The Sensory Child Gets Organized: Proven Systems for Rigid, Anxious, or Distracted Kids

by Carolyn Dalgliesh

Overview

The only book that teaches the parents of “sensory” kids how to organize and empower their children for greater success at home, at school, and in life.

Silver Winner, National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA)—Parenting Resources

Gold Honoree, Mom’s Choice Awards—Parenting–Special and Exceptional Needs

Every year, tens of thousands of young children are diagnosed with disorders that make it difficult for them to absorb the external world. Parents of sensory kids—like those with sensory processing disorder, anxiety disorder, AD/HD, autism, bipolar disorder, and OCD—often feel frustrated and overwhelmed, creating stress in everyday life for the whole family. Now, with The Sensory Child Gets Organized, there’s help and hope.

As a professional organizer and parent of a sensory child, Carolyn Dalgliesh knows firsthand the struggles parents face in trying to bring out the best in their rigid, anxious, or distracted children. She provides simple, effective solutions that help these kids thrive at home and in their day-to-day activities, and in this book you’ll learn how to:

-Understand what makes your sensory child tick
-Create harmonious spaces through sensory organizing
-Use structure and routines to connect with your child
-Prepare your child for social and school experiences
-Make travel a successful and fun-filled journey

With The Sensory Child Gets Organized, parents get an easy-to-follow road map to success that makes life easier—and more fun—for your entire family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451664287
Publisher:	Touchstone
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	387,558
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 8.82(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Carolyn Dalgliesh is the founder and owner of Systems for Sensory Kids and Simple Organizing Strategies, helping sensory families, individuals, and businesses get organized. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and also serves on the Board of Governors for Bradley Hospital, a neuropsychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. Carolyn lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two children. Visit TheSensoryChildGetsOrganized.com.

Read an Excerpt

The Sensory Child Gets Organized
Sensory Kids Need Special Solutions

Imagine your mornings at home with your child running more peacefully. You knock on the door, ask him to get dressed, and head down to the kitchen. He selects a shirt from one bin, jeans from another, and has time to run downstairs and enjoy a quick breakfast. When it’s time to head out the door, he grabs his backpack (packed the night before) from his backpack hook, grabs his shoes that are waiting in his shoe bin, and leaves for school.

In the afternoon, he comes home, has a snack, and pulls out a homework plan sheet that helps him map out a homework time/break time schedule. After getting through some of the hardest homework, he takes a planned fifteen-minute break in his room playing with his action figures. At dinnertime, he is able to engage in conversation and stay seated by playing dinner conversation games. After dinner, he runs seamlessly through the evening routine of a chore, finishing homework, packing his backpack, and enjoying some free time, finally making the transition to bedtime relaxing and calm.

If you are supporting a rigid, anxious, or distracted child, this scenario might seem like a fairy tale. I’m here to tell you, as a professional organizer and as the parent of a sensory child, that this can be your reality. It’s all about learning how to tap into simple systems, routines, and visual guides to support and organize your sensory child: tools that can empower both your child and your entire family.

The numbers are staggering: thousands of young children are being diagnosed each year with anxiety disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), autism spectrum disorders (autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified or PDD-NOS), pediatric bipolar or mood disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or sensory processing disorder (a behavior profile commonly seen with kids who have these diagnoses). There is also increasing evidence that some environmental factors like Lyme disease and PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with strep) can trigger or exacerbate some of these neurological and behavioral challenges.

The treatment options for kids who present with these types of sensory issues are vast. Much success can come from a combination of supports such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, accommodations/supports at school, and medication. However, there is so much that you as a parent can do, as well. That’s where this book comes in. As a parent, how do you learn how to support your “sensory” child in the home and make your day-to-day living experience less stressful and more meaningful?

“Sensory” kids—including those with AD/HD, anxiety disorder, OCD, sensory processing disorder, bipolar disorder, and autism—often look at the world through a different lens. There are so many questions parents have when learning to live with and support these sensory kids.

