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REVIEWS OF THE OUT-OF-SYNC CHILD
Review by Chris Hughes Bridgeman, PhD January/February 1998 THE POST Newsletter of PNPIC (The Parent Network for the Post-Institutionalized Child) http://www.pnpic.org/ "Turn on the Lights!" We have two children that became part of our family by adoption. Our son was born in Romania and spent several months in an institution with a persistent respiratory infection. We were surprised by some of the issues our son presented. The sound of a lawn mower several blocks away was enough to drive him inside the house. He would "jump out of his skin" when touched lightly. He asked for the labels to be cut out of his shirts. He used a lot of effort holding up his body. Hmm, were such behaviors irrelevant or significant? Our children were fortunate to be Carol Kranowitz's students at St. Columba's Nursery School in Washington, DC. She and Karen Strimple, the school director, helped us to understand that sensory integration dysfunction might be affecting our son's behavior. Because of their expertise and sensitivity we were able to get help for our son and ourselves. It has made a huge difference in our lives. Now, Kranowitz has written a clear, well-organized handbook that demystifies sensory integration. Using it, you can strengthen your child's ability to navigate his or her world. If you have an "out-of-sync" child, you can search all over town for help, or you can sit down with this book and in a few hours emerge as a much better advocate for your child and as a more savvy consumer of professional child development services. Kranowitz's book bridges a gap in the existing literature between dense academic writing and simple overviews. It is a great tool that can help you leverage energy, money and time. When I read it, I felt as if the author turned on the lights in a dim room. Kranowitz defines sensory integration dysfunction as the inability to process information received through the senses. "Dysfunction happens in the central nervous system, at the head of which is the brain. When a glitch occurs, the brain cannot analyze, organize, and connect - or integrate - sensory messages. The result of sensory information dysfunction is that the child cannot respond to sensory information to behave in a meaningful, consistent way. He may also have difficulty using sensory information to plan and organize what he needs to do." Sensory integration problems act like a hidden tax on a child's development. To explain this, Kranowitz provides clear examples of the special "near senses": tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive. Her checklists and tables make it easy to understand a child's behavior patterns. She maps out strategies for home, school and typical overload situations. She has created a very helpful appendix with descriptions of the underlying neurological concepts including excellent drawings by illustrator T.J. Wylie. The detailed glossary, alone, is worth the price of the book. Readers will find resource lists of helpful organizations and other reference material as well. No matter how wonderful pediatricians are, it is unlikely that they are fully knowledgeable about sensory integration. If one professional can't help you, keep looking and give the adults in your child's life a copy of this book. (Have them read the endorsements of Dr. Brazelton, Dr. Greenspan, Dr. Healy, and Dr. Silver!) You can help educate those adult authority figures who will have subtle and major influences on your child's self esteem. One value of this book is the framework for nurturing children that is the subtext of Kranowitz's writing. It reminds me of the respectful attitude of observation, investigation and theory integration that characterized Dr. Jean Piaget's work on the cognitive development of young children. Piaget became intrigued by his own children and forever changed the world of education by what he learned. Like Piaget, Kranowitz has taken her daily observations of young children and, fueled by her desire to reach even the most confusing child, created a book of enormous value. Every parent knows "that look" - the special glow a child gets when fully engaged in the moment. Carol Kranowitz's book will turn on the lights so more children can shine. Review by Tricia and Calvin Luker May 1998 EXCEPTIONAL PARENT MAGAZINE http://www.eparent.com The Out-of-Sync Child is a winner!! It is written for and can be easily understood by parents and non-professionals. The author, Carol Stock Kranowitz, gives a clear and concise picture of sensory integration dysfunction. This book is a model for taking a little known, and often missed, disability and making it accessible to the people most in need of this information. Sensory integration is the process the brain uses in organizing and interpreting information received through the sense. Sensory experiences include touch, movement, body awareness, sight, sound, and the pull of gravity. When the process is dysfunctional, a number of problems in learning, development, and behavior may become evident. A child with sensory integration dysfunction might display any number of actions that parents, teachers, and other professionals interpret as behavior problems or bad parenting. Of course, not all children with learning, development, or behavioral problems have an underlying sensory integrative dysfunction. Scientists are not sure what causes sensory integration dysfunctions. At our first EXCEPTIONAL PARENT Family Forum in Reno, Nevada, held in conjunction with the Epilepsy Foundation of America Parent Network Training Program, the participants identified sensory integration as a frequently missed cause of their children's unique behaviors. Kranowitz gives excellent examples of typical indicators that can signal a parent (or grandparent or caregiver) that a sensory integration dysfunction may be present. A few of the examples of typical symptoms in children include oversensitivity to touch, movement, sights, or sounds; an activity level that is unusually high or unusually low; coordination problems; delays in speech, language, motor skills, or academic achievement; poor organization of behavior; and poor self concept. The Out-of-Sync Child also recognizes that sensory integration dysfunction may co-exist with, or mimic, symptoms of better-known disabilities such as ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities, allergies, or problems with sleep