Synopses & Reviews
Does your child react strongly to noises or smells or textures that other children take in stride? Or does he or she beg for more touch and massage, rocking until he or she is dizzy? This child may be living with a little-known condition called sensory processing disorder (SPD). Kids with SPD may seem unduly sensitive to physical sensations, light, and sound, or they may seek out sensations that might make another child woozy. SPD can make it hard for kids to concentrate in school, engage in social events, and live peaceably with other family members. Until now, there have been only limited resources for parents of kids with this condition, but in this book a child advocate and child psychologist offer a comprehensive guide to parenting a child with SPD and integrating his or her care with the needs of the entire family.
The book describes the symptoms of SPD and offers an overview of what it means to live with and care for a child with the condition. It provides a range of activities that help strengthen family relationships, improve communication about the disorder, and deal with problem situations and conditions a child with SPD may encounter. Throughout, the book stresses the importance of whole-family involvement in the care of a child with SPD, making sure that everyone is given the attention they need. Finally, youll read real-life stories providing ideas that you can put to work in your own family.
Learn about SPD, its signs, and causes
- Make a plan to involve the whole-family in caring for a child with SPD
- Communicate effectively about SPD with loved ones, teachers, and doctors
- Find ways to manage everyday SPD challenges
- Encourage independence and confidence in a child with SPD
Review
Auer and Blumberg have lent their insight, passion, and compassion to this workbook. In so doing they have also provided a guidebook-and a preamble of advocacy for children and their families.
Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Ph.D., Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic C. Bartlett Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
It has been said that a family of five is akin to five people lying side-by-side on a waterbed: whenever one person moves, everyone feels the ripple. A child with sensory processing disorder can have a devastating impact upon the day-to-day functioning of a family. There are several books available that provide data and information on the nature of this puzzling disorder, but Auer and Blumberg have written a valuable book that finally provides parents with specific strategies and practical solutions to the daily challenges faced by these special children and their families. While other books define the problem, Auer and Blumberg offer techniques to minimize the effect of the disorder on the child's daily life. I strongly recommend this book to any adult who is parenting a child with a sensory processing problem-and to the professionals who are assisting moms and dads on this challenging journey.
-Richard D. Lavoie, M.A., M.Ed., author of It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend and executive producer of How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop
Finally a book that treats SPD in the full context that it deserves: not as a co-condition or as another obstacle but as a full fledged challenge to the complete inclusion of individuals with unique learning styles. The collaborative integration of the senses accounts for your picking up this book, examining it and deciding on whether to make it part of your library. Auer and Bloomberg walk you through how that process is both derailed and rekindled.
Rick Rader, MD, editor-in-chief of Exceptional Parent magazine and director of the Morton J. Kent Habilitation Center
Read this with a highlighter in hand, because you will want to refer many times to the wise and wonderful ideas in this splendid how-to book. The authors are not only sensitive and resourceful parents of kids with SPD, but also articulate, honest, and sensible writers.
Carol S. Kranowitz, MA, author of The Out-of-Sync Child
In raising children with or without special needs, nothing is more important than the family unit. This book will enable you to enhance your child's sensory development. Additionally, it will help you ensure that your child and all family members not only survive, but, indeed, thrive! When your whole family thrives, you can best ensure your child's optimum development over the short and long range of life.
Ann Turnbull, Ed.D., cofounder and codirector of the Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas
Review
"This entertaining and practical workbook encourages children to follow their natural urge to explore and experiment in order to discover how they experience their world through their senses and to master the feelings that result. As parents work on the exercises with their children, they will find that they understand their children in new ways and perhaps themselves better, as well. In our too-loud, too-bright, too-hurried world, understanding our sensory responses and learning to protect ourselves from overstimulation are important skills for children with special sensory processing challenges, and for the rest of us too."
Joshua Sparrow, MD, Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Children's Hospital Boston
Review
"The Auers have used their expertise in helping special needs kids to bring us a truly useful work brimming with practical exercises and worksheets that teachers, parents, and especially children can use immediately to better their lives. I can think of few people who work with children in any capacity who couldn't use this book."
Jeff Stimpson, author of Alex: The Fathering of a Preemie and Alex the Boy: Episodes From A Family’s Life With Autism
Review
"‘Sensations That Drive You Nuts!’ is a sample of the simple language used in this workbook to help children, their families, and teachers understand sensory processing disorder (SPD). Encouraging children to draw how they feel, recognizing that recess can help one do better in school, becoming a self advocate and helping others when they are in need are some of the many wonderful examples the authors provide."
Diana A. Henry, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, author of the Sensory Tools books and DVDs and coauthor of The Sensory Processing Measures
Synopsis
The author, a professional working with children with special needs and father of a child with sensory processing disorder, offers the first book to help parents integrate care for a child with sensory processing disorder with the needs of the family as a whole.
Synopsis
A workbook for kids with sensory processing disorder (SPD), a condition characterized by difficulty with sensory integration, Making Sense of Your Senses includes activities designed to help parents teach children skills they can use in everyday life to overcome their symptoms and build self-awareness.
Synopsis
Help Your Child Overcome Sensory Overload, One Activity at a Time
Children with sensory processing disorder (SPD) or sensory processing challenges associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, or other developmental conditions experience the world very differently than other kids. They may react strongly to sounds, textures, and stimulation, finding even seemingly minor sensations intolerable. Other children with SPD hardly notice sensory stimulation at all, or have trouble with basic motor skills and coordination. If your child shows symptoms of this condition, you may wonder what you can do to help ease your child's SPD-related stress, panic, or other challenging behavior.
Making Sense of Your Senses is full of activities and skill-building exercises you can do with your child to help him or her balance sensory stimulation and practice self-calming techniques. Kids can use these techniques anytime they feel overwhelmed or have the urge to seek out intense sensory experiences. Before long, your child will be better able to tolerate everyday sensations and prevent stimulation overload—essential skills for living a happy, healthy, and comfortable life.
About the Author
Christopher R. Auer, MA, is employed in the Mayor's Office for Education and Children as the disabilities and mental health administrator for Denver's Great Kids Head Start. He is a board member of the Foundation for Knowledge in Development (KID Foundation), founded by Lucy Jane Miller, and was appointed by the governor of Colorado to the Colorado Interagency Coordinating Council, which oversees disability services to children birth to three throughout the state. He holds licensure as a director of special education and is the parent of three children, one of whom is diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and sensory processing disorder.Susan L. Blumberg, PhD, is coauthor of six books, including
Fighting for Your Marriage and
Twelve Hours to a Great Marriage. She has more than twenty years' experience as a family advocate for families with children with special needs, helping families navigate through the system to obtain services and supports. She has been a member of the board of directors for Denver Early Childhood Connections, the Part C agency for Denver, since 1997 and served as president or vice president for five years.
Blumberg received her doctorate in child clinical psychology from the University of Denver in 1991 and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is also the parent of two children, one of whom is diagnosed with nonverbal learning disability and sensory processing disorder.Foreword writer Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR, is associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Medical School and founder and director of KID Foundation-the only full-time SPD research program in the world-and the Sensory Therapies and Research (STAR) Center for children and adults. She is author of Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder.
Table of Contents