In this episode of the TiLT Parenting Podcast, I’m talking with the fabulous Carol Kranowitz, the author of many books on sensory processing disorder, including The Out-of-Sync Child and The Out-of-Sync Child Grows Up. A former preschool teacher, Carol is passionate about informing people about sensory processing disorder and helping parents and educators understand how to recognize and support kids with sensory issues.
I read Carol’s book The Out-of-Sync Child when Asher was about four years old, and I immediately had that sense of YES . . . this is what’s going on, so it was a thrill and honor to get to chat with Carol about what sensory processing is, how to recognize it in kids, what it looks like at different ages, as well as to hear Carol’s thoughts on efforts to get SPD fully recognized as a disorder. This is a fascinating conversation with one of the world’s top voices on SPD—I hope you enjoy it!
About Carol: Carol Kranowitz was a music, movement, and drama teacher for 25 years, where she observed many out-of-sync preschoolers. To help them become more competent in their work and play, she began to study sensory processing and sensory integration (“SI”) theory. She learned to help identify her young students’ needs and to steer them into early intervention. In her writings and workshops, she explains to parents, educators, and other early childhood professionals how sensory issues play out – and provides enjoyable sensory-motor techniques for addressing them at home and school. She is best-known for her first book in the “Sync” series, The Out-of-Sync Child.
THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:
- What Sensory Processing Disorder is
- The 3 types of sensory processing issues: sensory modulation (most common), discrimination issues, and sensory based motor problems
- How parents can recognize if their child has sensory processing issues
- The connection between SPD and other neurodifferences such as autism, ADHD, and OCD
- What to expect in children with SPD at different ages
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- The Out-of-Sync Child by Carol Kranowitz
- The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Kranowitz
- Uit de Pas by Carol Kranowitz
- Met Plezier Uit de Pas by Carol Kranowitz
- Star Institute (www.spdstar.org)
- Jean Ayres (Sensory Integration Global Network)
- Lucy Jane Miller (founder of the Star Institute)
- Helping People Accept That Your Child Has SPD (online course at Star Institute)
SO excited to hear this one – Carol has been a huge influence on me, my teaching and my approach to working with complex kids – I first read The Out of Sync Child many years ago as a teacher – and have since reread and recommended it countless times to parents.
It really is such a fantastic book…total game-changer…
That was a great podcast. I learned a lot, and I am the mother of a 13-year-old son a lot like Asher. Parents with kids like ours are veterans by the time their kids become teenagers. Still, hearing about how SPD manifests itself in ways different from my own son enabled me to gain insights to help a student of mine who has the physical movement but appears to have adequate attention. Parents are overwhelmed and seem to think their son has ADHD, but I have been skeptical, since I have seen a lot of students with attention issues, and this boy does not seem to be having the same difficulties. I also was surprised by the statement “All kids with autism have SPD, but not all kids with SPD have autism”. I have a child in my school who has had an autism diagnosis for many years. He does not seem to have the SPD – at least not the extreme form my son has. But, then the conversation discussed a sensory defensive type of SPD that manifests itself as an unresponsiveness. That might be what I am seeing. My son had both seeking and defensive depending on the circumstances. Overwhelmed by sounds…could not tolerate sand at the beach, needed to wear socks for protection at all times… but needing a lot of physical contact with a lot of touching, lots of extreme body slamming against other people and objects. Since he is gifted, and because he also had some complicated medical issues that delayed speech, the ASD diagnosis never officially happened. These kids can be so complicated to figure out, but I think my husband and I were better able to assess him than any of the professionals we worked with over the years. That doesn’t mean that we weren’t really grateful for all the conversations we had with therapists. But we were in a better position to make observations. Thanks for this podcast.
You’re so welcome! I find SPD both fascinating and confusing, so was grateful to have Carol unpack it a bit for us!