Customer Reviews

Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues

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This is one of 2 great books on the market for sensory integration issues (SI). While the Out of Sync Child deals mostly with what SI is, this book offers help directly to the parent with what they face daily and provides a breif intro to what SI is. This book is chalked full of helpful resources from where to find SI products, to help with IEPs,on line support groups and how to help a teen with SI issues. This is a well rounded book that is more useful for younger kids' parents but would be an asset for those with older kids as well.
I've never written a review before but this book really impressed me to do so because it is such an important contribution to the literature available for SI.

I am a mother of a sensory child. This book changed my life, and it is an essential resource for anyone who wants to learn or help a child with sensory integration. It is my "Bible".

Unlike most books on sensory integration, it was written by a mother Nancy Peske, and an OT, Lindsey Biel, who understand what it is like to have and raise and treat a sensory child. It is easy to read and understand and begins by telling a story of Nancy Peske's own personal experiences with her own child to explain what it is like to have a sensory child, and to accept that you have a sensory child and how to help your sensory child.

This wonderful book provides practical solutions for everyday living. This book truly helps you to understand what sensory issues are, and what the technical language means (in easy to understand explanations and examples).

This book is the best I have ever read with respect to providing specific techniques you can use to help your sensory child to eat, play, sleep and learn efficiently, to focus, to pay attention, to organize, to self-regulate and so much more.

This book also tells you what you can do as a parent to help advocate for your child. It provides the steps for evaluation, and the types of therapies which are available at home and what to expect when you work with an OT. The book also contains information on how to set up an IEP or a 504 plan for your child and how to get the services you need to help your child.

This book is extremely practical and what I like the best about it, is that is written like a handbook, so that if you already are familiar with sensory integration, you can read any chapter without having to read the entire book to find the resources that you need. The book provides plenty of links to current research and valuable sources of information in books, videos, DVDs and online, which have made such a huge difference in my life and my son's life!

I have read all the books and research on the internet out there on sensory integration and this book is definitely the best. I recommend it to any parent, teacher, caregiver, OT or friend who wants to help understand and/or successfully treat a child with sensory integration.

I highly recommend that you also read the Out of Sync Child, and the Out of Sync Child Has Fun, by Carol Stock Kranowitz which are also essential resources on sensory integration.

I've never left a review before, but wanted to do so after reading another review that basically called sensory integration disorder a made-up quack diagnosis. I have taken my 4 year old to a pediatric neurologist, a pediatric neuropsychologist, and 2 occupational therapists. ALL of them diagnosed him with sensory integation disorder. This is a real condition, and needs to be addressed and treated. After 5 months in OT, we are seeing huge improvements. Experts do diagnose SID, and OT does work. There is little out there in terms of reading resources, and I'm happy to have any information. After 3 years of thinking my son was a bit quirky, it's a blessing to read that he is not alone.

I highly recommend this comprehensive and detailed guide to helping children with sensory issues. With authorship shared by an occupational therapist and the mother of son with sensory issues, it is chock full of helpful insights and tips from both a therapeutic and a parental perspective.

This book goes into more detail than most, is very up to date, and includes numerous resources for appropriate toys, products, and additional websites.

This is a very useful book for parents of any child who has been formally diagnosed with sensory issues or sensory integration disorder, but also for those parents who simply notice that their children are sometimes overwhelmed by their internal states or environmental stimuli.

Chapters include descriptions of the seven senses, how to tune in to your child, working with occupational therapists, handling developmental delays, improving speech, picky eating, learning and getting organized, nutrition, sleep, stress, discipline, tantrums and more!

There are also great sections on advocating for your child at school and helping your teenager with sensory issues.

I am an occupational therapist and this book by far is the best resource for strategies to help all aspects of daily life impacted by difficulties with sensory processing. It has been an excellent source of knowledge for myself as well as for the families I work with. I have recommended it to many of my families.

Authors Lindsey Biel and Nancy Peske have done a bang-up job in explaining to the 'everyday man' the vast and far-reaching effects of sensory challenges. As our world gets faster, louder, more crowded and stress-laden, it's not just kids with disabilities who experience sensory issues. It's all kids, to some extent or another. Take that one step further: all people. Yet many know little about sensory dysfunction and how much it can compromise learning and functioning on a daily basis.