regulation, eating, speech, hearing or vision. Kranowitz gives the reader concrete information and detailed checklists to help evaluate whether a child might have a sensory integration dysfunction. The checklists allow both parents and teachers to observe specific activities of the child that might justify further professional evaluation. The author does not rest with helping to identify symptoms of possible sensory integration dysfunction. She gives the reader the who and how of evaluating SI dysfunction. The book discusses the screening and evaluation process, as well as which therapeutic professionals and tools are best suited to help parents confirm and handle their child's sensory integration dysfunction. Also included are activities that parents can do with their children to promote healthy sensory integration development at home. The Out-of-Sync Child, a 322-page paperback, retails for $14.00 and can be ordered from the Exceptional Parent Library. The book contains an excellent glossary, a comprehensive resource list, and an up-to-date sensory integration bibliography. This is a great book and a must read for any parents who think their child might have unusual behavior difficulties. Kranowitz avoids hyper-technical language and explanations. Instead, her treatment of sensory integration issues relies on common sense and clear examples. The book is so well written that readers will be tempted to use Kranowitz's analytical approach when they read about other behavioral or learning disabilities. Its calming tone and no-nonsense approach give parents the power to positively address their child's sensory integration dysfunction. We are pleased to award it the Exceptional Parent Symbol of Excellence. Review by Lee Pennington Neill, PhD Spring/Summer 1999 SENSORY INTEGRATION QUARTERLY Publication of Sensory Integration International, Inc. (SII) http://home.earthlink.net/~sensoryint/ Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., has done us all a favor in writing The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction (1998, Skylight Press, Perigee Books, NY, $14). I think the title is inspired. Ms. Kranowitz should be very proud of her accomplishment, because she has helped many parents who previously approached their child's teachers and doctors with "gut feelings" that something was wrong, but with little support for those feelings. She has done a fine job of explaining sensory integration for parents and teachers. While I may not agree with every explanation or recommendation, I am glad to have this carefully written reference. There is plenty of information shared, a healthy index, a much-needed glossary and some excellent referral sources. The questionnaires offered will help educate users and recipients as to what behaviors may relate to sensory integrative dysfunction. Dr. Larry Silver, who served as a board member for SII, writes a compelling introduction to the book. His statement, "We need to remember that behaviors are a message, a symptom, not a diagnosis," should be posted in every classroom and doctor's office in the country. I believe that educators in particular, but also professionals in ancillary fields, will benefit from this resource. . . . This is the first comprehensive book about sensory integrative dysfunction for parents and teachers, and it's a great start. I hope more books follow. I will recommend this book as an accompaniment to Dr. Jean Ayres' book, Sensory Integration and the Child (1972, Western Psychological Services Publishers, Los Angeles, CA) and to the audio cassettes, Making Sense of Sensory Integration and Teachers Ask About Sensory Integration (Belle Curve Records, Inc., P.O. Box 18387, Boulder, CO 80308, $20.) Review by Marcia Rubinstien, M.A., C.E.P. August/September 1999 The Support Report A Newsletter for Families with Unique Children (A Publication of SHARE Support, Inc.) As the mother of a child who lives his life in polar opposition to most of society's norms, I am constantly scanning the literature to make him feel better about himself, and equally importantly, to make me feel better about his future. I didn't have to scan multiple chapters of Carol Kranowitz's informative book to know that this was a volume I would read, underline, reread, quote, and ultimately idealize. The front cover states, "If your child has been labeled with words like difficult, picky, oversensitive, clumsy, or inattentive . . . there may be a new explanation - and new hope." Hope I a commodity I constantly seek to replenish. After all, I am the mother of the child who walked off the soccer field at age six, while motivated members of his peer group were scurrying up and down as though their lives depended on it. "Mom," he asked, "What is the point of this?" The same child refused to join any line initiated by a teacher, insisted on placing periods after every word in a sentence because, "We stop after every word, don't we?" and divided much of his classroom time between balancing precariously on his chair like a clumsy acrobat and picking himself up off the floor after the chair had succumbed to the pull of gravity. So when Carol Kranowitz talked about Sensory Integration Dysfunction, I listened. I learned how children with NLD have problems developing the ability to process information through their senses. I learned about the exquisite subtleties of SI difficulties. I began to understand how my child could look fine and have superior intelligence, but still be awkward, clumsy, fearful, withdrawn, and hostile. I developed new hope and compassion for my son as I learned how SI Dysfunction affects children's behavior. Kranowitz teaches parents to recognize Sensory Integration Dysfunction by including case histories and checklists of common symptoms. She describes the senses in a clear and thorough manner, and explains how to tell if your child has a problem with the vestibular or proprioceptive sense. But most of all, I welcomed the author's optimistic appraisal of children who may seem out-of-sync with their environments. To parents who wonder if their children will become out-of-sync adults, she says, "Your child has a good chance of developing into a competent, self-regulating, smoothly functioning grown-up if he or she receives understanding, support, and early intervention."
MORE REVIEWS AND COMMENTS ARE ON THE INTERNET:
By Alison Martin, an adoptive parent of a child from Vietnam:
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