Imagine, for a moment, that you are a parent of a child
with no visible disability, but whose experiences of everyday
life present constant challenges.
What may be typical activities for most people-eating,
dressing, making friends, taking a spelling test, responding
to a hug-are a struggle, often resulting in social, emotional,
and academic problems.
This is the bewildering and largely uncharted world of
Sensory Processing Disorder-a complex brain disorder affecting
one in twenty children. These children experience sensations-
taste, touch, sound, sight, smell, movement and body awareness-vastly
differently from other children their ages. They may feel
attacked by the slightest touch, fail to register bumps and
bruises, or be unable to figure out where they are in space
without constantly touching others. While SPD is more widely
recognized than it once was, parents of these sensational
children have been searching for ways to help their children
navigate in the world. Dr. Lucy Miller, the best-known SPD
researcher in the world, is that voice: warm, clear, and
upbeat, Dr. Miller identifies the disorder and its four major
subtypes, provides insight into assessment and diagnosis,
and suggests treatment options and strategies, including
the importance of occupational therapy and parental involvement.
Portraits of five children illustrate the different ways
in which SPD may manifest itself as well as how families
cope, while offering hope and advice to parents on how to
be the best possible advocates for their children.
Comprehensive and compassionate, Sensational Children is
the book no parent, teacher, or caregiver of children with
SPD should be without.
Lucy Jane Miller, Ph.D., OTR, is the founder
of the only nationwide comprehensive SPD research program
and the sole researcher to be awarded an NIH grant to study
the disorder. The founder and director of KID Foundation,
the only full-time SPD research program in the world, she
is also an associate professor at the University of Colorado
Medical School. She is also co-founder of the Star Center
in Colorado with Ron B. Minson, M.D.
