Craig Selinger

Executive Function Coach, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Educational Specialist Offline.now

  • New York NY

NYC EF coach & SLP helping students & families with ADHD, autism & LD build focus, organization & communication skills.

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Spotlight

2 min

Can You Reboot Your Family’s Screen Rules Before Going Back to School?

As kids head back to school after the holidays, many parents notice the same pattern: bedtimes drifted, screens crept into bedrooms, and mornings feel like a battle. Executive Function Coach Craig Selinger and Personal Development Coach Mark Diamond, both experts in the Offline.now directory, say the answer is yes; but only if families treat the last week of break as a “tech reset,” not just a scramble for school supplies. Selinger points out that today’s devices are structurally different from the TV many parents grew up with: “Phones and tablets are more addicting than the old living-room TV. There’s no natural ending — no episode, no credits, no ‘we’re done now.’ When the ‘TV’ lives in your child’s pocket, transitions to homework or sleep become a lot harder.” That matters because late-night screen habits have real consequences in the classroom. Reviews of adolescent media use consistently link bedtime and late-evening screen time with shorter sleep, poorer sleep quality, and worse next-day functioning; including attention, memory and mood that kids need to learn. On top of that, education and cognition research shows that media multitasking: juggling schoolwork with notifications, chats, and apps is associated with reduced sustained attention and weaker academic performance. Diamond, who ran a tech-free summer camp for 25 years, has seen how quickly kids’ brains and behavior respond when screens are dialed down and real-world activity is dialed up: “At camp, we watched kids go from anxious and distracted to confident and connected in a matter of days — without phones. Outdoor play, hands-on projects, chores, even just walking and talking with friends reset their mood and focus in a way no app can.” “Micro-routines make a macro difference,” says Diamond. “If you reclaim just an hour a day from screens for real-world activity, most kids feel the change in their bodies and brains within a week.” Selinger adds that the reset only sticks when adults go first: “You can’t tell a teen to stop scrolling at 11 p.m. while you’re answering work email in bed. Kids are watching how we transition off our own screens. If parents lead by example, the new school rules stop feeling like punishment and start feeling like the new normal.” For journalists covering back-to-school, kids’ mental health, learning and technology, this story connects the dots between holiday screen creep, sleep, attention, and how a simple, family-led “tech reset week” can set kids up to actually learn once they’re back in class. Featured Experts Craig Selinger, M.S., CCC-SLP – Executive Function Coach and child development specialist (Brooklyn Letters). He focuses on how kids actually learn, and how digital dependency, sleep loss and multitasking erode attention and academic skills. Mark Diamond – Personal Development Coach and former director of a tech-free summer camp. He specializes in outdoor wellness, behavior change, and helping families translate “camp magic” into everyday routines at home. Expert interviews can be arranged through the Offline.now media team.

Craig SelingerMark Diamond

2 min

School’s Out, Screens Are In: Why Your Kids Copy Your Phone Habits on Winter Break

When the bell rings for winter break, most parents worry their kids will “disappear into their phones.” What often goes unmentioned? The adults usually disappear into theirs first. New behavioral data from Offline.now, the digital wellness platform founded by author Eli Singer, shows we now spend about 10 of our 16 waking hours on screens, roughly 63% of our day. Kids off school are simply mirroring the digital norms they see at home. Executive Function Coach and child development specialist Craig Selinger says winter break is less a test of kids’ willpower and more a test of family norms: “If you want behavior change in kids, start with the parent model. A 12-year-old will not put their phone away at dinner if their parents won’t.” Selinger points to what he calls the “mobility problem”: what used to be a TV in the living room is now a device in your child’s pocket. “Mobility makes tech sticky there’s no natural ‘show’s over’ when Minecraft and TikTok never end.” Offline.now’s experts note that high, especially late screen use is tied to disrupted sleep and next-day behavior in children and teens, exactly when parents say, “They’re monsters over break.” Selinger’s work with families suggests the answer isn’t banning devices outright, but changing what kids see adults do with theirs. When parents put phones in a basket at meals, leave devices out of bedrooms, and actually join “old school” activities: cooking, board games, hands-on hobbies, kids’ attention and confidence start to rebound: “Micro-independence beats micromanagement. If you engineer small wins off-screen a 20-minute task kids can complete without their phone you rebuild their real-world confidence one brick at a time.” Key message for journalists: Over winter break, the real story isn’t just “kids are on their phones all day.” It’s that adult behavior quietly sets the ceiling on what’s realistic for children. The most effective “screen-time rule” is the one parents are willing to follow themselves. Featured Expert Craig Selinger, M.S., CCC-SLP Executive Function Coach and child development specialist (Brooklyn Letters), focused on how kids actually learn and how digital dependency affects attention, writing, family systems, and school success. Expert interview availability can be arranged through Offline.now’s media team.

