At last, Raising a Sensory Smart Child is available in Spanish. Infancia sensorialmente inteligente: El manual definitivo para ayudar a tu hijo con dificultades de procesamiento sensorial was published by Editorial Eleftheria SL and is available on Amazon (and the publisher's website. From the description: "Por fin, aquí están las ideas y respuestas que los padres estaban buscando para ayudar a sus hijos a afrontar y superar los problemas sensoriales" ―Dra. Temple Grandin Infancia sensorialmente inteligente ha sido premiado en EE.UU. con el National Parenting Publications Gold Award y el iPar ..read more

What happens when your child has sensory processing issues and struggles with organizational issues at schools? Are you afraid he will lose school-issued equipment or paperwork (such as worksheets and permission slips)? Does she hate reading physical books, or have difficulty listening to audiobooks? Welcome to the world of parenting a child with sensory issues whose organizational, visual, and auditory demands at school can frustrate everyone. Fortunately, I have some tips. Talk with your child about what organizational systems will work for YOUR child. Your child is unique. So is her sensory ..read more

It’s developmentally appropriate for very young children to have meltdowns when frustrated. It’s also developmentally appropriate for older children with developmental delays and other issues. That’s because these children haven’t yet developed strong self-regulation skills. When they’re frustrated or upset or overstimulated, their emotions overwhelm them. They crumple into a ball on the floor, wailing and even lashing out with their fists if someone takes their arm and tries to pull them up. Or, they lower themselves to the ground and lie flat on their back. If someone tries to pull them up ..read more

Given what's going on globally with the covid-19 pandemic, parents and kids are facing more and more challenges in getting much-needed exercise, time outdoors in nature, and opportunities for looking into the distance (for the sake of eye health and preventing or arresting nearsightedness). Kids' routines and sensory diets have gone out the window, and many parents are scrambling. As to your home space: Lindsey Biel, MA, OTR/L, who wrote the award-winning book Raising a Sensory Smart Childwith me, was recently quoted in the New York Times on how to help your child with sensory issues to stay r ..read more

Holidays should be fun for kids, right? With a child who has sensory issues, maybe not so much. My article in Autism Parenting magazine shares some sensory smart holiday strategies, and you'll find more in Raising a Sensory Smart Child, too. As parents, we can have our heart set on our kids participating in a particular holiday tradition, but if we're creative, we can find workarounds for old traditions and introduce new traditions that work better for our families. Here are some holiday traditions you might want to consider adopting. Outdoor time tradition. Our bodies were designed to be outd ..read more

Too loose, too tight, wrong fit—kids with sensory issues can be very resistant to clothing that doesn’t feel right on their body. When a child's tactile system (their sense of touch) doesn’t function typically, a tactile sensation that’s no big deal to a neurotypical kid might be a huge deal and very anxiety-provoking. While some prefer the loose feel of an oversized t-shirt, loose cotton shorts or skirts, or Crocs clogs, some kids with sensory issues crave tighter clothing. Snugly-fitting clothing or even specially designed and made compression clothing that provides even pressure against the ..read more

The smell of new markers, the feel of new back-to-school clothes, the sight of new kids and adults bustling about in the school building—all are a part of the back-to-school experience. For a student with sensory issues, everyday sensations such as these can register in the brain much more intensely than they do for other kids, and it can be anxiety-provoking to sort out all the sensory input. It's common for kids with sensory issues to really struggle with self-regulation at school. It's important to take a sensory approach to keeping them focused, feeling good, and not hyperactive or underac ..read more

Kids with sensory issues can be quirky, frustrating, and even delightful—and for sure, their behaviors can sometimes confuse us parents. By opening up conversations that are characterized by curiosity and a genuine desire to connect with our kids, we can better understand the "why" behind behaviors and come up with alternative ways for our kids to meet their sensory needs. In fact, many quirky behaviors can be helpful for self-regulation, making it easier for them to focus and attend at school, tolerate uncomfortable situations, or pay attention when their parent or another authority figure is ..read more

One of the senses involved in sensory processing disorder is the visual sense. When it comes to your child's vision and any visual problems they might have, you probably are aware of nearsightedness and farsightedness as well as astigmatism. Nearsightedness is difficulty seeing into the distance; farsightedness is difficulty seeing things up close (something people often develop as they age). Astigmatism is when the visual picture is distorted. I have all three because of how my eyeballs are shaped. What I don't have is visual processing disorder and its symptoms, which can include any or even ..read more

Talking about screen time and balance with our kids who have sensory issues is important but can be hard if our kids are defensive and we're frustrated. Our healthy concerns about them spending too much time on screens can be whipped up into fear and anxiety by the many media stories about how bad screen time is. Yes, screen time has its drawbacks. For one thing, the more time our kids spend on screens, the less time they have to be out in nature looking into a distance (something that is correlated with a lower rate of nearsightedness). Yet they have to use screens for school. And let's face ..read more