Review of a Small
Book
Copyright © 2004 Roger N. Meyer
All Rights
Reserved
A family member whose deceased
relatives included A. Jean Ayers, of Sensory Integration Disorder
fame, sent me a small book. The book contains the unpublished
letters of Dr. Ayers
to her 14 year old nephew,
separated from her by the distance of our two coasts. In her
letters, she offers to train him by mail, using the best of what she
had developed at the time, to challenge the effects of his Sensory
Integration Disorder.
14 years was a bit old, she thought at the time,
but she was interested in his welfare as aunts can be
sometimes. He was having terrible times with math and handling
other typical middle and high school subject matter. During
the time of the letters, he was at one school, perhaps two, but in
his own interspersed short chapters, he tells us his life story as a
mature adult, reflecting on his experiences as a child, adolescent,
and young adult growing up with he knew not what until his aunt
named it.
The book is not an guide to Sensory Integration
Disorder. It is a brief story of one person's unfolding,
recollections, and triumphs. There's way too much written
about Sensory Integration Therapy as an occupational therapy and
speech language pathology specialization to go into in this brief
review. Besides, at the back of the book, there is reference
information regarding Dr. Ayers' initial and later contributions to
a field for which she is now largely remembered.
Between the chapters containing Ayers's coaching
and encouraging words to her nephew Phil Erwin, and his reflections
on growing up with SID, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and major vestibular
and apraxia of motion issues, there are the occasional short
chapters written by Zoe Mailloux, an occupational therapist who
introduces the new reader, the new parent first learning of this
disorder, to some of the basic concepts about SID, and its
connection with autism and other developmental differences.
The book is an easy read.
Phil has moved in his adult life from being a
highly qualified Emergency Medicine Technician, professional and
trainer, to university where a Philosophy degree did him no good
other than providing him with an advanced vocabulary and teaching
the value of discipline as he successfully completed a four year
degree program. He happened upon a boat wright who taught him
the advanced skills of wood boat restoration, something he engages
in at the moment, when he isn't otherwise hiking, mountain biking,
and taking thoughtful breathers from his own self-employed
business. Of course, there's his family, which he doesn't
speak much about, but most likely is appreciative of his wisdom.
The book is a pleasure. Short.
Sweet. To the point And funny, at least with
Phillip's recollections. Ayers comes across as someone
involved, but somehow, in her own style of writing, quite distant
and only slightly pedantic. Just from her letters, I can
understand how others found her a complicated person to
understand. The contributions of the third author, Zoe
Mailloux, fall somewhere in between informality and concise one-step
guide types of writing. Easily tolerable for short chapters,
but were they longer, probably a bit wearing, even for the tolerant
reader.
This is a "gift book" for those who have the
basics. Others have written far more in detail about learning
disorders and SID. A comfortable small book, it might be a
nice present for those who have a bit of everything in their
collections. Published by the small Erwin family press in
Santa Rosa California, Crestport Press, it may be somewhat difficult
but not impossible to order. One noted endorser of the book,
Carol Stock Kranowitz, MA, may be known to some of us as the author
of The Out-of -Sync Child, a great introduction to the
intimate frustrations of parents and children alike, as they both
struggle with the manifestations of Sensory Integration
Disorder.
The book's simple title is a reflection of one of
the author's closings in her never-before published letters to her
nephew:
Love, Jean
Full title: Love, Jean - Inspiration for
Families Living with Dysfunction of Sensory
Integration
Authors: A. Jean Ayers, Ph.D., OTR, Phillip
R. Erwin, BA, and Zoe Maillou, MA, OTR
Publisher: Crestport
Press, Santa Rosa, CA
2004
ISBN 0-9725098-1-X (Paperback)
retail price, $15.95
Some
are the melody, some are the rhythm, some are the harmony