Thursday, April 28, 2011

Book Review: This is Gabriel Making Sense of School

When I started out on the journey to discover as much as I could about Sensory Processing Disorder and the other conditions my children have I happened up on a blog called "Hartley's Life with 3 Boys". This blog and its author have been a god send to myself and my family.

Hartley shares the good, the bad, and most importantly the honest aspects of Sensory Processing Disorder, Anxiety etc. on her blog... and its all REAL!!! After I had spent days and weeks a couple of minutes looking through the many posts on Hartley's Life with 3 Boys, I noticed that she has also written a book about Sensory Processing Disorder, and it is called "This is Gabriel Making Sense of School: A Book about Sensory Processing Disorder".

 This book QUICKLY went on my  MUST HAVE LIST.... and let me tell you it was certainly worth it! Not only does Gabriel Making Sense of School talk to kids (and some adults) on a level that everyone can understand, it also fully describes why our children do the things they do and why we need to help them and to understand that it is more than a 'choice' for them.
As soon as the book came in the mail, I sat down and read it, and then I read it again and again and again. And it taught me something each and every time I read it. For example, I had know for a long time that we had  5 senses ( taste, smell, sight, hearing, touch), but do you know we actually have 7 which include vestibular and proprioception.  We had talked about Vestibular and Propriocention input etc at OT but I never in my life realized that it was a 'sense'. Who knew.... Hartley did :)

Once I had read this book a million times I then read it to my children (ages 7, 5, 5, and 3) and my 7 year old who has always struggled with understanding her sister looked at me and said "Mommy... I get it!!! I get why Shelby is the way she is"... and I beamed ... "Yes Delainey... that is why Shelby is the way she is"...

It was then that Delainey said something that I've been thinking for a long time myself "Brody has this too huh mom?".... 

So long story short... BUY THIS BOOK!!!! I will be buying more this fall to hand out to my daughter's kindergarten teacher and also another book for my son's preschool teacher. It is HANDSDOWN the best book on the market when it comes to relating SPD to not only children... but adults as well.

Thank you Hartley for helping not only me but my family understand Sensory Processing Disorder a little bit more.!!!

You can purchase this book by visiting THIS LINK!!! Amazon has amazing service and really fast shipping!!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for such an awesome review! I am really touched that your kids (and you!) got so much out of it - tell that Shelby of yours she is one smart cookie! :)

    Hartley
    www.hartleysboys.com

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