Craig Selinger

2 min

Worked Through Thanksgiving? That’s a Burnout Red Flag, Not a Badge of Honor

If your Thanksgiving weekend included answering work emails from a guest room, sneaking Slack replies between courses, or “just finishing one thing” while your family watched a movie, you’re not alone. But Craig Selinger, an executive function coach who works with high achievers, says it’s a warning sign, not proof of commitment. “More and more of my clients tell me they ‘took time off’ but then admit they were checking in on everything from their phones,” Selinger says. “They come back to work exhausted, frustrated with their families, and confused about why they don’t feel refreshed.” He doesn’t see this as a time-management failure. He sees it as a boundary failure fueled by an always-on culture. “Old technology stayed in one place,” he explains. “A desktop in a home office was easy to walk away from. Now, work follows you onto the couch, into your in-laws’ living room, and onto the plane ride home. Unless you deliberately decide when you’re not available, the default is ‘always working, never actually off.’” After holidays like Thanksgiving, Selinger helps clients reflect on a few key questions: Did you actually have any fully work-free hours or days? Did your phone stay with you during meals and family time and did you feel pulled to check it? Do you feel like you rested, or like you just changed locations while staying on call? “If the honest answers are uncomfortable, that’s valuable data,” he says. “It means your relationship with availability needs attention.” Instead of telling high performers to “just unplug,” Selinger works with them to redesign their availability ahead of the next holiday crunch: Setting clear out-of-office messages that specify when they’ll be offline and when they’ll check in. Agreeing with their team on what counts as a true emergency and which channel should be used for it. Creating short, non-negotiable deep-rest windows for example, no work apps from 5-9 p.m. on certain days, or one weekend day that’s completely work-free. “When people see that they can set smart boundaries and still be respected and effective, that’s usually the turning point,” Selinger says. “They stop confusing constant responsiveness with real value.” With December’s year-end push approaching, he believes now is the time for high performers to recalibrate. “Treat this past Thanksgiving as a test run,” he suggests. “If you didn’t get the rest you needed, don’t just shrug it off. Use it as the moment you decide to draw a clearer line before the next holiday for your performance and for the people who actually sat across the table from you.” About the Expert Craig Selinger is an executive function coach who works with founders, executives, families, and high-achieving students. He specializes in digital distraction, productivity, and helping people build realistic boundaries in an always-on work culture. Craig is part of the Executive Function Coaching Community at Offline.now

Craig Selinger
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Biography

Craig Selinger, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a nationally recognized speech-language pathologist, executive function expert, and educational consultant with 25+ years of experience helping neurodiverse learners thrive.

He is the Founder and CEO of Themba Tutors and Brooklyn Letters, two leading New York City–based metro area practices providing personalized executive function coaching, structured literacy, speech language therapy, and academic tutoring across the NYC metro area—including Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, and Connecticut—as well as remote services nationwide and internationally.

Craig and his multidisciplinary team specialize in supporting students and adults with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety, and other learning differences. Their work integrates neuroscience, psychology, and education to build the cognitive, emotional, and organizational skills essential for independence, self-advocacy, and academic success.

A New York State–licensed speech-language pathologist, Craig earned his master’s in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP) from ASHA. His advanced training includes Orton-Gillingham structured literacy, PROMPT motor speech therapy, and the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) for early autism intervention. Early in his career, he contributed to peer-reviewed neuroscience research published in Brain Research.

Craig collaborates closely with neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, and educational consultants to align academic coaching with clinical insight. He also advises edtech innovators—including Poppins (structured literacy platform) and Elvo AI (speech and language technology)—bringing practitioner expertise into product design.

A sought-after speaker, Craig has presented at NYU Langone, Mount Sinai Hospital, Columbia University (Teachers College), Bard High School Early College, independent schools and national conferences, The Study preschool in New Delhi, the NYC Parents’ Primer Round Table Discussion for Dyslexia, the Center for Attention and Learning at Lenox Hill Hospital–Northwell Health, and the Everyone Reading Conference.

Featured In: The New York Times, NBC News, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, WPIX 11, NVLD Project, Tiny Beans, Healthline, ADHD Online, Psych Central, NYMetro Parents, Momtastic, About.com, and Business Insider.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Neuro-Affirmative Approaches
Neurodiverse Learners
Executive Function
Speech-Langage Pathology
Education
ADHD Specific Digital Management Strategies

Affiliations

  • American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) : Certified member holding the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP).
  • Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) : National non-profit organization supporting individuals with ADHD and their families.
  • ADDitude Magazine : Contributor and expert source on executive functioning, ADHD, and learning differences.

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.S.

Communicative Disorders

2003

University of Wisconsin-Madison

B.S.

Communicative Disorders

2001

Articles

P300 as a measure of processing capacity in auditory and visual domains in specific language impairment

Brain Research

2011-05-10

This study examined the electrophysiological correlates of auditory and visual working memory in children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI). Children with SLI and age-matched controls (11;9–14;10) completed visual and auditory working memory tasks while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded.

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Media Appearances

The Pandemic’s Toll: America’s Reading Crisis

The New York Times  online

2022-03-08

Explores the nationwide literacy setback and the need for structured phonics, early intervention, and speech-language expertise; includes insights connected to Brooklyn Letters.

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Tutors take center stage as students try to make up pandemic losses

NBC News  online

2022-03-24

Features Craig Selinger discussing the post-pandemic surge in tutoring demand and literacy challenges faced by students.

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How New York City Schools Are Relearning to Teach Reading

New York Magazine – Intelligencer  online

2023-09-13

Examines literacy reforms in NYC and the growing role of specialists like Brooklyn Letters in evidence-based reading instruction.

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