Sensory Integration and the Child: 25th Anniversary Edition was written by Jean Ayres, PhD, OTR, who was the pioneering occupational therapist in sensory integration. This parent-friendly edition of the clinical classic describes SPD in detail and includes information on signs and treatment of SPD.
Our Hearts’ Desire was written by Marci Laurel, MA, CCC-SLP, a clinician and parent of a child who experienced SPD, and KidPower's executive director, Carla Cay Williams, OT/L. This parent-friendly book chronicles Marci’s experiences raising a child who was experiencing SPD and details the neurological basis of SPD. The book also provides signs of SPD throughout the lifespan, tips for helping with SPD in daily life, and resources to empower parents of children who are experiencing SPD (e.g., letters to dentists, doctors, teachers, etc).
Sensational Kids, written by Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR, this book describes SPD, treatment options, and coping strategies for parents, teachers and other caregivers.
The Out-of-Sync Child by Carol Kranowitz, MA, and Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR, provides information on identifying SPD and provides resources for parents of children who are experiencing SPD.
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Kranowitz, MA, is the companion to The Out-of-Sync Child (see above) and contains more than a hundred playful activities designed for children who are experiencing SPD. These activities are parent-friendly and many are easily adaptable to at-home supports for SPD.
Raising a Sensory Smart Child
The Nurtured Heart Approach was developed by Howard Glasser, MA, and is a set of strategies based on the idea that many “difficult children” act out because they receive more energetic attention from misbehavior than they do for behaving well. These strategies emphasize positive reinforcement, reward systems, and low-energy consequences.
Positive Discipline, by Jane Nelsen, EdD, provides strategies for discipline that teaches life lessons, is respectful and encouraging, provides a sense of connection, and encourages children to discover their own power.
Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline, MD, and Jim Fay provides a framework for raising a responsible child based on strategies to take advantage of learning opportunities, set limits through thinking words, providing children with choices, and providing consequences with empathy.
The Whole Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, MD, and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, discusses the different parts of the brain (including those involved in SPD) and their impact on a child’s behavior. The book also includes strategies for dealing with everyday struggles and teaching children about the brain and its impact on their actions.
No-Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel, MD, and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, incorporates ideas from the authors’ first book, The Whole Brain Child (see above), into strategies for discipline that emphasize lesson-teaching and incorporate analysis of behavior causes, compassion, positive-reinforcement, and disciplinary decisions made by the child.
Books
12 Principles of Intervention for Ayres Sensory Integration ®
1. Provided by a qualified professional (OT, PT, or SLP)
2. Family-centered intervention plans with collaboration from other important people as needed
3. Safe environment with equipment providing tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensations
4. Enriched environment with opportunities for integrating information from all eight (8) senses
5. Promotes regulation of affect and alertness for attending to learning opportunities
6. Promotes postural and motor (fine, gross, oral, ocular) control when moving through space
7. Promotes praxis for organizing of activities and self in time and space
8. Provides the “just-right challenge" during treatment sessions
9. Provides opportunities for adaptive responses to changing and increasingly complex demands
10. Utilizes play for intrinsic motivation and drive to interact through pleasurable activities
11. Creates an atmosphere of trust and respect between the therapist and child to work together
12. Ensures the child’s success in attempted activities by altering them to meet the child’s abilities
Sensory Integration