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The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for
Out-of-Bounds Behavior is a book about children who, as the
authors put it, are betrayed by their senses - specifically,
the senses of sight, taste, smells, sounds, sensations, and
balance, movement, and the positioning of the body. Science
has come a long way from the days when people assumed that
the body-mind health connection was only for psychosomatics,
for athletes who needed the benefits of massage, or for
relationship counselors. The body’s abilities to affect the
brain and vice versa have been studied, and sensory
integration massages has become an important aspect of brain
research, especially in the area of childhood developmental
illnesses.
The trouble with the studies of the senses is that the
senses are often taken for granted. Parents generally assume
their kids literally “feel okay.” But as research on Eastern
European orphans have shown, many young people have
experienced sensory deprivation. The opposite is also the
case. There are children whose senses seem to be at war with
them, where for some biological, genetic, neurological, or
other unknown reasons, their senses are not well-integrated
but overwhelm them. Children with taste sensory-sensitivity,
for instance, might crave bland foods and have deep delight
in eating bland foods such as white rice or noodles but at
the same time will shy away from stronger-tasting fare.
These children might also dislike being touched or might be
disturbed by normal daylight or the turning on of a bulb.
Optimum and proper sensory integration occurs when a
person’s nervous system knows when to “tune out or tone”
distracting stimuli. It helps to locate and distinguish
different senses in different parts of the body and to judge
whether those sensations are important or threatening and
enabling the brain to make a decision about the sensation
the body is experiencing.
The senses of a sensory-sensitive child, however, work
against him. For them, there is no real comfort level, or to
say it another way, their body is so busy fighting with
their senses on so many fronts that their tolerance for
certain sensations is at once too low and too high. On the
one hand, they might be feeling and sensing everything at
once and so might be impatient and overwhelmed. On the other
hand, they are fighting a heroic battle to accept what they
feel is a normal life, a life of sensory bombardment. Some
people can listen to the television, write at a computer,
talk on the phone and scratch an itch all at the same time.
For the sensory-sensitive person, the sense of hearing would
be a battle in and of itself. Add the itch – and in the case
of school children, homework or a stomach ache - and the
life of a sensory-sensitive child is a continual battle
indeed.
The Sensory-Sensitive Child is a book that quite literally
teaches a parent how to calm a child’s nerves. Some parts of
it feels like a medical book, other part feels like a
self-help book, other parts feel like a parenting book. All
parts work together well. The authors seem to fully
understand both the lot of the parent and the suffering
child whose sensory overload which often prevents him from
developing social skills, concentrating on his school work,
playing with his peers, and generally enjoying life. Using
the advice and reading the anecdotes in this book will help
the parent guide his child – and his child’s brain– through
the emotions, mental confusion, stress and pain that these
children suffer. The self-awareness lessons, the
step-by-step educational techniques and therapeutic
directions are clear and easily-understood. The information
is written in a conversational, accessible and organized
manner. A highly recommended book. This book is a good
complement to other books about the educational, medicinal
and emotional treatment of children with developmental
issues or disabilities.
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The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for Out-of-Bounds Behavior