Growing Up with Sensory Issues: Insider Tips from a Woman with Autism - Softcover

Myers, Jennifer McIlwee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935567446 ISBN 13: 9781935567448

Verlag: SENSORY WORLD, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

No matter how high-functioning children with autism or Asperger's may be, they are going to have trouble with their sensory issues. Enter Jennifer McIlwee Myers, Aspie at Large! Co-author of the groundbreaking book Asperger's and Girls, Jennifer's personal experience with Asperger's Syndrome and SPD makes her perspective doubly insightful. Jennifer's straightforward and humorous delivery will keep caregivers turning the page for the next creative solution

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Coauthor of the award-winning book Asperger's and Girls, Jennifer McIlwee Myers is a terrific writer and speaker with Asperger's Syndrome--she is funny, eloquent, and to the point. Her brother had autism, but she wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until 2002. She has taught herself to overcome her sensory challenges and has found many unique, innovative ways to navigate the world of "normal" people. Jennifer earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and currently lives in California with her husband Gary.

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Growing Up with Sensory Issues

Insider Tips for Dealing with Sensory Disorders

By Jennifer McIlwee Myers

Ingram Publisher Services

Copyright © 2014 Jennifer McIlwee Myers
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-935567-44-8

Contents

• What’s Up? • Who are you? • Who this book is written for • What the book 
is about • How SPD affects a child’s functioning at home and at school • 
Things that helped me deal with SPD in my childhood • How understanding 
and working with SPD in my adulthood has helped me do more • Why the 
examples are all about me and my family But why listen to me? • 
Disclaimers and limitations • The advantage of experience when paired with 
voracious reading and persistent pursuit of expert input SPD facts and 
issues • SPD: a quick look • Being skeptical • SPD plus Asperger’s • How 
understanding SPD changed my life • Dx: Asperger’s Syndrome with SPD • New 
light on THE MALL • Dx led to understanding the difference between how 
most people experience the mall and how I do so • Stopped regular mall 
trips • Profound effect on parts of my life that seemed unrelated 
Understanding the link between SPD and unhealthy negative emotions • 
Healthy negative emotions are not stopped by SPD intervention Because of 
the above, understanding SPD changed the way I saw myself • Self-images of 
children with undiagnosed SPD • My self-image change: from angry person 
with deep underlying issues to odd person who reacted naturally to pain 
and stress Not a cure for all problems, and not the only source of anger, 
frustration, and anxiety • But learning that no matter how real my 
emotions were, they were not always true, was a vital step to better 
cognitive functioning • What does SPD look and feel like from the inside? 
• Many variations , many like mine, many unlike mine • There is no way for 
a child to guess that the way they sense the world is different or causing 
problems • Some typical SPD issues in a school day • Some typical SPD 
issues in an office • What helped? • Big helps from my mom • My mom knew 
something was up • Results? Get kids moving! • Our sandbox • Gardening • 
Go outside! • Batteries NOT included The TV allowance • AKA how my mom 
improved my sensory diet You want to go there? Walk~ Posture pals 
Day-to-day life skills for sensory issues • She who spills, cleans up • 
Record store • Ordering food • No need to criss-cross What hurt? • Getting 
gaslighted • At the dentist • At school: “you could do it, you just 
haven’t tried hard enough” Random school freak outs • Fifth grade 
penmanship game • Second grade attempt to get me to stop reading when it 
was time for recess • Chaotic classrooms • Overly sensitive sniffer leads 
to a trip to the nurse’s office • Cafeteria duty taught me to stay the 
heck out of the cafeteria What helped at school? • Second grade: reading 
corner • Creating safety zones: choir, library, resource room • 
High-school nurse’s office • Timed writing in the 12th grade Winter vs. 
Summer • Activity level • Varied sensory input • Ability to take a break • 
What every parent and child affected by SPD need to know • You can grow 
your brain! • All learning involves failure • We learn much more from 
failure than from success • Guitar lessons You as an individual can affect 
who you are and who  you will be Incremental growth is the best kind there 
is The cognitive component • Pain has (at least) two components • The 
physical component • The emotional aspect Humans can learn to affect their 
own emotions and can even eventually limit their power • Grim optimism 
Self-efficacy is a great tool against self-downing Introversion is not a 
pathology • Associating helpful tools with extroverts slowed me down • 
Gary’s teacher called his mom about it • All sensory diet items come in 
versions for extroverts, separate approaches for introverts, and 
combinations for the rest of us • When to take the social out of the 
sensory diet Our sluggish culture • Technology is AWESOME, but we haven’t 
yet learned to get off our butts and on a healthy sensory diet in the 
Information Age • Because of the above, we have to work to engage our 
brains and nervous systems • Never underestimate the power of boredom • 
Constant entertainment leads to learned helplessness • The stress of 
boredom is temporary, but the ability to entertain one’s self or to simply 
find stuff to do pays off forever “Heavy work” works! • My exercise 
program’s unexpected results • Tote that barge, lift that bale Knowing  
your limits is empowering • “You can be anything” – NOT! • Knowing that 
you have an overdeveloped fight-or-flight instinct can make a difference • 
Distinguish between real danger and a false alarm You cannot expand your 
limits without first recognizing them A realistic assessment of my limits 
and sensory needs would have helped me far more than any academic help • 
If you are overwhelmed my sensory stuff at school, you need to know it so 
you can work with it • Learning about SPD made my adulthood even better! • 
What did we learn from this book tonight, Jenn? • SPD affects every aspect 
of a child’s life – or an adult’s • Kids affected by SPD need support to 
become fully awesome • All parents and teachers reading this are awesome • 
Appendix A: A Day in the Life -- A walk-through of a typical day in 
high-school for a person with SPD.

Excerpt from Growing Up Sensory by Jennifer McIlwee Myers
 
 
I Know This Much Is True
 
 
While I have done my best to lay out enough general information to get you up to speed on how SPD works, I haven’t covered everything.  It would take dozens of volumes to cover all of the individual ways that people with SPD – whether children or adults – experience life differently.
 
What I hope I’ve communicated is that when you’ve got a kid with SPD (or ADD, or LD, or autism, or Asperger’s), what you see is not necessarily what you get.  When you see your child acting with what looks an awful lot like willful disobedience, stubbornness, and simple spite, you may be missing what is actually going on.
 
Sure, all kids do things you don’t want them to do some of the time.  There are no perfect people who are born always wanting to do what they are supposed to do who never ever fail to follow instructions and perform tasks as they should.  Sometimes kids refuse to do stuff they can do.  But that’s not always the case.  In the case of kids with SPD, that’s often not the case at all.
 
It is normal and human to assume that outward behavior is a sign of the inner person.  We think that when a child is asked to do something difficult or unpleasant and says,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: SENSORY WORLD
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1935567446
• ISBN 13: 9781935567448
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 200
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande