Award Winning, Behavior Solutions for the Inclusive Classroom, a Must for Raising Awareness

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Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award

Tired of tomes on child behavior, heavy with text, and requiring tables of contents, indices, a highlighter, and a clear mind? They do not serve as effective reference manuals if you can’t identify a problem and then get to a solution quickly.

When Behavior Solutions for the Inclusive Classroom by Beth Aune, OTR/L, Beth Burt, and Peter Gennaro arrived for my review, I was expecting to block out a chunk of time and had committed to actually “get through” this one.

Sensory Awareness
I am delighted to report that this is a book to buy and share, early and often. Put one in the hands of every educator you know, including yourself, if you are homeschooling your child. This book, and a gift card, would make a lovely teacher’s gift for any occasion. Don’t wonder if they already have one. If they do, they will share it with another teacher and spread the word. As you know, the word for our kids’ sensory issues needs to be spread!

Easy to Access Daily Resource
This book is tailored to a teacher with a busy classroom full of kids, typical and otherwise. It contains no chapters, no extensive text. The book is organized by sections (Movement Issues, Avoidance and Retreat Behaviors, Difficulty with Routine and Academics, Social/Emotional Issues) and sets of observed behaviors (i.e. Breaking Pencils/Crayons, Excessive Yawning, Taking off Shoes, Clothing Issues, Humming, Covering Ears, Leaning or Pushing, etc.) The solution contains a few easily digestible sentences about why this behavior may be happening, and what the teacher can implement, easily, with tools readily available in her repertoire.

Simplify Advocacy 
As an occupational therapist and a parent, I am excited to see a book that meets the needs of educators, especially educators with typical classrooms, teaching typical children, many of whom display sensory behaviors that can disrupt the flow of the classroom. If your child is already receiving occupational therapy for sensory processing issues, it can feel like an uphill battle to advocate for your child and to educate his or her team.

There is still work to be done to raise awareness of the sensory processing needs of all children. For some children, sensitivity and accommodation of these issues is not an option, it is essential for their success. So while we can’t get every educator into $400 sensory processing conferences, today’s school budgets don’t allow it, we can get them this book.