Books | Resources | SensorySmartParent.com

Buy The Book ~ Raising A Sensory Smart Child

All of the products on this page link to Amazon.com unless otherwise specified. Links in Red are the Kindle edition.

Parenting Approaches and Discipline

Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic, Revised Edition by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.
Kurcinka was the first person to write about intense, spirited kids and how to raise them. Also check out Kids, Parents and Power Struggles, which is a very helpful book on disciplining spirited children.

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross Greene, M.D.
Don’t let the alarming title turn you off: This is a parent favorite because Dr. Greene really understands how challenging it is for some kids to tolerate frustration and exercise impulse control. His “basket” plan for building their skills has worked for many parents.

The Difficult Child by Stanley Turecki and Leslie Tonner.
Help for parenting a temperamentally hard-to-raise child.

Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen Ph.D.
A child psychologist explains the importance of play and how to use it to help your child work through difficult emotions.

Special Education, Learning, and Organizational Issues

The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child by Lawrence Siegel and Wrightslaw: Special Education Law by Peter W.D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright.
These two books are invaluable for learning about your child’s rights. Both translate the laws into plain English and offer effective strategies for advocating for your child. Be sure to buy the latest version as they are frequently updated.

Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Room, Your Time, and your Life by Julie Morgenstern and Jessica Morgenstern Colon.
Julie Morgenstern’s organizing guides are all excellent but this one, cowritten with her teen daughter, is especially valuable for teenagers who may be defensive about their organizational issues.

A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine.
An exploration of individual learning patterns and how educators and parents can build on kids' strengths.

Sleep and Nutrition

Healthy Slep Habits, Healthy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D.
Getting enough quality sleep is crucial for helping keep sensory issues under control. Weissbluth offers insights and guidance on how to help your child sleep well.

Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges! By Lori Ernsperger, Tania Stegen-Hanson, with a foreword by Temple Grandin.
Kids with sensory issues go beyond being picky eaters and may experience anxiety and emotional distress when presented with foods they can’t tolerate or are unfamiliar with. This is an excellent book for understanding how to work with a child’s food aversions.

Healthy Food for Healthy Kids: An A-Z of Nutritional Know-how for the Well-Fed Family by Bridget Swinney. Great ideas and nutritional advice from a registered dietician.

Allergies and Gut Issues

Is This Your Child? by Doris J. Rapp. Children’s allergies and intolerances: how to diagnose them and help them avoid the substances that create stress for their bodies (which exacerbates sensory issues).

Parenting Experiences

Not Just Spirited: A Mom's Sensational Journey with Sensory Processing Disorder by Chynna Laird.
An honest portrayal of a family's experience with a child with severe SPD and their journey to finding help for her.

Autism and ADHD

*The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Advice, Support, Insight, and Inspiration* by Patty Romanowski Bashe, M.S., E.D., Barbara L. Kirby, Simon Baron-Cohen, and Tony Attwood	*Thinking in Pictures; Emergence: Labeled Autistic; and The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s.* Temple Grandin is an extremely successful designer of cattle handling facilities and a woman living with autism, as well as an advocate for people with autism. Her insights into autism and features of the disorder such as social issues, sensory processing issues, anxiety, and visual thinking are incredibly helpful for anyone whose child is on the autism spectrum or has issues that overlap autism.
Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think by Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder	*Taking Care of Myself: A Healthy Hygiene, Puberty, and Personal Curriculum for Young People with Autism* by Mary Wrobel.
The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome by Tony Attwood \| Kindle Edition	Overcoming Autism: Finding the Answers, Strategies, and Hope That Can Transform a Child’s Life by Lynn K. Koegel and Claire LaZebnik.
*The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD* by John F. Taylor, Ph.D. \| Kindle Edition	Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and John J. Ratey, M.D.
*41 Things to Know About Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Other ASDs* by Chantal Sicile-Kira