As a writer/editor in the field of autism/Asperger's, I've read many a book about sensory integration. What makes this one stand out is the clear, conversational tone coupled with page after page of practical, helpful information. The authors explain sensory integration (yes, the SEVEN senses!), describe how to recognize it in your child (or yourself!), tell you about the professionals in the field, then go on to detail tons of everyday solutions that can make a difference in the life of your child or student. The all-important topics of nutrition, stress, sleep, and behavior issues are given their due; there's even resources for toys and equipment included.

Destined to become your 'bible' of sensory integration!

Even if you have read one or two other books on sensory integration you will find this book helpful. It delves into topics that parents care about like self-care (such as dressing, tooth brushing, and eating) and socializing (such as parties, crowds, noise), providing suggestions for making these situations easier. Many other important aspects of parenting a child with sensory integration are addressed, such as coping with tantrums, rigidity, and overload. As the parent of a child with SI (Childrensdisabilities.info) I would recommend this book to any parent who has a child with any level of sensory integration problems, but especially to those whose children are struggling in their daily lives.

What does sensory integration (SI) dysfunction feel like? Authors Lindsey Biel, MA, OTR/L, and Nancy Peske, parent of a child with SI dysfunction, ask the reader to imagine how an adult with SI dysfunction might feel while preparing a spaghetti dinner in her own kitchen.

"The fluorescent light gives you a headache, and you can't find the tomato sauce in your crowded pantry. The lettuce in your hands feels slimy and repulsive. The smell of garlic makes you queasy. You don't hear the boiling water on the stove, and it bubbles over, flooding your pilot light so the stove won't relight. You bump your head on a cabinet, trip over the cat, and spill the salad. By the time dinner is on the table, you're a nervous wreck and you've yelled at everyone. All you want to do is crawl into bed and sleep. What if you were to experience this disastrous dinner scenario every night, and nobody seemed to understand? After all, everyone else is able to see the can on the shelf and the cat on the floor, so why can't you? Strong smells don't upset them and flickering, harsh lights don't give them headaches." (p.15)

Through vivid illustrations like this, Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues continually reminds readers that children with SI dysfunction do not experience the world as we do. They need their parents' help to learn how to self-regulate, adapt and overcome. The evaluation and treatment of Peske's son, as seen through the eyes of parent and therapist, demonstrate key points and provide continuity throughout the book.

Biel and Peske explain the sophisticated reasoning of occupational therapists - what may look like "play" to a parent is actually a well-planned response to minute-by-minute observations performed by a skilled practitioner.

Sensory Smart's most helpful aspect is teaching parents how to be better observers and analyzers of behavior. The book abounds with checklists-from signs of sensory overload to self-help, cognitive and self-regulation benchmarks.

Chapter seven, "Practical Solutions for Everyday Sensory Problems," offers effective suggestions for problematic activities familiar to pediatric therapists-hair washing, bathing, mealtimes, parties and more. Websites and toll-free numbers are included in the text for immediate use and are repeated in an appendix for handy reference.

After reading this book, parents will be able to take advantage of everyday opportunities to address specific SI challenges. The authors are constantly optimistic and encouraging about potential - the potential of parents and children to develop sensory smarts, and the potential of children to become happy, productive adults. At the same time, Biel and Peske are realistic about human nature. Parents won't be discouraged if they can't provide the optimum environment 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What could the authors have done better? There are few charts, illustrations and photos, making this a very text-heavy read. A greater variety of font sizes and types, and more bullets, charts and photos would break things up visually, especially important for busy parents. I would also recommend repeating all the checklists in a single appendix.

One last point: Biel and Peske offer sound advice for choosing a therapist (p. 104), counsel that serves as a wonderful reminder and pick-me-up to pediatric therapists: "Good technique and good intentions are crucial, but they are inadequate in and of themselves. Find someone who is very skilled and who will also love your child and create a safe, warm environment in which your child can express himself and flourish. Because only a therapist - or any caregiver for that matter - with an open, loving heart and a good eye and ear for spoken and unspoken needs will really be able to help."


Laura Knight is a pediatric physical therapist with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in Spartanburg, SC.

Beautifully written, this book is an absolute must for people who see sensory overload issues in their children. I enjoyed it because i had those issues growing up that manifested themselves in my 20s. I read it for insights into myself. a truly well-written, well-researched, terrific book.

This is an excellent book and a must have for any parent or teacher dealing with kids with sensory issues. It's easy to read as a parent, easy to find the info you are looking for. It's got a ton of ideas in it for practical things to do with your child. It really is 'The **Definitive Handbook for helping your child with sensory integration issues!'