covering his ears with his hands, when music was played; the girl who lay on the floor “too tired” even to strike two rhythm sticks together; the boy who buzzed around the room while all the other pre-schoolers sat down singing songs. Their behaviour disrupted the fun for others.

Read more

Bethesda Magazine, January-February At some point during her 25 years of teaching music at St. Columba’s Nursery School in Northwest Washington, D.C., Carol Kranowitznoticed something odd: A number of the kids avoided the sandbox, finger paints and shaving cream activities. These were the same kids who didn’t respond to the piano. When an occupational therapist came to the school, Kranowitz learned that these children had sensory processing disorder (SPD), a condition that makes it difficult to process information received through the five senses, plus movement/balance and body position. “It explained the behavior of a lot of these kids—they were out of sync,” the Bethesda resident says. Read more'>

(2012) Working Out of the House — by Jenny Rough

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Published in Bethesda Magazine, January-February

At some point during her 25 years of teaching music at St. Columba’s Nursery School in Northwest Washington, D.C., Carol Kranowitznoticed something odd: A number of the kids avoided the sandbox, finger paints and shaving cream activities. These were the same kids who didn’t respond to the piano.

When an occupational therapist came to the school, Kranowitz learned that these children had sensory processing disorder (SPD), a condition that makes it difficult to process information received through the five senses, plus movement/balance and body position.

“It explained the behavior of a lot of these kids—they were out of sync,” the Bethesda resident says.

Read more

Co-authored with Joye Newman and published in July on the blog of Home-Educating Family 

No matter what their ages, children learn best when they move. Pediatricians, teachers and other specialists now recognize that motor skills are vital to a child’s physical, emotional, academic, and overall success. Yet, some educators and parents believe that sitting still is the best way to absorb information. We know that just the opposite is true.

Read more'>

(2012) The In-Sync Homeschooler

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Co-authored with Joye Newman and published in July on the blog of Home-Educating Family 

No matter what their ages, children learn best when they move. Pediatricians, teachers and other specialists now recognize that motor skills are vital to a child’s physical, emotional, academic, and overall success. Yet, some educators and parents believe that sitting still is the best way to absorb information. We know that just the opposite is true.

Read more

The Educational Therapist, Vol. 33, No. 2, October Imagine what it is like for children who are expected to do more than their bodies are ready to do.  Any one of the In-Sync components that is immature or lacking can significantly compromise a child's ability to succeed in the world.  ("In-Sync" components are the three interrelated sensory, perceptual-motor, and visual systems, described in Growing an In-Sync Child, Perigee, 2010.) Read more'>

(2012) Three Children Get ‘In Sync’

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Co-authored with Joye Newman and published in The Educational Therapist, Vol. 33, No. 2, October

Imagine what it is like for children who are expected to do more than their bodies are ready to do.  Any one of the In-Sync components that is immature or lacking can significantly compromise a child’s ability to succeed in the world.  (“In-Sync” components are the three interrelated sensory, perceptual-motor, and visual systems, described in Growing an In-Sync Child, Perigee, 2010.)

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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. Read more'>

(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.

Read more

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. Read more'>

(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.

Read more