Brain Research Pioneer's Long-lost Letters Provide Hope for the Learning Disabled
Long-lost letters written by brain research pioneer Dr. A. Jean Ayres have just been released in a new book entitled Love, Jean, co-written by her nephew and her former research assistant. Ayres formulated the theory of sensory integration, a form of therapy that is now practiced in clinics worldwide. Therapy based upon her research is now used effectively with learning disabilities, autism, and other pediatric disorders.
Santa Rosa, CA (PRWEB) April 19, 2004 -– The late Dr. A. Jean Ayres (1920 –
1988) is the pioneer who, beginning in the 1950s, formulated the theory of
sensory integration. Therapy based upon her theory is now applied worldwide by
occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists,
psychologists, and physicians to treat children and adults with learning
disabilities, autism, ADD, ADHD, and other manifestations of sensory processing
disorders, such as hypersensitivity to touch, taste, and odors, and fear of
heights and movement.
In the midst of her most productive decade of work,
the 1970s, Dr. Ayres found time to write letters to her learning-disabled
nephew, Philip Erwin, describing why his brain functioned as it did and how he
was benefiting from therapy. These recently uncovered letters, as well as
Erwin’s recollections of what life felt like before, during, and after therapy,
are captured in a new book entitled, Love, Jean: Inspiration for Families Living
With Dysfunction of Sensory Integration (Crestport Press; $15.95).
Writes Erwin: “Some say that there is no such person as The Invisible
Man…I don’t agree. If I tried hard enough I was periodically able to become so
small, to radiate so little presence in the classroom, that I could become
invisible and go home having put off discovery by my adversary, the teacher, for
one more day. If any one feeling remains palpable from those years of decline it
is the feeling of putting off today the certain, inescapable misery of
tomorrow.”
The third author of Love, Jean, Zoe Mailloux, was Ayres’s
longtime research assistant and now a world-renowned expert in dysfunction in
sensory integration. She provides insights for parents who are considering or
who already have arranged therapy for their children.
While Love, Jean is
part history and part family story, it ultimately is a guide for parents of
children whose problems may have been misdiagnosed and who finally are turning
to sensory integration-based therapy for help. When children with sensory
integration issues are properly diagnosed and treated, their sense of their
physical presence, their ability to interact with others, and their self-esteem
improve. Sensory integration therapy is a gradual process that reveals its
effectiveness in subtle and yet significant
ways.
Contact:
Crestport
Press
5021 Gregory Court
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
707-537-0580
www.crestport.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prweb119265.htm