Quotes from Carol Stock Kranowitz

hippocampus (Greek for "sea horse," which it resembles)

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun (Perigee, 2006), The Goodenoughs Get in Sync (Sensory World, 2010), Growing an In-Sync Child (Perigee, 2010), and In-Sync Activity Cards (Sensory World, 2012).

That most people with autism have some degree of SPD is a recognized fact. Understanding how sensory and motor problems complicate the child's daily life is crucial for designing an appropriate intervention program. Parents must ensure that their child's treatment program includes ample sensory-motor experiences and an individualized sensory diet.

Sometimes, your child may function well, and other times, she will resist going to school, spill her milk, and fall. Expect inconsistency. When she stumbles, try to be understanding. Break challenges into small pieces. Encourage her to achieve one goal at a time to feel the satisfaction of a series of little successes. Remember that you have had years of experience in learning to deal with the world, and that the child has not.

This child did not need to "change his behaviors." We needed to understand his behaviors and what they suggested as the probable underlying reason for the behaviors. We needed to remember that behaviors are a message, a symptom—not a diagnosis.

The child who feels uncomfortable in his own skin may have poor motor planning, or dyspraxia. He may move awkwardly and have difficulty planning and organizing his movements. Thus, he may shun the very activities that would improve his praxis.

In addition, the child with poor tactile awareness in his mouth, lips, tongue, and jaw may have a sensory-based motor problem called oral apraxia, which affects his ability to produce and sequence sounds necessary for speech.

the brain cannot do its most important job of organizing sensory messages.

Every child is occasionally out-of-sync. Careful diagnosis is imperative to determine which symptoms are related to sensory processing problems, and which are not.

revisions in this second edition of The Out-of-Sync Child reflect Dr. Miller's work. Her wonderful book, Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder (Perigee, 2007), explains the terminology in detail.

Arousal, activity level, and attention are self-regulation problems that frequently coexist with SPD. • Unusually high arousal and activity level: The child may be always on the go, restless, and fidgety. He may move with short and nervous gestures, play or work aimlessly, be quick-tempered and excitable, and find it impossible to stay seated.

Nature designed our vestibular receptors to be extremely sensitive. Indeed, our need to know where we are in relation to the earth is more compelling than our need for food, for tactile comfort, or even for a mother-child bond.

According to Dr. Ayres, "Over 80 percent of the nervous system is involved in processing or organizing sensory input, and thus the brain is primarily a sensory processing machine.