September 1, 2005
Often mistaken for ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a neurological condition that affects the way the brain absorbs and organizes sensory information, can cause a child to react too much or too little to his or her environment. Depending on which sense is affectedvisual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, or proprioceptivechildren will show a range of different symptoms, though unusual reactions to touching and being touched are the most distinctive. Kranowitz, a preschool teacher with 25 years' experience, helped develop a screening method to identify children with SPD. In this second edition of her book (the first was published in 1998), she describes the many facets and symptoms of SPD and offers new chapters on visual and auditory dysfunctions and updated online resources information. Activities that parents can try at home, strategies that teachers can use in the classroom, and tips on how to cope with an "outofsync" child are also provided. Recent publications on SPD include Lindsay Biel's Raising a Sensory Smart Child. Recommended for all public and academic libraries, especially those that do not own the previous edition.Maryse Breton, Baldwin P.L., Birmingham, MI
Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 2, 1998
Kranowitz, a teacher who has worked for 20 years in the field of sensory integration dysfunction and has developed a screening program for its early identification, writes intelligently about a bewildering topic. Fairly common (an estimated 12%-30% of children are affected), the disorder is nevertheless baffling to experts and parents alike, in part because of its diverse, contradictory symptoms: such children may be either hypo- or hypersensitive. Often erroneously diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or labeled "difficult, picky, clumsy, oversensitive, or inattentive," children with SI dysfunction exhibit unusual responses to touching and being touched, and/or to moving and being moved. In concise, well-organized chapters, Kranowitz reveals how the tactile, vestibular (pertaining to gravity and movement) and propriaceptive (pertaining to joints, muscles and ligaments) senses operate. Checklists and sidebars throughout the text compare the "normal" child in various situations to the child with sensory integration dysfunction. Asserting SI dysfunction is best treated by occupational therapy, not by medication, Kranowitz helps clear the way for families to understand a disorder that they may suspect but not have been able to pinpoint.