No Longer A Secret: Unique Common Sense Strategies for Children with Sensory or Motor Challenges by Bialer, Doreit, Miller, Lucy Jane (2012) Paperback

by Doreit Bialer

This invaluable resource by Dr Lucy Jane Miller and Doreit Bialer helps teach cost effective, functional, on the spot tips to use for children with sensory issues at home, at school, or in a community setting. Any parent, teacher, or therapist can use this book and help a child with sensory or motor issues!

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Parenting, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS is my new favorite book about sensory processing. It's written for parents and teachers, so don't be afraid to pick it up just because you aren't a therapist, although I think even OTs can learn a good amount from it! I like this book even more than Out of Sync Child (gasp!) and am now recommending it to patient's families. It goes into detail about the different types of sensory processing difficulties and targets suggestions to those specific areas (not just auditory, tactile, etc but over/underresponsiveness/craving/discrimination difficulties in each of those sensory systems, including interoception). The strategies use common everyday items and are simple to implement. I also love the holistic problem solving strategy they describe in lieu of sensory diet recommendations. I have already seen the ideas in this book make a HUGE difference for one family after just one day. Looooove!

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very useful guide to handling sensory issues in children without buying a bunch of expensive equipment or dragging your kids to a treatment center 5x a week. I recommend this one. Anyone can use it. It was written for parents, not specialists.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of practical and inexpensive strategies to help with sensory issues. I appreciate the effort made to use commonly available items to aid in various strategies instead of specialized therapeutic equipment. Sensory Processing Disorder is so complex, and I feel like the more I learn, the more I have to learn.

[Trish Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the product of a collaboration between Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, one of the leading researchers in the area of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and Doreit Bialer, an OT with many years of experience with SPD on both the personal and professional level. Their goals in writing it were to offer low-cost, low-tech strategies for children with sensorimotor challenges, as well as to teach principles that will allow parents, teachers, and other professionals to problem solve on their own and come up with effective solutions that will address the specific sensory issues faced by their child, student, or client.

The first two chapters give a brief overview of the eight sensory systems and the six SPD subtypes that have currently been identified, and also provide an introduction to Dr. Miller's method of approaching treatment, known as "A SECRET." For a more thorough explanation of these topics and method, Dr. Miller's earlier book Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder is highly recommended. At its most basic, however, the method is simply an acrostic to help guide you through the areas to consider when looking at a child's behavior when they have SPD:

A = Attention
S = Sensation
E = Emotional Regulation
C = Culture, Context, or Current Conditions
R = Relationship
E = Environment
T = Task

Following this introduction to the material, the authors spend a chapter talking in more detail on the topic of Emotional Regulation, and then they spend a chapter on each of the six subtypes of SPD. For each one, they provide numerous examples of how a child might be affected by the disorder and walk you through how to problem solve in each situation to come up with appropriate strategies to assist the child in reaching a calm state.

One of the most important lessons I learned from this book was the concept that being able to problem solve is much more important than following a rigid sensory diet. Not only will it cause you to respond more appropriately to each situation, but it will also help to teach the child how to apply the concepts themselves and move towards self-regulation, which is after all our long-term goal.

If you have a child or student with SPD, then No Longer A SECRET will be an invaluable resource as you attempt to find solutions and strategies for each challenge that arises.

[Lgordo · Rating 3 out of 5]

felt dated. some good info in here but didn't really feel helpful to me.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative book on children with sensory issues

I found this book to be very informative, I wish educators, day care providers, health care workers that work with children, as well as parents would read this book. Children with sensory processing disorders and dyspraxia often are mislabeled as lower functioning, or having behavioral problems, when the problem is really their little bodies and brains are out of sync. I found the simple adaptive equipment that you could make at home very helpful.

[Jordan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful resource. A SECRET is an empowering problem solving strategy for many parents of children with SPD who face healthcare professionals who seek to passively “fix” their children. The authors provide easy, low cost strategies families can use in their daily routines. I will recommend this book to the families I serve!

[Alison Young Sleight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information with information on how to help each subtype of SPD

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for parents or teachers. Very easy read and I learned so much about sensory processing!

[Christen · Rating 5 out of 5]

really great book at explaining sensory differences! great resource for parents and teachers

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read with some good ideas. Very sensible.

[Susan Huff]

Really good resource for sensory supports