O

T hus spoke Valerie Dejean:

I am an occupational therapist with thirty years of experience in the treatment of individuals with developmental disorders. This book is the outgrowth of my experiences in working with children and adults utilizing a combination of Sensory Integration and the Tomatis Method in what we call the Spectrum Center Method.


I graduated as an Occupational Therapy from Sargent College at Boston University in 1976 with a passionate interest in human development and how it related to our psycho-perceptual-physiological development. I suppose you could say I was interested in the human potential movement before I even knew there was one. I had a love for psychology but was drawn to how our psychological perceptions were formed by our sensory experience of the world.


My first job was in a state psychiatric hospital in Warren Pennsylvania. Located in the northwest corner of the state it was a far cry from where I grew up in mid-town Manhattan. At 23 years of age it was quite a culture shock. I took this job for the opportunity to train with two dedicated occupational therapists, Elaine Utley and Karen Pettit, who were starting a sensory integration program with adult psychiatric patients. What an opportunity of which I partook for going on three years. On the day I arrived, my being the first person on their soon to expand staff, they announced that they were leaving in a few weeks to study with Dr. Jean Ayres at her clinic in Torrence, California for the next four months. Although as a neophyte I felt lost without them, what I gained in experience from all the information they shared upon their return has never left me. From watching video's reviewing lecture notes I felt in some small way I had been there myself. From Elaine and Karen I learned the importance of constant learning and self-education. From them I learned a profound respect for the patients I worked with and the lesson they gave me.


W hen I moved to the Washington DC area in 1981 things were quite different. I looked for a job in psychiatry but the settings were more traditional and with no appreciation of sensory integration. Instead more by default than choice, I found myself working in the public school system with pre-school children. It was a natural fit, and until I did it, I had no idea how much I wanted to work with children. I was almost in as much deniel having my own children many years later, a concept I thought was largely my husband's idea. Working with children has been the most wonderful opportunity, keeping my life meaningful and optimistic.


Working in a school system during those years allowed me to witness first hand this epidemic growth of autism. I worked in a pre-school that was responsible for identifying and providing services for the entire northern half of a large county school district. When I first started I was the only therapist in this pre-school familiar with sensory integration. The population of children was largely children with orthopedic diagnosis and more profound developmental delays. Now one could understand why I wanted to work with autistic children and there were only two of them in the entire school at that time. By the time I left five years later there were two full classes of children on the autistic spectrum. This coincided with the initiation of mandatory measles vaccinations.


D uring this period of working in the school system I acquired my certifications in Sensory Integration and Neuro-developmental therapies. After I left the school system I went into private practice and specialized in working with Autistic children, particularly those of pre-school age. I was during these treatment years that I feel I made my most growth and develop some of my independence of thinking. I learned so much from these children and the intense relationships I formed with them and their families, as I would often see these children two and three times a week. I saw them in their homes, I saw how they ate, slept and lived. I saw the impact on the family!


I've always been in awe of someone living inside and autistic body. What must it be like living in a body so out of one's own controll. And why if the primary identifying feature of autism is a lack of capacity to form human relationships, howcome was it that the most profound eye contact I have ever experienced is with an autistic child? There were so many misconceptions about these mysterious children and I had the wonderful opportunity to hang out, learn, and hopefully help so many of them.


I was blessed with being in the right place and the right time and my friend and speech pathologist Diane Lewis introduced me to Dr. Stanley Greenspan and Dr Serena Weider. We started seeing children in common and collaborated on our findings. With Stanly's work I found the missing link from my days in psychiatry brought down to pediatrics. He really understood the relationship between sensory regulation and affected and how these combined in the formation of abstract thinking.