Friday Book Club: Understanding Sensory Dysfunction and Sensational Kids

Every Friday is book review day for the Harried Parent's Book Club, and this month, we've had a theme: In honor of the 35th anniversary of Sensory Integration International, an organization that promotes research into sensory integration dysfunction and trains occupational therapists to help children bring their sensory systems into order, each book reviewed in October has dealt with sensory integration or sensory processing. The final Friday of the month brings two selections: Understanding Sensory Dysfunction, which looks at SI specifically as it applies to children with other special needs, and Sensational Kids, which puts sensory integration in another context altogether by changing the name to Sensory Processing Disorder and introducing all sorts of types and sub-types to legitimize the disorder in the eyes of doctors and give parents a whole new bunch of stuff to learn. (Alright, I'll admit -- it's good stuff.) Read the reviews, then stop by the Harried Parent's Book Club Forum to add your opinion, ask questions, and share your thoughts on SID/DSI/SPD. Coming up next Friday: IDEA 2004: A Parent Handbook for School Age Children with Learning Disabilities

_{Cover image of Understanding Sensory Dysfunction courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers; cover image of Sensational Kids from www.sensationalkids.org.}