What could have been a life-changing and career-ending accident in 1988, instead inspired Illusionist Kevin Spencer to create a fun and interesting way for those in need to practice physical and occupational therapy.
“Long-term therapy can be so boring,” Spencer said. “I incorporated some simple magic tricks to make it more fun, and now I have the privilege to share it with others.”
After his accident, Spencer was doing traditional forms of physical and occupational therapy including hand-eye assessment such as “putting the pegs in the board and moving one item from one pile to another.”
During the process of his own therapy, Spencer realized that simple magic tricks can accomplish the same goal as traditional physical therapy.
“But with magic, the patient is fully engaged in the activity,” he said. “And many patients do the exercises with the therapist, but then go home and never do them. That’s one of the challenges therapists are faced with. You’re not going to get better if you don’t do the therapy.”
Once Spencer healed from his own accident, he and his wife Cindy collaborated with therapists to develop a program that would use simple magic tricks to help patients regain lost physical skills while increasing motivational levels and self esteem.
Healing of Magic, Spencer’s program, provides the therapist with a valuable new tool to motivate clients to become more involved in their treatment — magic.
One of Spencer’s favorite tricks to share with his patients involves two paper clips and a dollar bill.
“You fold the dollar bill in a third and put a paper clip on it, then fold in the other third and put the second paper clip on that,” Spencer said. “Then, when you grab the ends of the bill and pull it open, the paper clips fly into the air and link together.”
He said not only does the trick amaze his patients and their friends, it helps develop gross and fine motor skills by having to pick up and manipulate the clips and dollar bill, following directions and sequencing.
The skills required to do this trick and others translate over into what we do every day of our lives, Spencer said.
“A simple trick to make a knot appear in a length of rope, uses the same skills it takes to button a button,” he said. “And with a stroke patient, when the grandkids come to visit, what would they rather hear? ‘Hey, watch Pop put pegs in a board or watch Pop do a magic trick?’”
By practicing the magic trick over and over, the patient is doing therapy while perfecting their magic skills.
“And when they are done and healed, they also have a magic trick they can show their friends,” he said. “When you’ve been in an accident or had a stroke, you get that disability label, so this gives the person something that the every-day guy can’t do.”
Since Spencer first began practicing magic therapy, he has had many success stories.
A few years ago, he was working with a young woman who had been in a bad accident which left her a quadriplegic.
He said doctors fitted the girl with a device that attaches to the hands and shoulders and, when moved correctly, it allows the hands to open and close, in turn giving the patient a grip.
He worked with her on the paper clip trick for about six weeks.
“We started with a big paper clip, about four inches long,” he said. “By the end of the six weeks, she was using a one-inch paper clip.
Near the end of the six weeks, Spencer asked the patient to be a part of a satellite program he was videotaping about magic therapy, and she agreed.
“On the day of the taping, she came into the room and she looked great,” he said. “She was wearing a sequin top, and her hair and makeup were all done.”
The girl’s nurse pulled him aside and told him the girl had done her own makeup for the videotaping, something she couldn’t do before therapy.
“That’s what’s really meant by transferring what we do in therapy to daily life,” Spencer said. “That was amazing.”
Not too long ago, Spencer said he was working with a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with autism.
“The boy was non-verbal and not engaged, but when I was teaching him a magic trick, he leaned in to me to ask, ‘where do I put my hands,’ and things like that,” Spencer said.
After the session, Spencer told the boy’s father that they had a great time, the boy was asking questions and figuring out the trick.
“His dad gave me a hug and said that was the first time he had heard his son speak in nine years,” Spencer said.
Spencer’s Healing of Magic program is now being practiced in more than 2,500 medical facilities in 30 countries.
“It’s fun to do a magic show,” he said. “I love performing anytime, especially when it has an impact on a person’s quality of life.”
For more information about Healing of Magic, visit www.magictherapy.com
(Source: nj.com)
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