• How can you develop simple ways to communicate and connect with your child?

• How can you learn to anticipate and deal with the seemingly simple activities that create a major challenge for your child?

• How can you create spaces in your home to help your sensory child feel comfortable and at ease?

These are the kinds of practical, everyday issues that your doctors or therapists might not address. That’s why I wrote The Sensory Child Gets Organized: to help bridge the gap between essential clinical support and practical in-home solutions.

Through my experience as the parent of a sensory child and as a professional organizer, I know that sensory kids need special organizing solutions. Parents want to connect with their children, want to learn their “language,” and have peace at home. These Sensory Organizing techniques will show you how to use simple organization, structure, and visual aids in your everyday life to address some of your child’s challenging sensory behaviors. This book offers practical, easy-to-implement strategies that can be life changing for you, your sensory child, and your entire family. Our sensory kids are smart, perceptive, connected, and loving when they feel understood and supported, and this is our goal!

My journey into the world of sensory kids and Sensory Organizing began in 2002, as my husband and I were learning how to live with and support our own sensory child. For our son, who was born healthy and happy, things seemed to take a sudden turn between eighteen months and two years of age. He started to show signs of some developmental delays, such as regression in speech and a new hyperfocus on certain activities and repetitive play. He also had explosive episodes, became overwhelmed with playgroups, and seemed to be much more internally focused. We then began the sometimes-frustrating process of evaluations, reports, and appointments trying to get a diagnosis. We were looking for answers. What is happening to our child?

At age two, our son began getting speech and occupational therapy support through Early Intervention. It was extremely helpful for some very specific tasks that were challenging for our son and gave him some critical sensory input that he needed. I remember being so overwhelmed with all the other difficulties during our day: getting him to take a bath, cutting his nails, preparing him for a change in schedule, getting him to sit through dinner, and taking him to a birthday party, just to name a few. Many seemingly simple tasks were anything but simple. I was continually bombarding our speech and occupational therapists for information about how to support the way he was seeing the world, and how to make the days run more smoothly for him and for our new daughter, who arrived when he was two years old.

Our son was like many children whose presentation comes down to “a little bit of everything.” Because his symptoms present as a combination of many diagnoses, I developed a real appreciation for what families were living with when supporting sensory processing disorder, AD/HD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, Asperger’s disorder, mood disorders, as well as strep-triggered tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder (PANDAS), and neurological symptoms (including attention problems, short-term memory loss, depression, mood swings, and/or learning disabilities) as a result of late-stage Lyme disease. I also began to develop a few key concepts to help my son deal with some of the challenges he faced, such as getting ready for school in the morning or doing homework in the evening.

Over time, I began to see the power of structure and routine for my son in helping him navigate his day. He was a visual learner (like many sensory kids) and we began to tap into visual supports to help him with simple tasks inside the home. When we gave him labeled clothes storage bins, he was able to put clothes away and pick out clothes for school independently and without frustration. This became life changing for us. We made a conscious effort to concentrate on what was hard for him, and then develop a system or strategy to support him in overcoming the challenge. By picking a few challenging behaviors at a time and coming up with simple visual supports and routines, we could help him slowly modify his behavior.

I also noticed how helpful it was to have his environment set up in a way that made sense to him. When he had a defined homework space, a visual homework plan with built-in breaks, and graphic organizers for difficult homework, he could be successful. The internal confusion could be countered externally with spaces that were clearly defined, had systems in place, and had visual supports incorporated. The impact of these simple changes was incredible. He slowly began to learn what systems worked well for him and when he needed a plan in place.

The power of structure and routine provided an additional benefit that I had not planned on—it also supported me! The sensory parenting experience for many involves a journey from denial to acceptance that can be a stressful and overwhelming experience, even for the most well-adjusted, typical adults out there. This stress is magnified tremendously if the parent has their own challenges around anxiety, emotional regulation, or distractibility and needs to learn how to help their child manage similar challenges. Sensory Organizing gives us parents the added gift of structure, routines, and visual aids that can support the process of managing life, our executive functioning challenges, and our overwhelmed days. When we support ourselves with simple organization, structure, and routines, we are infinitely better at supporting our sensory kids. Sensory Organizing can truly become a gift for the entire family.

