Posts by Amy and Evelyn Guttmann
Child Anxiety: Is it All in the Mind… or All in the Body?
Recently, a mother from Manhattan posted on Facebook that she was looking for recommendations for a child psychologist for her daughter: “She has always been an anxious child, needing to be reassured of things, but recently it’s become increasingly worse. She becomes alarmed and scared if she doesn’t see someone at pick up right away,…
Read MoreWhy You Should Be Glad When Your Kid Throws a Tantrum (Maybe): Emotional Regulation in Children
Rebecca is sprawled on the floor, thrashing, the hairs of her undone ponytail wet against her tear-stained cheeks. Between hysterical cries and moments of holding her breath, the child exclaims, “I want that doll!” While Mommy’s nerves may get frazzled from the heightened noise levels, Rebecca’s tantrum may not only be appropriate but also a…
Read MoreIs Your Child Suffering From Anxiety? Here’s How to Attack It at Its Root
Let’s take a poll: Rate your feeling after the following events on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being completely relaxed and 5 being totally on edge. Your neighbor is doing construction, and the sounds of jackhammering have been going on all day – for the past three days. You walk into your friend’s…
Read MoreGet Access to Our Teleconference Recording
Many people have been reaching out to us and asking how they can get a recording of our teleconference where we discussed: Do’s and don’ts of baby equipment for healthy sensory development Tantrums vs. meltdowns: the difference between them and how to handle each one Which type of professional to approach for different types of…
Read MoreThe Sensory Systems that are Secretly Making Reading and Writing Challenging
“No, ma’am, his eyesight is perfect.” Ironically, that’s not at all the answer you wanted. Your 7-year-old is having a very hard time learning to read and write. He mixes up letters, he skips words… he even complains of nausea when he needs to do reading in the classroom. You were so hoping that this…
Read MoreSecrets to a Successful Sensory Summer
The last bell of the school year has rung. Notebooks, folders and binders have been stuffed deep in a closet to hibernate. It’s time to focus on fun, not on homework. It’s summer vacation! While summer vacation can come as a sigh of relief from the grind of school (and its accompanying challenges), for the…
Read MoreWhy It’s So Hard to Feel Like You’re a Good Parent When It Comes to Screen Time… and What You Can Do About It
This is Part 2 of our post on children and screen time. Part 1 dealt with the impact of screen time on your child’s brain and sensory development. This part gives a practical approach to developing and moderating your child’s screen time habits in a way that’s healthy for them, for you and for your…
Read MoreWhat Screen Time and Screen Media Do To Your Child’s Brain and Sensory Processing Ability
(April 2 – Correction: Information on the AAP policies below has been edited. Thanks to the readers – Diana and P – who caught the error!) It’s a scene we’re sure you’ve witnessed again and again: A family is sitting in a restaurant having dinner. The four year old is clearly fed up with…
Read MoreGetting Up from Any Down: A Chanukah Message for Parents
Life with a child who has sensory issues (or any other behavioral or emotional issues) has its ups and downs. And the hardest downs are when you thought you were on an up. When you as the parent are on an up, when you get all psyched up to try out a new technique to…
Read MoreSound the Shofar: Appreciating Your Sensory Child
When my daughter was two, she was terrified of the shofar. If only that playgroup teacher hadn’t been so dramatic about how “the shofar makes a very loud noise!” No amount of reassurances, explanations, or comparisons with familiar noises would convince my daughter that it was worth accompanying me to shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.…
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