A Year of Mini-Moves for the In-Sync Child

Joye Newman is a perceptual-motor therapist. Perceptual Motor Therapy (PMT) helps children, and also adults, to develop and enhance basic movement and learning abilities. Joye earned her master's degree in Education and Human Development from George Washington University with a specialty in perceptual-motor development. Integrating studies in behavioral optometry, occupational therapy, and psychology into her graduate work, she developed her unique method of PMT. Joye founded and continues to direct a popular organization called Kids Moving Company (KMC). She began KMC because she was concerned that many kids were not encouraged to move -- in fact, many kids were discouraged from moving--at home and school. She wanted to provide a place for children to move, play and think in a developmentally appropriate environment. At the studio, KMC offered fun and functional activities, birthday parties, and perceptual-motor therapy to children with and without special needs. Joye was a founding member and the original education chair of WISER (Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources), a co-founder of the Jewish Primary Day School of Washington, DC, and the Early Childhood Special Needs Consultant for the Board of Jewish Education. Recently, Joye has been focusing on in-school programs, individual evaluations, and consultations with parents to help them understand how they can help their children become more confident and competent in everything they do. She lectures on school readiness, creative movement, and perceptual-motor development, and she consults to area preschools, helping them develop and refine their movement programs. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland. As a music, movement and drama teacher for 25 years, Carol Stock Kranowitz 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 writings and workshops, she explains to parents, educators, and other early childhood professionals how sensory issues play out – and provides fun and functional techniques for addressing them at home and school. She is best-known for her book, The Out-of-Sync Child, which has sold more than 800,000 copies. She continues to write books, manuals and other publications to help families, teachers, and professionals understand SPD in children. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.