When I started my professional organizing business a few years ago, I knew there would be a piece of this kind of “sensory organizing” involved. Because the need is so great, that “piece” turned into a separate business, and Systems for Sensory Kids (SSK) was born. Recognizing how many overlapping behaviors there are in many different pediatric neurological and behavioral disorders, I wanted to focus on those challenging behaviors that families were living with daily. There is no doubt that these kids are extremely bright and can be very successful in almost anything they do as long as they have a plan in place that supports their way of processing information and sets them up to do well. Success breeds confidence.

The main goal of The Sensory Child Gets Organized is to empower you and your family with a few simple, effective techniques that will help you and your child be happier, calmer, and more successful. I am not a doctor or clinician, and I never make a diagnosis. But from my own experience, extensive research, and working with so many other families, I know there is an enormous need for parent-based, practical solutions for the everyday challenges of raising a rigid, anxious, or distracted child. This book gives you a game plan for learning how to live with and best support your sensory kids at home which, in turn, will give them increased self-awareness and confidence. I also believe strongly in the power of a team, and part of the team in supporting most sensory kids is going to be that essential clinical support from psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, pediatricians, neuropsychologists, and the many other professionals who work to support sensory kids. Early, consistent clinical support is so important in helping our kids reach their potential.

The most important team, and the team that will have the biggest impact, is the team at home. Our whole family thrived with these supports, and it has helped us all have a better idea of who we are, what works for us individually, and how we can best support each other.

I know firsthand the power of learning your child’s language and translating that knowledge into tangible supports for everyday life. We know that our sensory kids are bright, creative, and long to be successful in their daily tasks. I will teach you simple ways to learn your sensory child’s language, as well as universal approaches to creating visual aids that will support current challenges.

By the end of this book, my goal is to have you seamlessly observing, prioritizing needs, and creating supports for all types of different experiences. Having the correct sensory supports at home, and available for out-of-home experiences, will have a dramatic impact. These tools will also help our sensory kids feel capable, successful, and well on their way to a clear self-awareness of their own strengths.

So let’s start learning a new language, educating your team at home, and Sensory Organizing!

