About me

Gender	Female
Industry	Consulting
Occupation	Montessori Enrichment for people with Alzheimer's Disease
Location	Illinois, United States
Introduction	I went from teaching in a traditional preschool to teaching in a Montessori 3-6 classroom; now I use those same Montessori principles to enrich the lives of people with Alzheimer’s Disease. I volunteer at a local AD day care, and I take private clients for one-on-one sessions. My goal is to tickle out what is still there for each person and stimulate meaningful interactions, to improve their engagement with the world on a given day. I also have a progressive hearing loss and wore hearing aids beginning in 1992. My hearing deteriorated to the point that I got a cochlear implant in my left ear in March 2006 and in my left ear July 2008. I have extremely good speech discrimination most of the time, although music is still a challenge. I have no regrets getting the CIs.
Interests	education, parenting, Christianity, cochlear implant, weight watchers, hearing loss, cued speech, Montessori, art photography (see my website), Alzheimer's Disease
Favorite music	Bach, Baroque, Kurt Kaiser, orchestra, jazz, zydecote, Mannheim Steamroller, Manhattan Transfer, Peter Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel.
Favorite books	Psalms, Third Chapter by Sara Lightfoot Lawrence, pretty much anything by Henri Nouwen, Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson