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

by Lindsey Biel (Author), Nancy Peske (Author) "On a lovely spring day, after a two-and-a-half-hour induced, epidural-eased labor that was so painless and spiritually uplifting that I was practically communing with my..." (more)
Key Phrases: southpaw enterprises, sensory smart child, child with sensory problems, New York, Photos of Toys, Where Did the Wires Cross (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For children with sensory integration issues-those who have difficulty processing everyday sensations and exhibit unusual behaviors such as avoiding or seeking out touch, movement, sounds, and sights-this groundbreaking book is an invaluable resource. Long thought to affect only autistic children, or mistaken for ADHD, SI dysfunction is finally being recognized as a separate condition. Coauthored by a pediatric occupational therapist and a parent of a child with SI dysfunction, Raising a Sensory Smart Child is as warm and accessible as it is authoritative and detailed and is an indispensable guide for parents, therapists, and teachers who will turn to it again and again.

About the Author
Lindsey Biel, M.A., OTR/L, is an occupational therapist specializing in pediatrics. Nancy Peske is the coauthor of the Cinematherapy series. She lives in New York City with her husband and son, who was diagnosed with sensory issues when he was two.

Temple Grandin is a gifted animal scientist who also lectures widely on autism because she is autistic. She has written extensively on the condition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1 edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014303488X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143034889
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,331 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Special Needs > Disabilities
  #17 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Personal Health > Children's Health > Special Needs Children
  #49 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Parenting > Child Care

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars therapist, March 23, 2005

By	S.M. (NJ) - See all my reviews

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.

99 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best and most practical guide for anyone who wants to understand and help a child with sensory integration!!! , October 10, 2005

By	K. Feit - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychologist highly recommends, October 15, 2006

By	Debra Moore, Ph.D. (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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.