Table of Contents

Part 1 Understanding Your Sensory Child

1 How Sensory Organizing Worked for Me: Sensory Kids Need Special Solutions 3

2 Who Is a "Sensory" Child?: Different Profiles but Common Challenges 9

3 How Does Your Child Learn Best?: The Power of Sensory Parenting, Objective Observation, and Learning Styles 26

4 Why Sensory Organizing Works: The Sensory Organizing Worksheet and How to Use It 47

Part 2 Helping Your Sensory Child at Home

5 The Fundamentals of Sensory Spaces: How to Design a Room Based on Your Child 65

6 Sensory Organizing and Storage Systems for the Bedroom: Thinking Beyond the Bureau 78

7 Creating a Fun and Functional Playroom: How to "Zone" your Child's Spaces 88

8 Connect with Your Child: Tapping into the Power of Structure, Routines, and Visual Aids 101

9 Making Trouble Times Easy: Supports for Dreaded Tasks and Unstructured Time 118

Part 3 Helping Your Sensory Child in the World

10 Leaving the Nest: Preparing Your Sensory Child for Challenging Situations 149

11 Over the River and Through the Woods: Traveling with Your Sensory Child 172

12 Love and Understanding: Empowering Those Who Teach and Care for Your Sensory Child 186

13 Becoming an Advocate: Getting the Support for Success 204

Conclusion: My Hopes for Your Sensory Organizing Experience 229

Resources 231

Further Reading 231

Products I Love 236

Organizations That Help 245

Acknowledgments 255

Index 257

About the Author 263

Editorial Reviews

A professional organizer and mother of a “sensory” child, Dalgliesh asserts that organization and structure are particularly useful for children who are rigid, anxious, or distracted as a consequence of autism, AD/HD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or other sensory-related disorders. Though there are a number of profiles and diagnoses for a “sensory” child, she contends that many core challenges are similar; attention problems, inflexibility, anxiety, and social and emotional challenges are among the difficulties that these children (and their parents) face. Dalgliesh helps parents determine their child’s learning style (auditory, visual, tactile), then segues into support plans that can be implemented at home, using organization, structure, routine, and visual aids. The author addresses daily issues including the morning rush, after-school transition, homework, and chores; she also helps parents and kids declutter and use visual organization tools to make environments more user-friendly (i.e., clear plastic bins labeled with words and pictures, calming colors, creating a “chill-out zone” in bedrooms or playrooms). Packed with practical suggestions, the book effectively shows how the home environment can be modified to support the sensory child and make life run more smoothly for the entire family. Parents of sensory kids of all kinds will welcome this useful, positive tome. 25 b&w photos. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Packed with superb strategies for creating calming sensory spaces, reassuring routines and checklists, organizing overwhelming environments and more, this is a sensational book for helping kids with sensory challenges to feel and function better every day.

Lindsey Biel

Carolyn Dalgliesh braids her organizing expertise with evidenced-based practices to give the reader a road map on how to help their child be more successful at home, at school and in the community. Her proven systems are easy to understand and to set up. I think parents and professionals alike will find many important strategies in this book for their children, students or themselves!

Joanne G. Quinn

It is imperative that all professionals, parents, and family members understand the intricacies and special talents of those with sensory processing disorder. In her book The Sensory Child Gets Organized, Carolyn Dalgliesh provides an insightful, creative, and most positive look at a child with sensory processing disorder. This work will soon be a 'go-to' book to learn how to support this very sensitive, delicate and often gifted child.

Elaine Hall

Carolyn’s accessible style and practical examples empower parents with knowledge of simple strategies that will make meaningful differences in the lives of their sensory children, and in turn their own. The Sensory Child Gets Organized includes a breadth of strategies covering the routine (e.g., morning schedule) to the not so routine (e.g., the family vacation)… readers will find relatable examples and realistic advice for implementation for these events and everything in between. Carolyn’s passion for sensory organizing is clear throughout the book. It is apparent that she lives by these principles, personally and professionally, and that they have revolutionized her life and the lives of her clients.

Educational Consultant Amy Laurent

"Kids with SPD live in a chaotic world paved with bumps at every turn that sabotages their efforts to do ordinary tasks needed to succeed in the world and creates on-going frustration, failure, distress and anxiety. Carolyn Dalgliesh’s well organized and easy to follow book offers strategies to greatly help smooth out their path so these kids can navigate their day to day world more smoothly and successfully."

Sharon Heller

Sure, Dalgliesh covers organization with checklists and labeled bins. But this book goes much further! “Organizing” in this book means giving parents the techniques to meet the challenges which are unraveling their special needs child. Abounds in excellent, practical and empathic strategies to help a child organize his/her mindset and thrive."

Martin L. Kutscher

A brilliant book. From the opening paragraph and throughout, you know you are in the hands of a master tactician, an expert who knows her stuff cold, and a loving parent who's been there and back. Hugely practical, chock full of pearls, and written with sweet tenderness, Dalgliesh's book immediately becomes the go-to book on the subject."

Edward Hallowell

Every year tens of thousands of children are diagnosed with disorders that affect their ability to process sensory information and deal with their everyday environments. Carolyn Dalgliesh has skillfully identified techniques, strategies and practical organizing solutions that will provide these children – and their families – the much needed structure, peace and calm they need. The Sensory Child Gets Organized will enable parents to better deal with their child’s challenging sensory behavior and connect more deeply with those we love the most – our children.

