Building Bridges Through Sensory Integration: Therapy for Children with Autism and Other Pervasive Developmental Disorders

by Paula Aquilla, Paula Aquilla, Shirley Sutton

Written by three experienced occupational therapists, this book offers a combination of theory and strategies. It is a perfect tool for those working with young children, but also broad enough to be adapted for older children and adults. Building Bridges provides creative techniques and useful tips while offering innovative strategies and practical advice for dealing with everyday challenges, including managing behaviors, improving muscle tone, developing social skills, selecting diets, and more. Part one explains the role of the occupational therapists in treatment and examines sensory integration theories. Part two offers methods of identifying sensory problems in children along with numerous strategies and activities. Helpful topics  

 

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Education, Parenting

207 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2003

Reviews

[Laura]

An excelent book.
One of the best on the market.
Useful for therapists and parents alike. It gives a lot of straightforward answers to lots of questions regarding sensory integration as well as a lot of practical and easy to follow tips and suggestions of activities to help children with PDD.

[Laura]

I didn't find this book as useful as I was hoping. There are a lot of lists, but they aren't very well formatted. For example, you might get a list of strategies for tactile play, but the list mixes together strategies for a child who craves extra tactile input with strategies for a child who is tactilely defensive. With no indication of which strategies are which, you'd be left guessing and hoping you don't try something that's going to be totally overwhelming for you/your child.

Almost the whole book is like that. Just lists of ideas you could try without enough information to help you pick out what you need. I left with zero takeaways.

(And honestly, just reading about some of the strategies made me feel uncomfortable, especially the strategies that involved chewing, so I KNOW some of the strategies aren't for everyone... I pray I will never have to help a child who craves sensory input to the mouth!)

[Buddy Draper]

This was interesting and applicable in the DI classroom setting where I teach. I have several students who have sensory integration issues and this resource gave me several good ideas.

[Beth Besso]

An occupational therapist recommended this book to me a few years ago when my son was being screened for autism. She thought this book would he a great resource for us, whether my son was autistic or not. It took me a few years to get the book, and all I have to say is that she was right. This book is a great resource.
As a parent of an autistic child, I would recommend this book to any caregivers of autistic children. Great explanations on everything, great suggestions on activities, and I like that they share ways to make things at home and there is a list of further resources. This is going to turn into a workbook & guide that I'll be using often.

[TYJC]

This is very helpful for a new OT practitioner such as myself still learning the ropes. It's easy to look under certain categories like "under-responsive" and "over-responsive," "potty training," etc and get ideas for a child's particular needs. And the ideas in the back of the book are like a gold mine. I work with kids who benefit greatly from sensory integration techniques. If I'm ever running out of ideas I know what book to consult.

[Amber]

1 copy available

[Andie]

Got book and read it before I went to conference featuring one of the authors. An excellent resource, easy to read and lots of good tips!

[Lindsay Evermore]

The best and most practical book I've read as a parent of a child with mild sensory processing challenges. This is not just for kids with autism/PDD.

[Suzanne]

Recommended by Chris's OT