Linda Levine-Madori, PHD., C.T.R.S., ATR-BC, LCAT

Linda Levine Madori, Ph.D., Fulbright Scholar, Professor and published author of Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming for Older Adults (Health Professions Press) and renowned lecturer. Dr. Levine Madori has presented nationally and internationally over 200 academic papers on Therapeutic Recreation, Art Therapy, the Brain andAlzheimer’s Disease.

Since 1991, she has chaired of the Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Track of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging. She is a Board member of the New York Therapeutic Recreation Association and in this position is responsible for State Legislature and Public Relations. (New York State is currently working toward the development of a bill to license all Therapeutic Recreation Specialists). Additionally she is active in the American Therapeutic Recreation Association as a Member at Large.
Her new book Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming for Older Adults (TTAPMethod), was featured in 2007 at the American Therapeutic Recreation Associations annual conference in Wisconsin. In November, 2007, she conducted a full-day course on the TTAP Method through the American Art Therapy Associations Annual Conference, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In March 2008, she presented through the American Society on Aging Research Symposium on how the TTAP Method emphasizes research into practice in a model that can be replicated into health care and community based programming for older adults.

As a visiting Professor, Dr. Levine Madori has lectured and taught her new innovative methodology in Helsinki University in Finland, Waikato University in New Zealand, and Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.
Finland’s Alzheimer’s Association has recently been in contact with Dr. Levine Madori to develop and implement a research study utilizing the TTAP Method with individuals diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease. She has been invited back to the University and sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association of Finland to return in the summer of 2009.

She has worked as a lecturer for therapists and caregivers’ of those effected by Alzheimer’s disease with the surrounding community organizations such as Hearthstone for Alzheimer’s Care, ARC, and the Alzheimer’s Association in both Rockland County and Westchester Division.

Dr. Levine Madori is a member of the St. Thomas Aquinas Speakers Bureau and is available to give lectures, workshops or classes on; The TTAP Method; the importance of the Creative Arts in brain health; Aging and Lifespan Development and Alzheimer’s disease. She has taken students from all over the United States to study therapeutic recreation in Russia, Prague, Lithuania, Indonesia, and China. Prof. Levine Madori has been selected to be presented as a author on the American Society on Aging web site http://asa.digiscript.com . On this site one can view her recent presentation entitled "New Directions in Therapeutic Recreation and Brain Functioning".

Presentations & Publications

Read Dr. Levine Madori's blog as she travels through Finland on a Fulbright Scholarship teaching in the TTAP Method

Levine-Madori, L. (2007) Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP), Health Professionals Press, Baltimore, Maryland. Publication date December 2006.
www.healthpropress.com

Forthcoming:

Levine-Madori, L. (2008) Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP) For those afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, Health Professionals Press, Baltimore, Maryland..
www.healthpropress.com

Levine-Madori, L. (2008) Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP) For Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease, Health Professionals Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
www.healthpropress.com

Presentations

Levine Madori L. (2008), Teaching Enhanced Communication Skills through the TTAP Method, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital Medical Residency teaching rounds, January, White Plains Campus, New York.

Levine Madori L. (2008), National Conference Tele-casting Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming; an innovative methodology, sponsored by The Veterans Association (VA) Hospitals Nation wide: Northeast Region, South, Southwest Region, Central United States, March- May.

Levine Madori L. (2008), Researching affects of quality of life utilizing the TTAP Method in the Psychiatric population, Westchester Valhalla Medical Center, February, Westchester, New York.

Levine Madori L. (2008), Helsinki University of Applied Sciences, March 10-15th, Teaching researches, graduate and undergraduate students on the TTAP Method.

Levine Madori L. (2008), Keynote Speaker on Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming, The Annual Finnish Alzheimer’s Associations Conference, March 15th, Helsinki, Finland.

Levine Madori L. (2008), Enhancing Therapeutic Recreation Approaches demonstrated at New York City Hospitals; Coler Goldwater, American Society on Aging, March, Washington, D.C.,

Levine Madori L. (2008), Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP Method); A Person Centered Approach for all Populations including those diagnosed with Dementia, New Jersey Activities Professionals Association, April, New Jersey.

Levine Madori L. (2008), Utilizing Thematic Approaches in Therapeutic Recreation, a New Strategy for the Alzheimer’s Population, New York State Therapeutic Recreation Association, April, Saratoga, New York.

Levine Madori L. (2007), Therapeutic Conversations through a Thematic Approach. Presented to; The National Institute on Health Annual Symposium on Research for Alzheimer’s disease and the Westchester Alzheimer’s Association at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, November, New York.

Levine Madori, L. (2007), Half Day Conference Course on Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming. Presented to the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, September, Wisconsin,

Levine Madori, L. (2007), Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming with Alzheimer’s Patients, In-service for caregiver’s, New York Alzheimer’s Association, June, White Plains.

Levine Madori, L. (2007), Full Day Course on Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming with Alzheimer’s Patients, American Art Therapy Association, November.
Albuquerque, N.M.,

Levine Madori, L. (2006), Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming. Presented at the annual American Society on Aging and joint conference of the National Council on Aging: Anaheim, California.

