Skip to main content

Book Review: Color my Senses: The Sensory Detective Coloring Book by Paula Aquilla BSc, OT, DOMP

Color my Senses: The Sensory Detective Coloring Book by Paula Aquilla BSc, OT, DOMP is a colouring book with a difference. It goes into detail on the human sensory system and covers not only the five “major” senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing but also three less discussed senses; 


  • Proprioception; knowledge of where your body is in relation to the world.



  • Interoception; knowing how you feel inside (eg: stomach grumbling)



  • Vestibular; balance and movement 


As a frequent reader of books about autism, I'm very much aware of these other senses but I think that this is the first time I've found all three in a book aimed at children.

For me, that makes this the most accurate (perhaps the only accurate) kid's book on the sensory system today.

Having introduced all of the senses, the book uses a “crossing the road” example to show how the various senses work together. It's a very effective example.

At times, the level of detail is astonishing for a kid's book and the words used never pander to the very young but remain consistent and scientific. The words visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile are used instead of simply sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

This makes the book much more interesting and useful for older children while not excluding younger readers.

Finally, there's a paragraph on sensory modulation. It never actually mentions autism or sensory issues but it leads the reader right up to that point. It makes an ideal book for a teacher to read to the class before explaining how some children and adults can experience sensory overload.

The drawings are simple and self-explanatory. They look very easy to colour in too.

The author, Paula Aquilla has been an occupational therapist for more than thirty years, she and has extensive involvement with kids with special needs. She’s the founder of the YES I CAN! INTEGRATED NURSERY SCHOOL, YES I CAN! SUMMER CAMP and the I LOVE MY BABY PROGRAM in Toronto. Paula was also the founding executive director of GIANT STEPS, a private school for children with autism, at Toronto. She runs a private practice serving children with special needs and their families.

Color my Senses by Paula Aquilla BSc, OT, DOMP is without a doubt the best book on the sensory system aimed at young children but due to the language and detail, its usefulness extends well beyond the early years and it is equally suitable for older children who need an introduction to the senses.

Color my Senses: The Sensory Detective Coloring Book is published and available in paperback from Future Horizons. It's also available from Amazon and Goodreads.

Honesty Clause: I was provided with a copy of Color my Senses free of charge for review purposes.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do Aspies Suddenly Back Off in Relationships (Part 2)

In part one, we looked at the role that Change Resistance plays in causing aspies to suddenly go "cold" in otherwise good relationships. This time, I want to look at self esteem and depression; Self Esteem The aspie relationship with themselves is tedious at best. People with Asperger's commonly suffer from low self esteem. As discussed in earlier posts, this low self esteem often results from years of emotional turmoil resulting from their poor social skills. Aspies are often their own worst enemy. They can over analyze situations and responses in an effort to capture lost nonverbal communication. This often causes them to invent problems and to imagine replies. Everything made up by aspies will tend to be tainted with their own self image. This is one of reasons that people with Asperger's will sometimes decide that they are not good enough for their partner and that they must let them go. Sometimes, the aspie will develop a notion of chivalry or self-sacrific...
134 comments
Read more

Aspie Myths - "He Won't Miss Me"

I apologise for the excessive "male-orientated" viewpoint in this post. I tried to keep it neutral but somehow, it just works better when explained from a male viewpoint. Here's a phrase that I've seen repeated throughout the comments on this blog on several occasions; "I know that he won't miss me when I'm gone because he's aspie" Today, we're going to (try to) bust that myth; Individuals I'll start off with a reminder that everyone is an individual. If all aspies were completely alike and predictible, they'd be a stereotype but they're not. Each is shaped by their background, their upbringing, their beliefs and their local customs. An aspie who grew up with loud abusive parents has a reasonable chance of becoming loud and abusive themselves because in some cases, that's all they know. That's how they think adults are supposed to behave. In other cases, aspies who grew up in those circumstances do a complete about-fa...
150 comments
Read more

Why Do Aspies Suddenly Back-Off in Relationships? (Part 1)

One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is why an aspie (or suspected aspie) suddenly goes "cold" and backs off on an otherwise good relationship. It's a difficult question and the answers would vary considerably from one person to another and would depend greatly on the circumstances. Nevertheless, I'll try to point out some possibilities. Negative Reasons I generally like to stay positive on this blog and assume that people are not necessarily "evil" but simply misguided. Unfortunately, I do have to acknowledge that there are some people out there who take advantage of others. I read a book a few years ago on "sociopaths in the workplace" and I was stunned by the figures. They suggested that sociopaths were so common that most workplaces (small business) had at least one or two. The fact is that there are lots of people out there who really feel very little for others and who are very manipulative. I'd like to say that aspies aren...
64 comments
Read more