The Out-of-Sync Child - Softcover

Carol Stock Kranowitz; Larry B. Silver

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0399523863 ISBN 13: 9780399523861

Publisher: Perigee Trade, 1998

Synopsis

"Difficult." "Picky." "Oversensitive." "Clumsy." "Unpredictable." "Inattentive." Children who have been labeled with words like these may actually be suffering from Sensory Integration Disorder-a very common, but frequently misdiagnosed, condition that can manifest itself in excessively high or low activity levels, problems with motor coordination, oversensitivity or undersensitivity to sensations and movements, and other symptoms. This guide, written by an expert in the field, explains how SI Dysfunction can be confused with ADD, learning disabilities, and other problems, tells how parents can recognize the problem-and offers a drug-free treatment approach for children who need help.

About this title

Review:

Do you know a child who plays too rough, is uncoordinated, hates being touched, is ultra-sensitive (or unusually insensitive) to noise or sensations of heat and cold? Many pediatricians and other experts are beginning to recognize a link between some of these apparently unrelated behavior patterns. Children with perfectly normal "far senses" (such as sight and hearing) may have, because of a poorly integrated nervous system, serious problems with their "near senses," including touch, balance, and internal muscle sensation. It's called Sensory Integration Dysfunction, or SI. The announcement of yet another new syndrome is bound to raise skeptical eyebrows--and with good reason. (How do we know which child really has SI, and which one just happens to share some of the same symptoms?) Author Carol Stock Kranowitz argues convincingly, however, that for some children SI is a real disorder, and that it is devastating partly because it so often looks like nothing so much as "being difficult." And, whatever the scientific status of SI, Kranowitz carefully details many routines and remedies that will help children--and the parents of children--who exhibit the behaviors described. This book is a must-read for all doctors, pediatricians, and (perhaps especially) childcare workers. --Richard Farr

From Publishers Weekly:

Kranowitz, a teacher who has worked for 20 years in the field of sensory integration dysfunction and has developed a screening program for its early identification, writes intelligently about a bewildering topic. Fairly common (an estimated 12%-30% of children are affected), the disorder is nevertheless baffling to experts and parents alike, in part because of its diverse, contradictory symptoms: such children may be either hypo- or hypersensitive. Often erroneously diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or labeled "difficult, picky, clumsy, oversensitive, or inattentive," children with SI dysfunction exhibit unusual responses to touching and being touched, and/or to moving and being moved. In concise, well-organized chapters, Kranowitz reveals how the tactile, vestibular (pertaining to gravity and movement) and propriaceptive (pertaining to joints, muscles and ligaments) senses operate. Checklists and sidebars throughout the text compare the "normal" child in various situations to the child with sensory integration dysfunction. Asserting SI dysfunction is best treated by occupational therapy, not by medication, Kranowitz helps clear the way for families to understand a disorder that they may suspect but not have been able to pinpoint.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Perigee Trade
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0399523863
• ISBN 13: 9780399523861
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 356