Susan Cotta

Publisher site:  http://www.northatlanticbooks.com/store/1556434332.html

Susan Cotta, MSPT, ATC is a physical therapist and author living in the Swansea , MA . Her PT practice includes many children on the autism spectrum and others with special needs. She is a big fan of Compassionate Touch; she wrote “I Can Show You I Care: Compassionate Touch for Children” to introduce the importance of touch to children, teachers and parents.

The book tells the story of Patrick, who trips over a tree root playing with his dog in the backyard. After his father uses the Direction of Energy technique on Patrick’s bruised knee, the pain subsides. The next day after Patrick discusses his experience during Show and Tell, his teacher suggests trying the “helping hands” technique at school. Gradually, thanks to Compassionate Touch, the children in Mrs. Pendleton’s second grade become more considerate. They even stop the hurtful teasing that had become second nature.

According to Cotta, that’s a lesson we shouldn’t wait any longer to implement. “We’ve been programming children in our society not to touch for quite a while now. I understand there’s good reason for caution, but skin is also our largest sensory organ. Study after study on both humans and animals have demonstrated that we need touch to survive. So when you remove it from schools and then from homes where parents are absent, you affect children in a profoundly negative way.”

With Compassionate Touch, Cotta believes you can reintroduce the idea of touch in a safe way. “The whole process begins when one child asks another for permission to touch, which is just one of its safeguards.” And though the book is fiction, “The results are real. We’ve seen huge decreases in aggression and increases in positive behaviors, which our society sorely needs.”

“That’s why this book is about a lot more than touch,” Cotta says. “It’s really about how children can change the world for the better.”

To learn more about the Compassionate Touch program call Barb Richmond, Upledger Institute Director of Community Relations, at 1-800-233-5880, ext. 1315, or e-mail barbara@upledger.com. To reach Susan Cotta for book readings or to start a compassionate touch program with a small group of children, please email her at: suecotta@verizon.net