The Bottom Line
By Lindsey Biel, M.A., OTR/L, and Nancy Peske, with a foreword by Temple Grandin; 399 pages. Subtitle: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child With Sensory Integration Issues
It's like being in the best support group ever -- led by an occupational therapist who has all kinds of time to sit with you and strategize all those sticky sensory situations, and populated by parents who've been there, done that, and are happy to share (as the authors did when I asked about SI and head lice).
Pros
- Smooth, easy-to-read writing style
- Lots of solid, practical suggestions for everyday issues
- Promotes understanding and tolerance in behavior management
- Offers both a therapists's and a parent's point of view
- The photo of the little girl on the cover will make you smile every time you pick the book up
Cons
- It's fairly long and text-heavy
- Not much explanation of the neurological "whys" of SI dysfunction
- Some suggestions may not work for kids with multiple disabilities
Description
- Chapter 1: Why Is My Child So ... Unusual?
Chapter 2: The Seven Senses - Chapter 3: Tuning in to Your Child
Chapter 4: Where Did the Wires Cross? - Chapter 5: Finding and Working With an OT
Chapter 6: The Sensory Diet of Daily Activities - Chapter 7: Practical Solutions for Everyday Sensory Problems
- Chapter 8: Dealing With Developmental Delays
Chapter 9: Improving Speech Skills and Picky Eating - Chapter 10: Helping Your Child Learn and Get Organized
Chapter 11: Nutrition, Sleep, and Stress - Chapter 12: Complementary Therapies and Approaches
- Chapter 13: Handling Discipline, Transitions, and Behavioral Issues
- Chapter 14: Advocating for Your Child at School
Chapter 15: The Special Challenges for Teenagers - Chapter 16: Empowering Your Child in the World
Recommended Products and Resources
Guide Review - Book Review: Raising a Sensory Smart Child
Kids with sensory integration challenges require an enormous amount of ingenuity from parents. Behaviors must be analyzed, responses studied, strategies tried and tried again, protections provided, interference run, nuisances eliminated, distractions handled or offered. It feels like a full-time job, sometimes, doing the brushing and the joint compressions and the sensory diet and the behavior management and the trips to the therapist and the explaining to sundry doubters that your child really does have something wrong besides an overprotective and overindulgent parent.
Lindsey Biel, an occupational therapist, and Nancy Peske, the parent of a child with SI dysfunction, know what that's like, and have lots of help to offer. Raising a Sensory Smart Child gives an overview of sensory integration theory, with discussion of the different senses and how children can be over- or under-responsive to input from them. But the greatest service the authors provide is a wealth of really solid, down-to-earth, practical information and advice on how to get through the day with that perplexing kiddo, how to help your child enjoy life a little, and how to enjoy him or her a lot more yourself.
One particularly gratifying aspect of this handbook is that, while many books on the subject focus on early childhood, this one deals with older-child issues as well. As the parent of a teen who still hasn't outgrown those proprioceptive urges, I say "Thanks!"
