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Markus, a lifelong skateboarder, surfer, and devout meditation practitioner, deeply understands a range of sensory profiles, from the on-the-go thrill-seeking to the calm and regulated. And having dealt with social anxiety much of his life, he also empathizes with the emotional challenges and avoidance or withdrawal many kids experience with verbal interactions, earning him the nickname "the baby whisperer." He has a unique ability to relate to a child’s sensory and emotional differences and meet them where they are… in order to support them to get to where they want to go.
As a musician, Markus tends to approach therapy with an artist's touch, often using music, singing and rhythms to creatively craft sessions to each child’s individual differences. His unique approach to occupational therapy is fun and it is effective.
Markus' love for travel, culture, and photography led him to International Therapy Intensives across several continents and in turn, Sensory Gym Design. When some overseas clients lacked nearby therapy clinics, Markus began designing sensory gyms and therapeutic play spaces in their homes. This allowed him to meet children's sensory-motor needs and train families in effective home routines. Realizing the value of in-home treatment spaces, Markus expanded his efforts and began creating custom Sensory Gyms not just for families abroad but here in the US as well. His work combines his unique insight, creativity, and craftsmanship to support children from the Ground upP.
Markus Jarrow, a lifelong skateboarder, surfer, and devout meditation practitioner, deeply understands a range of sensory experiences, from thrill-seeking to calm regulation. Having dealt with social anxiety, he empathizes with the emotional challenges and sensory overstimulation many kids experience with verbal interactions, earning him the nickname "the baby whisperer." He has a unique ability to relate to a child’s sensory and emotional differences and meet them where they are in order to support them to where they need to go.
As a musician, Markus tends to approach therapy with an artist's touch, often using music, singing and rhythms to creatively guide sessions. His unique, unconventional approach to occupational therapy is both fun and effective, helping children reach new levels of development.
Markus's love for travel, culture, and photography led him to International Therapy Intensives and in turn, Sensory Gym Design. When some overseas clients lacked nearby therapy clinics, Markus began designing sensory gyms and therapeutic play spaces in their homes. This allowed him to meet children's sensory-motor needs and train families in effective home routines. Realizing the value of in-home treatment spaces, Markus expanded his efforts and began creating custom Sensory Gyms not just for families abroad but here in the US as well. His work combines insight, creativity, and craftsmanship to support children along their unique developmental journeys.
Tailoring therapeutic interventions to each child’s unique developmental journey
Tailoring therapeutic interventions to each child’s unique developmental journey
By integrating these methods, I provide comprehensive support, promoting functional skills, emotional regulation, and cognitive growth, all while engaging the child in meaningful, playful activities. This approach ensures that therapy aligns with the child’s individual needs, fostering their physical, emotional, and social development.
The following are keys of my method. Our role is to move beyond traditional power dynamics and build rich, meaningful relationships with our kids.
Instead of simply instructing them, we need to start playfully supporting them as partners and co-pilots in their journeys.
Ground upP is a holistic approach that evolved organically throughout my career, rooted in Sensory Integration (SI), Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT), and DIR/Floortime. It’s not a new intervention but rather an integrated blend of these existing methods with a twist. Though playful, affect-based and often silly on the surface, it’s a carefully calculated and forensic approach behind the scenes.
Early in my career, I realized that working without a comprehensive clinical scope was like cooking without all the ingredients. This led me to spend the next 20 years deepening my knowledge in SI, NDT, and DIR/Floortime. As I saw the potential for these approaches to seamlessly integrate, I noticed that clinicians, as well as clinics and therapeutic organizations, tended to focus on one. But SI lacked the in-depth body and movement pattern components, NDT missed the depth of the sensory piece, and neither addressed the importance of a developmental, relationship-based model like DIR/Floortime.
How can you address regulation and the sensory systems without supporting alignment, postural control and movement patterns? How can you address alignment and postural control without supporting the sensory systems? And with some populations, how do you address either without navigating the nuanced layers of interaction and the social-emotional system? DIR/Floortime then becomes the glue that guides your every interaction.
Over time, I discovered that a strong understanding of these clinical models provides the framework to not only support every child, but support the whole child… mind, body and spirit. This isn’t about managing symptoms or behaviors but treating the root systemic causes - the social-emotional, neuro-motor, and sensory processing. Each child presents with a unique mix of strengths and challenges. It’s our responsibility to dive deep below the symptoms, be playful, fun and respectful, and support each child’s growth from the Ground upP.
Sensory integration (SI) therapy is a play-based approach aimed at helping children of all ages with sensory processing difficulties to better perceive, interpret, and respond to sensory information from their environment. This primarily includes touch, movement, sound, and vision. Each sensory system can present with heightened sensitivity (resulting in anxious avoidance), under sensitivity (resulting in seeking of more of that input) or a mix of the two. Many of the sensory systems work together in various subgroups to support different areas of function and therefore are highly interconnected and dependent on each other. Common issues include: sensory seeking behaviors, always “on-the-go”, balance and coordination challenges, motor difficulties, anxiety and withdrawal, and challenging, oppositional behaviors.