Peter Walsh

"Carolyn Dalgliesh offers us a clear picture of the many behaviors exhibited by children with sensory issues, more importantly she offers practical suggestions and systems parents can use while helping their child succeed in school and life. Keep this book close at hand; you will refer to it often."

Donna Goldberg

Carolyn Dalgliesh has provided a much needed guide book to help parents meet the challenges of raising a sensory child. … The book bridges the gap between therapeutic support and practical organizational strategies by guiding the parent … with compassionate solution oriented techniques. Carolyn's book is a must for any parent who is tired of nagging and wishes to help their child become self-reliant.

Sandy Maynard

Open this book and read a description of a well-regulated, efficient, effective child going through the day. Imagine — this organized child can be yours! Employing Carolyn Dalgliesh's sensible systems for sensory kids, you will easily learn to help your child get in sync, at home and in the world."

Carol Kranowitz

Open this book and read a description of a well-regulated, efficient, effective child going through the day. Imagine — this organized child can be yours! Employing Carolyn Dalgliesh's sensible systems for sensory kids, you will easily learn to help your child get in sync, at home and in the world."

“Every year tens of thousands of children are diagnosed with disorders that affect their ability to process sensory information and deal with their everyday environments. Carolyn Dalgliesh has skillfully identified techniques, strategies and practical organizing solutions that will provide these children – and their families – the much needed structure, peace and calm they need. The Sensory Child Gets Organized will enable parents to better deal with their child’s challenging sensory behavior and connect more deeply with those we love the most – our children.”

“Carolyn Dalgliesh has provided a much needed guide book to help parents meet the challenges of raising a sensory child. … The book bridges the gap between therapeutic support and practical organizational strategies by guiding the parent … with compassionate solution oriented techniques. Carolyn's book is a must for any parent who is tired of nagging and wishes to help their child become self-reliant.”

"Carolyn Dalgliesh offers us a clear picture of the many behaviors exhibited by children with sensory issues, more importantly she offers practical suggestions and systems parents can use while helping their child succeed in school and life. Keep this book close at hand; you will refer to it often."

“Carolyn’s accessible style and practical examples empower parents with knowledge of simple strategies that will make meaningful differences in the lives of their sensory children, and in turn their own. The Sensory Child Gets Organized includes a breadth of strategies covering the routine (e.g., morning schedule) to the not so routine (e.g., the family vacation)… readers will find relatable examples and realistic advice for implementation for these events and everything in between. Carolyn’s passion for sensory organizing is clear throughout the book. It is apparent that she lives by these principles, personally and professionally, and that they have revolutionized her life and the lives of her clients.”

“Packed with superb strategies for creating calming sensory spaces, reassuring routines and checklists, organizing overwhelming environments and more, this is a sensational book for helping kids with sensory challenges to feel and function better every day.”

“Carolyn Dalgliesh braids her organizing expertise with evidenced-based practices to give the reader a road map on how to help their child be more successful at home, at school and in the community. Her proven systems are easy to understand and to set up. I think parents and professionals alike will find many important strategies in this book for their children, students or themselves!”

“A brilliant book. From the opening paragraph and throughout, you know you are in the hands of a master tactician, an expert who knows her stuff cold, and a loving parent who's been there and back. Hugely practical, chock full of pearls, and written with sweet tenderness, Dalgliesh's book immediately becomes the go-to book on the subject."

"Kids with SPD live in a chaotic world paved with bumps at every turn that sabotages their efforts to do ordinary tasks needed to succeed in the world and creates on-going frustration, failure, distress and anxiety. Carolyn Dalgliesh’s well organized and easy to follow book offers strategies to greatly help smooth out their path so these kids can navigate their day to day world more smoothly and successfully."

“It is imperative that all professionals, parents, and family members understand the intricacies and special talents of those with sensory processing disorder. In her book The Sensory Child Gets Organized, Carolyn Dalgliesh provides an insightful, creative, and most positive look at a child with sensory processing disorder. This work will soon be a 'go-to' book to learn how to support this very sensitive, delicate and often gifted child.

From the Publisher