The book, "The Out-of-Sync Child" by Carol Kranowitz, was recommended to me when our twins were dx'd with autism and sensory intergration disorder. At the time, I was just starting to learn about autism and didn't really know much at all about sensory processing issues.The first section talks about how to recognize sensory integration disorder and gives a number of examples of what to look for. The second section goes into how to cope, and how to help your child cope and learn to overcome sensory issues to the extent possible.
This book was extremely helpful to me, I saw a lot of my boys in the examples given. The author describes both sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding behavior. Typically when you hear about sensory issues, you hear about the sensory-avoiding aspects -- children who can't tolerate certain textures or hate loud noises. What we don't tend to hear as much about is the sensory-seeking aspects -- children who crave sensory input so they run around crashing into people and furniture, or who flip themselves upside down at every opportunity. Each of our sons has both sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding tendencies, although they lean more toward sensory-seeking for the most part.
What I found most helpful about this book is that it helped me to gain a better perspective on how our boys experience the world around them. Most of us take sensory integration for granted, we don't even realize how our senses are working together to help us maintain balance, plan movements, and interpret tactile input. I gained a lot of insight into trying to see the world through their eyes.
It also helped us start learning to "think outside the box" in terms of what was causing some of our sons' behaviors. It gave us some new ideas of possibilities to consider when they had meltdowns, and once we knew what to watch out for, it slowly became easier to start trying to avert the meltdowns before they happened.
Definitely worth reading if your child or someone you know has sensory integration disorder, or if you'd just like to learn more about it.
