We are honoured and privileged to have Dr. Kuhaneck join us for the “Big Interview” for this month’s edition of SensorNet. Dr. Kuhaneck has practiced as an occupational therapist for over 30 years, specialising in autism and sensory integration and is one of the key figures in this field of practice. Dr. Kuhaneck is the co-editor of one of the main paediatric Occupational Textbooks, Case-Smith's Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents. She is the editor/co-editor of three editions of Autism: A Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Approach. She has co-authored the textbook “Activity Analysis, Creativity and Playfulness in Pediatric Occupational Therapy: Making Play Just Right”. She has been involved in the development of key sensory integration assessment tools including the SPM-2 and the classroom sensory environment assessment (CSEA). She is a fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and has worked in urban and rural schools as well as private clinics in CT, West Virginia and Ohio. Her years of experience and expertise in sensory integration research and practice continue to provide inspiration to all Occupational Therapists. SensorNet Editor Gina Daly had the opportunity to sit down and meet Dr Kuhaneck for a discussion in which they covered a wide range of topics. TRANSCRIPT Gina Hi there, and I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Dr. Heather Kuhaneck for our big Dr. Kuhaneck is an experienced Occupational Therapist with over 30 years experience and practice, and she's also a Researcher and an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy in the College of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut in the USA. Dr. Kuhaneck has been involved in the development of some key sensory integration assessment tools, such as the SPM-2, and also in development of the Classroom Sensory Environment Assessment, which we're going to speak about both today. Dr. Kuhaneck has focused her areas of work on sensory integration, autism and play, and therefore it is our privilege and honour to have her as part of our upcoming edition. So you are most, most welcome, Dr. Kuhaneck. Dr. Kuhaneck Well, thank you for having me. It's nice to be able to do this. The technology is just so amazing that we're able to have this kind of an interview this way across the ocean. Gina I do think we're connecting Ireland and USA today, so that's really good. So we might start our discussion, and we're going to touch on lots of different topics today, and I know they'll be topics that our readers who are primarily therapists, are going to be really interested here. So we might start just with you telling us a bit about your current role and kind of what your area of work and its focus at the moment. Dr. Kuhaneck Yeah, sure. So my current role, I'm full time as a faculty member, so I'm primarily teaching. I am at a teaching institution, not a research institution, so I teach a full load, but within that we do have research requirements and it's also something that I enjoy. But right now, I'm kind of in a finishing up mode, so we're finishing up working on the second edition of the Play Book that I had done a few years ago. I'm finishing up writing up a couple articles from a project that I did while I was on sabbatical with a single subject study of Ayres SI intervention, looking at play outcomes, so we're trying to get that written up and out there. I'm trying to finish up the Classroom Sensory Environment Assessment that you mentioned a bit ago. And yeah, so right now, just trying to wrap everything up, get everything done and out and kind of, off the plate. Gina So really, it was the finishing up phase is an exciting phase of the project isn't it, you know, you've got to work and it's just trying to develop it and get it out there, like you said. So lots to chat through. And one of those pieces there is your research and your work on the area of sensory environments and adapting the sensory environment for individual sensory differences. So I was wondering, could you share with us the key principles of your work and how we as clinicians can translate some of this, these principles into our everyday work? Dr. Kuhaneck Yeah so, you know, one of the first things that I was involved with in terms of environments was when we started on the first edition of the Sensory Processing Measure. I had worked in schools and SI clinics and working initially with just Diana Henry, and then we brought on the whole rest of our team. But Diana and I were both very aware of how different the school was from the clinic and how there was, at least in the US some, I don't know, occasional conflict, let's say, between what clinicians were focusing on and what school based people were focusing on. And so one of the things we really wanted to work on was a tool that would help people tease out what's going on and how might this child be different in different environments? And how could we get ...
