Ben’s School Daze Book
A story of being overwhelmed in a sensory world.
This is a story about Ben, a lively and active boy, who finds the sensory experiences within his day to be overwhelming. Loud noises vibrate through his body and "shoes and socks bother him... they never feel just right". This can make it hard for Ben to be a good student. But don't worry, his teacher and mum know what to do to help him through his day.A lovely story for parents, teachers and children to read to help them better understand what it feels like to function everyday in a world that feels overwhelming to the senses. Information about Sensory Processing Disorder and ideas to be used in the classroom at the back of the book.
My Impression:
I love seeings more books like this being written to bring awareness to how these disorders can really effects someones quality of life. Having someone around who can understand and help makes the biggest difference. I loved that the author touched on each of the senses on how overwhelming the simple things can feel to someone with this disorder and how they might react to try and calm themselves and express their frustration with life.
I could relate so much to the sock issue. Everyday this is a battle with my son. He complains the socks are too tight, to small, too big, making his toes claustrophobic, and on and on it goes. Then we repeat the same things with his shoes and back to the socks. There are morning I almost loose it over shoes and socks that its crazy! People laugh at SPD, but its real and having books like this to help educate others can help close the gap that is out there.
I adored the illustrations, the emotions they captured and the simplicity of them. The book does a great job capturing what it is like for someone to have SPD. They want to be like everyone else. To play and do the things their friends are doing, but life can seem overwhelming at times and they need to have a safe place to retreat to and collect themselves. More importantly they need a strong support system of people who understand this.
This is an easy book to recommend to others with a great message.
About the Authors: Robyn Sims is a paedatric occupational therapist who works in private practice with many children with sensory challenges. Joanne Larcom is a mother to four beautiful children, one of whom has sensory processing challenges. Together they have a business Magnetic Moves and regularly present workshops on Sensory Processing Disorder to teachers, childcare workers, parents and carers.
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