Book: The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder. By Carol Stock Kranowitz. 2005
This book makes me think of a lot of "ifs". If the medical and mental health community had begun "prescribing" Occupational Therapy in the 80s the way they prescribed Ritalin (and for the same reasons), the world would be a much better place now. Another one is if I had read this book 15 years ago, many of the 100's of kids I have worked with up to this point would likely be in a better place.
Carol Stock Kranowitz is an Occupational Therapist (OT), and Sensory Processing Disorder is a set of related symptoms that OTs can diagnose and work with for remediation. Over the years I have become more and more convinced of the role sensory processing plays in many of the learning disabilities and other behavior problems I see in people, and especially young children. This book confirms that sensory processing is a valid and reasonable path to pursue diagnostically with these issues.
This book is accessible and useful both for parents and professionals. I would have appreciated reading this as part of my graduate training, and have already included it in my continuing education classes I teach and professional lectures I give. For parents who have children who are a little quirky, have strong preferences, behavior issues, or otherwise do not fit the mainstream in ways that make their lives (and yours) harder, there is nothing to lose by reading this book.