Who are we? Why are we here? No, I’m not going to address the big questions of life, the universe, and everything. I’m going to try to let you know why this book might be useful to you and whom and what it’s for.

This book is written for humans: parents, teachers, therapists, and pretty much anyone else connected to someone with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)—or who want to know what SPD is. It’s also for anyone who wants to understand SPD better and/or anyone who might want some practical examples for helping kids with SPD.

What should you expect from this book? Well, I’m going to be solidly frank with you folks who haven’t experienced SPD from the inside. I’m not just going to provide directly helpful info, like examples and ideas, I’malso going to spend some serious time explaining what approaches are hurtful and what it means to a kid when the adults around her just don’t“get it.”

I’m assuming that if you have picked up this book, you have some ideas about what SPD is—and that you are dealing with an actual human being with SPD and want to be able to help him or her and figure out how to survive the process of growing up with SPD. The stories and ideas here mostly coalesce around childhood, but as an adult with SPD, I’ll be sharing some stories from my recent experiences as well.

There is no age limit on either having SPD or improving one’s sensory processing and outlook—seriously! Okay, there’s one limit: Posthumous diagnosis doesn’t actually help the person with sensory processing issues (but, sometimes looking back at late family members with a new understanding often actually makes the past clearer).

So, dear reader, whether you are a parent or a teacher, an occupational therapist (OT) or a pediatrician, there is something here for you. If you are simply stuck in the bathroom with nothing else to read, I’ll do my best to produce some interesting stories and amusing factoids to provide you with a bit of entertainment.

To make a long story short, this book is intended for a pretty broad audience of people interested in learning about and coping with Sensory Processing Disorder. That’s not just because my publisher would like a book that several people will actually buy—it’s also because I like you. I really, really like you.

No, no, I’m not hitting on you. Having spoken around the United States to a lot of folks about sensory issues (and also autism and Asperger’s Syndrome and anything else people will sit still for), I’ve found that I am really quite fond of people who want to lear