Awards

Fulbright Scholarship recipient 2005-2010.
Recognized Hero Award, the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, establishment of The Levine Madori Single Parent Scholarship Fund, September 2006.
Leadership ATRA 2006, Recognition of leadership in the field by the Board of Directors of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association.
Distinguished Service Award 2007, The New York State Therapeutic Recreation Association

International Teaching and Lecturing Invitations

Waikato University: Hamilton, New Zealand
Victoria University: Melbourne, Australia
Keynote Speaker: The National Alzheimer’s Association of New Zealand
Keynote Speaker: The National Diversity Association, Melbourne, Sidney and Brisbane, Australia
Educational Consultant: Melbourne Alzheimer’s Association
Melbourne Museum of the Arts, City Center, September 2007 (Taped interview on the TTAP Method for National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month)
University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland (2008)
Keynote Speaker: The National Finnish Museum Curators Association, Helsinki, Finland, 2008
Keynote Speaker: The Finnish Alzheimer’s Association annual conference, March , 2008.

The JOURNAL NEWS
Unlocking memories (Original Publication: October 21, 2007)

One of the toughest tasks for family, caregivers and therapists working with the elderly experiencing Alzheimer's disease is unlocking the memories deep in the filing cabinet of the human brain.
Discussing yesterday's weather may prove futile, because short-term memory is often like a blackboard that's filled only to be wiped clean at the end of the day.
But, in a paradoxical twist of the disease, there may be a memory of some long-ago storm, the Blizzard of 1947, perhaps, that is still hidden away, if it could only be accessed.
It's similar to the file you know is on your office computer, but you can't easily find. Search the right term, hit on the right fragment, and you can pop it open.
Working in the area of therapeutic recreation, St. Thomas Aquinas College professor Linda Levine Madori believes she has found a way to search the mind for those hidden memories and then build on them, using conversation and areas of artistic expression including drawing and painting, song and dance, poetry and sculpture.
"If you no longer know you are in New City, or that it's warmer than usual this October, there may not be a basis for some of the usual conversations people engage in," she says, "But provide a memory to talk about and it may blossom into a lively conversation."
In her just-published book, "Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming for Older Adults," she sets out a nine-step process that can be used by almost anyone - from senior day-care providers to art therapists and even to family members at home - to engage and stimulate the mind of an Alzheimer's patient.
The first step in the process would seem pretty elementary - talking to someone about something that's important in their lives. There could be clues to deeper conversation that come from the one-on-one contact.
If, for example, the individual seems to have an interest in beaches, that could move things along to Step 2 - employing photos of beaches and the seashore in a therapeutic conversation, Levine Madori says. "You can show photos," she says, flipping pages of beach scenes in a large binder, "and ask if they've been to beaches like these." That, of course, could lead to discussion about where they were, who they were with, and what they did there. That conversation could be one-on-one. Or, in a group setting, it could spur discussion and sharing of memories from others, too.
Other steps in the process could involve drawing or painting similar scenes from their memories or using music, dance or movement, food or photography to deepen the conversation and further engage the patient's mind, Levine Madori says. Listening to music or recordings of beach sounds might inspire further conversation or lead to having the individual or group engage in "guided imagery," where the person might be asked to imagine himself or herself on a beach, hearing the birds and crashing waves or feeling the warm sand.
Even sculpture can have a place in the process, which works equally well with the healthy elderly population, Levine Madori says. Ask someone who was a mason to sculpt something, she says, and it may be reminiscent enough of what they did for a living to open other memories. Building on all the others, a ninth step might involve creating an entire special event around a given theme.
Whether the person guiding the conversation is a music, art or recreation therapist, Levine Madori says, "They can use these methods to think more about the person's interest." That, she goes on, allows the caregiver to provide "person-centered care, rather than care that's driven by what art materials are available that day."
That person-centered care is now required by the federal government of therapists who work in places like nursing homes, assisted living facilities and senior day-care centers, she says.
"The belief is that linking what people did in the past to their present and then to the future creates greater opportunities to engage their minds," Levine Madori says. To make that point to students in leisure and recreation courses at STAC, she has them do an exercise linking their past to now and the future, just as they will be called upon to do with others.
Her approach to generating a person-centered therapy program using the arts is based on the belief that tapping the patients' memories will have better results than less directed, random attempts at conversation or activities. "Self-motivated memory," she says, "is much more detailed simply because it's more important to you."
The overall goal, she says, is "keeping the brain healthy and engaged. It's vital to life and to your emotional well-being." As for those with Alzheimer's, she says, the goal has been to employ strategies to slow its progression.
"The therapeutic recreation field needed a practical method to keep people engaged," she says, which prompted her to develop her approach based on decades of work in recreation in therapeutic settings.
Levine Madori returned last month from work in Australia and New Zealand as a Fulbright Scholar, providing training in her approach. Since then, she has been teaching at STAC and touring to promote the book. She will soon travel to Finland to speak about the book and her approach. In recent weeks, she's spoken to the Alzheimer's Association in Rockland and will be on the program for the Hudson Valley chapter's annual research seminar at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains on Nov. 30. At 4:30 on Dec. 4, she'll do a free presentation for students and the public at the STAC library in Sparkill.
The next step for Levine Madori is to find a venue where her approach can be put to use in an agency, day-care or nursing home or assisted living environment and where she can do cognitive measurement to see how recall is improved.