SI therapy aims to normalize any heightened or under sensitive systems and restore the collaborative functions in order to improve developmental areas, including motor skills, attention, and emotional regulation. Children learn to respond appropriately to sensory experiences, thus reducing anxiety, improving focus, and enhancing social interactions. Sensory integration is particularly beneficial for children with neuro-divergences such as ADHD, behavioral and learning challenges, autism spectrum disorder and sensory processing disorder.
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Ground upP is a hands-on, affect-based, relationship-centered approach that supports the whole child from the bottom up. What does "whole child" mean? By integrating SI, NDT, and DIR/Floortime with a unique twist, this approach comprehensively assesses and addresses all aspects of a child’s development.
In short, Ground upP goes beyond surface-level issues to establish and strengthen the foundational building blocks that support development, adaptation, and generalization across all areas of a child’s growth.
Give a kid a sandwich, and they eat for a day.
Teach a kid to make a sandwich, and they’ll eat...
when there’s bread and peanut butter.
Empower a child to think and problem-solve, and they’ll become adaptable, capable of thriving and making healthy choices for a lifetime
Skills develop naturally to solve problems, fueled by thought, reason, and intrinsic motivation. This rich, emotional process connects our ideas, experiences, and skills, allowing us to learn, adapt, and apply ourselves to new and novel situations. This is the essence of early learning and play.
But when a child's natural learning process is disrupted, and skills are arbitrarily taught in a top-down, behavioral approach, they often become isolated “splinter skills” that don’t generalize outside of the original context they were introduced.
Most early skills develop naturally through play to solve problems, driven by thought, reason, and intrinsic motivation. This rich emotional process connects our ideas, experiences, and skills, enabling us to learn, adapt, and apply ourselves to novel situations. It’s the essence of early learning and play.
However, when this natural process is disrupted for a neurodivergent child and skills are arbitrarily taught through a top-down, behavioral approach, they often become isolated “splinter skills” that don’t generalize beyond the context in which they were introduced. While skills are important, they’re only as effective as the social-emotional, motivational, and experiential richness in which they are learned. This "gray area" is the glue that supports thinking, problem-solving, emotional range, and promotes integration and generalization.
While limit setting and imposed structure can be necessary at times, it is our duty as clinicians and caregivers to move beyond traditional power dynamics and build rich, meaningful relationships with our kids. Instead of simply instructing them and telling them what to do, we need to start playfully supporting them as partners and co-pilots in their passions and journeys… play, get creative, try and fail, think and experiment together, laugh and cry, encounter and adapt to problems, and let learning unfold naturally and together. And most importantly, have fun!
Perhaps, for neurotypical children who naturally adapt through trial and error, using feedback to learn and refine. However, for neurodivergent children with differences in strength, coordination, or sensory processing, the process is different. They may not benefit from the same reliable feedback to support adaptation and instead develop compensations and maladaptive habits. In these cases, practice doesn’t make perfect—it simply reinforces those compensatory patterns.
Humans are resilient and will find a way to adapt. Children without arms have learned to play piano with their feet. This is truly remarkable. But when that resilience is paired with neurodivergence, the maladaptive habits tend to establish a compromised foundation that in turn limits development. It is critical that we support each child to establish those early fundamental building blocks to build a solid foundation and maximize their learning potential.
When a neurodivergent child struggles with a skill, it’s often a sign of an underlying issue that requires a deeper look. The challenges we see in motor skills, behavior, attention, etc. are usually just surface level symptoms of a more complex problem. Like fixing a leak in a dam, we don’t simply patch the hole—we address the root cause to resolve it and prevent future issues.In therapy, this means not focusing immediately on the specific skill the child is struggling with. Instead, we need to step back and assess the foundational roots that support the skills such as regulation, sensory processing, strength, alignment, vision, coordination, etc. These often play a significant role in the child’s challenges and must be addressed first.
Through strategic treatment, we can target these foundational areas while making the process playful and meaningful for the child. Improvements in these areas often lead to the skills of concern developing more naturally, without the need for repetitive drills. For instance, if a child struggles with catching a ball or holding a pencil, we don’t just practice those actions; we focus on the underlying challenges, such as visual processing, trunk and hand stability, etc.
As these systems improve through targeted therapy, the skills often begin to emerge on their own as in typical development and refinement can then be supported through strategic practice. This approach supports the child from the Ground upP, creating a strong foundation for long-term success and generalization of learning. It is our duty to assess and address the root causes rather than just the surface level symptoms and behaviors. There is always more to the story.
Listen to this In-depth explanation of Prep the Systems process:
