Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Different Sensory Experiences, Different Perceptual Worlds

Editorial Review
The ability to perceive accurately stimuli in the environment is basic to many areas of academic, communicative and social functioning. Although people with autism live in the same physical world and deal with the same 'raw material' their perceptual world turns out strikingly different from that of non-autistic people. It is widely reported that autistic people have 'unusual' sensory perceptual experiences that may involve hypo- and hypersensitivity, fluctuation between different 'volumes' of perception and difficulty interpreting a sense

In this book, Olga Bogdashina attempts to define the role of sensory perceptual problems in autism identified by autistic individuals themselves. Often ignored by many professionals, this is one of the main problems highlighted by autistic individuals. This book singles out possible patterns of sensory experiences in autism and the cognitive differences caused by them. The final chapters are devoted to assessment and intervention issues with practical recommendations for selecting appropriate methods and techniques to eliminate the problems and enhance the strengths.

Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism is vital to teachers and other professionals working with autistic individuals to fully comprehend sensory perceptual differences in autism. This book will help readers select appropriate methods for dealing with autistic individuals. In addition, parents of autistic individuals and autistic individual themselves will find the information will enable them to initiate relevant strategies and environmental changes to facilitate more effective learning.
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Customer Reviews

Everyone should read it

2006-05-18
I read this book from start to finish in one sitting.

I found it to be a very compelling, insightful and readable book. Instead of focusing on external behaviors, it looks at autism from the inside experience. It has been a step in the de-mystification of autism (for me).

Highly Recommended

2006-01-27
This is a great book. There are so many books on the market where experts presume to know better than autistic people themselves and disregard autistic peoples own accounts of what it feels like to be autistic, but this one breaks that mould. It is not only packed with factual information about how the brain and the senses work, it explores the autistic experience with an open and enquiring mind, while still tying all this in with conventional explanations of autism and results from existing studies. This book has a great potential to be useful, not just to parents and autistic people themselves who are looking for information and understanding, but to educators and service providers, whom it could inspire and advise. Interesting and accessible, I sat down today and read it the whole way through.

At last, sensory issues in autism are being addressed

2004-04-09
This book was excellent. It focuses on sensory peculiarities as being the likely cause of outward autistic behavior. Instead of focusing on general problems (Triad of Impairments) and common behavior of individuals on the spectrum, this book looks at how an individual's sensory experiences can CAUSE a lot of the behavior associated with autism. It may also offer an explanation for why autism is very much an individual experience - why no two people's experiences of the condition are the same.

Olga Bogdashina provides an in depth but easy to read explanation of hyper and hyposensitivities of the senses, and of how some individuals can only use one sensory channel at a time making it difficult to interpret the environment. Many examples have been provided by individual's with autism and the emphasis is very much on needing to understand the cause of a certain behavior BEFORE trying to 'normalize' or adjust that behavior. Olga suggests that much of the behavior displayed by autistic individual's is necessary in spite of 'normal' people's views that such behavior must be stopped or corrected.
Whilst similar theories were identified around thirty years ago, Olga's own research brings together current findings and beliefs about autism and sensory functioning.
The book also includes a sensory questionnaire and chart which helps identify an individual's 'personal' sensory profile.
Well worth buying if you are researching this area or if you are a parent trying to understand unusual behavior such as why your autistic child likes switching lights on and off or only wears certain clothes or any number of other behaviors which are not given an adequate explanation by the 'Triad of Impairments' model.

!!!!! 2003-10-06
a MUST read for those who work/live with people with autism/Asperger syndrome

Eye opener 2003-10-01
For the first time I started to see 'into' the world of autism after reading Olga Bogdashina's book 'Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome'.
The book gives a very clear picture of the different ways people with ASD perceive the world. I now look at the children I work with in a different light - I am beginning to understand why certain things cause them such distress. The book is an eye-opener!