The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book gives practical answers to the top 250 questions parents ask. Written by Tara Delaney, MS, OTR/L and published by Sourcebooks, Incorporated of Naperville, Illinois. Tara is a pediatric occupational therapist specializing in helping children with sensory processing disorder (SPD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She also adopted a child internationally from China who came home with sensory processing issues.
True the covers says, “answers to the top 250 questions parents ask,” but I was a little surprised when I opened to the first page of the first chapter and it was a question. The book is organized in a question and answer format with the questions in bold, clearly marked. The thorough and easily understood responses are directly below each question. The 250 questions are divided into chapters based on the scope of the question.
Here are a few of the chapter topics: What Is Sensory Processing Disorder?, Getting a Diagnosis, Sensory Integration Strategies, Touchy Topics, and Therapeutic Activities.
Chapter one, “What is Sensory Processing Disorder?” covers many questions about the disorder itself. The author explains that SPD is the difficulty that the nervous system has in integrating sensory information. Her example of integrating sensory information is a dog barking. If you had a dog as a child that you loved, then when you hear a dog bark you might think of home. On the other hand, if a dog bit you as a child, then the sound might evoke terror.
The symptoms of SPD are similar to many other childhood disorders, thus the confusion or delay in receiving correct diagnosis for children. Of course, we cannot pursue the correct treatment or therapy for our children without a correct diagnosis. Some of the symptoms listed by the author are being overly or under reactive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds, being easily distracted, social or emotional problems, physical clumsiness, and impulsivity, delays in speech, language, or motor skills.
Current estimates indicate that up to 13 percent of the population may have sensory processing disorder. The book explains that some of the traceable causes of SOD are mild brain damage during birth, premature birth, lack of sensory exposure, and being exposed to alcohol in utero. There may also be a connection between autism, ADD, ADHD, ASD, and Fragile X.
If your child has any of these diagnosis, or no diagnosis but issues the doctors cannot pinpoint, you should read this book. Actually, as I am reading the information I am convinced that our five-year-old foster daughter who recently returned home has SPD. She has nearly all of the symptoms. While I had heard of SPD, I had never really taken the time to study it. This is a very informative well-written book. It is written in lay terminology so you can easily understand the information and certainly many of these questions are your own.
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Photo Credit: 2008 Carrie Gellin,Sourcebooks, Inc.Publicity Department.