Introduction, Puppets, Monsters & ADHD
Imagine my surprise when yesterday I learned that Amazon.jp was down to their last copy of the Japanese version of my ADHD DVD book. Of course I really don’t understand what that means because I don’t know if they started out with five copies or 500 copies. However, I was quite heartened to also discover that more copies are on the way.
A little bit of personal history might help you to better understand how in the world I ever ended up on Amazon.jp. Besides being a psychologist, I am also a ventriloquist. I started ventriloquism when my Aunt Sally gave me a Jerry Mahoney puppet for my seventh birthday. At that time I was recovering from rheumatic fever, and she thought that the puppet could hel p the process. Aunt Sally was absolutely right, and ventriloquism became my lifelong hobby.
When I grew up and became an elementary school guidance counselor, I continued to use my Jerry Mahoney puppet to help me establish rapport with the students at my schools. Next I used Jerry when I worked at a residential hospital for severely developmentally disabled people. In fact, while I was at the hospital, I almost got to entertain on the same bill with Bo Diddley, but that’s another story.
In private practice I became even more involved with puppets, having the money to acquire a small collection for myself and for my young patients to use. Therefore, I indulged myself. It was good both for me and the children. The puppets made my work and their treatment more successful and enjoyable.
About 15 years ago I commissioned Jerry Baum, a puppet maker, to create Elwood for me. It was the first time that I ever had a professional puppet. By the way, we used to call them dummies. Currently, the politically correct term is vent figures. We wouldn’t want to hurt the little puppets’ feelings!
Anyway, once I had invested in Elwood, I decided that it would be beneficial to utilize ventriloquism to educate children and families about various topics. Since than I have produced PSAs on child abuse, molestation, stranger danger, domestic violence, 9/11, and, most recently on combat PTSD. I also produced 3 programs about ADHD. I combine ventriloquism, humor, magic, animation, and original songs to educate children and families in an entertaining fashion.
My puppet, Elwood, has already taken me to Japan three times. One of my Japanese sponsors, Dr. Michiko Hara, is a pediatric neurologist. She likes my videos so much that she had them translated into Japanese and published a version with subtitles and a script book. That, in a nutshell, is how I ended up on Amazon.jp.
I am including with this first entry a short segment from the Japanese version. In this segment Elwood learns what the letters ADHD mean.
My newest puppet arrived today. Honestly, I have no idea why I ordered another figure. Maybe it’s just because I like them. The puppet is a soft figure, quite different from the rest of my collection. It is a big monster. Here is a picture of him:
Maybe he will represent the “oppositional defiant monster” which is often associated with ADHD.
