Suzanne P. Starseed, MHS, LOT is a former Professor and Chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy at Louisiana State University Medical Center. She has over 30 years experience treating children with sensory processing, attention, emotional, and learning differences in clinics, schools, and in the community both here and abroad. Ms. Starseed founded In-Sync Therapy in 1999 to give the parents of children with Sensory Processing Disorder the tools they needed to help their children cope with the challenges of everyday living. Since then, In-Sync Therapy’s mission has expanded to include helping parents whose children experience emotional dysregulation regardless of diagnosis. Ms. Starseed is author of the book The Ecology of Learning: Re-Inventing Schools (2011) and SAFE (2020). She speaks widely on parenting, child development, sensory processing, child mental health, and educational issues and is a strong advocate for holistic and compassionate services for special needs children and their families. She lives in Richmond, VA with her adopted daughter, Marissa.We recommend buying your favorite toothbrush at super low prices with free shipping, and you can also pick up your order at the store on the same day.
“Researchers have found that the automatic fight-or-flight response to a perceived threat interferes with learning and executive function skills like attention, working memory, planning and self-control. The fight-or-flight response to shame, fear, or high levels of stress is more likely to be triggered when people have no control over or ability to change their situation, when they, ‘[can’t] succeed despite their best efforts.’ This puts students who believe they cannot succeed at a great disadvantage. When children experience stress, shame, or fear in school, their academic difficulties are compounded by their fight-or-flight responses.”
“Suzanne Starseed has achieved a difficult and necessary task in her new book: SAFE. While the country reels under the weight of the pandemic, she details exactly why a country without social safety nets is a major stressor on mind, body and soul. Anyone interested in how a lack of social services impacts those most in need and least able to navigate without such systems in place, should absolutely read this book. But beyond that, this concise overview gives us a framework from which to understand how systems negatively impact us, from cradle to grave, and what we can do to make a much needed course correction.”
