My Work

 In my last Blog entry, I mentioned my Neuropsych testing work, and one of the responses from a friend was: “Good stuff Daniel. How’s the neuro psych testing done?”. 

The following was my response:

Hi All,

I’ve been feeling a little overloaded the last few days, nothing serious, but I wanted to let D. know I’m working on a response about my neuropsych work and haven’t forgotten.

Neuropsychology relates the different brain functions to the different parts of the brain, (It’s brain location specific). 

I have batteries of tests for adults, adolescents, and various aged kids. 

These test batteries include the various subtests of the Wexler IQ tests and verbal and nonverbal Memory tests, motor and perceptual tests, psychological tests that eliminate non-neurological causes of problems, tests that rule out the faking of problems (So called “motivation” tests), attention and learning disability (LD) tests that document problems warranting extra time for tests such as the SAT, LSAT, and other academic exams, among others.

Working for a private practice, it’s a little of everything, including all kinds of legal cases. 

Due to confidentiality issues, I’m not at liberty to discuss most of those, and this has been an issue that has slowed down my response concerning my work.

In the past, we’ve tested clients involved in large pesticide cases, auto rollover cases, oil rig explosion cases, carnival attraction ride accidents, and recently a large auto driving car accident case.

It’s interesting work. 

The people I work with are straight shooters, and the lawyers that engage us want the truth, not a “hired gun”.

We only use standardized tests that have high proven validity and large data bases, that hold up in court. 

I’m honored to be part of a class practice with integrity.

So my response was a little complicated, and I had to stop and think before I could respond.  :)  .

Best to All,

Daniel

Patterns

 In my Neuropsych testing work, the useful, pragmatic results of the tests given are not usually used by themselves for decision making regarding the client’s condition, treatment, or other salient features. 

They are always combined with a multitude of any other relevant information, including medical records, education, history and interviews, all incorporated into a search for patterns indicative of the client’s total prognosis. 

As a therapist and healer, I find this search for a holistic and comprehensive view both useful and applicable in many areas of my work. 

It meshes beautifully in applying T’ai Chi principles to all areas of one’s life, going far beyond the physical instruction and generating  applications for the  emotional and intellectual growth that may be engendered through our personal voyages forward through time.

For example, a tendency to sometimes fall forward, out of balance, physically, can be taken as our body’s language expressing a more general pattern of our letting our anticipations regarding the possible future, that which isn’t even here or real yet, affect our consciousness and throw us out of balance. 

Sometimes these anticipations can be so subtle that we aren’t even aware of them!

The real Tai Chi may reside not in the physical, but in the awareness of our balance that is generated. 

We can’t change what we aren’t even aware of! 

Herein is the real value of practicing the form, meditating, or any other contemplative practice, if it aids in our ability to choose a more balanced path, say, for example, in our emotional or other balance.

Medicine for Ants

Ants, automatic negative thoughts, are, by their automatic nature, not so easily changed. 

This is important because they affect our emotional balance. 

As the computer saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.”

These can become habits. 

Habits like smoking, snacking, assuming the worst, can often take more than a day to change!

The thoughts we take in, be they from the television or media, or from our assumptions about life events that aren’t necessarily correct assumptions, or from what we were taught before we knew better, all go into this mix!

It has recently been pointed out to me that Finding Positive Thoughts, and developing this as a new habit, can be a powerful medicine that might work to counter these ants. 

As a therapist, these things, apparent when working with others, may often elude me when working on my own stuff!

To be continued…

Blessings to All,

Daniel

Remembering Allen Zamrok

 Zam’s Celebration of Life (1/10/26, Key West, Florida)

Hi, For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jacki’s older brother, Daniel.

By Marriage, Zam became my brother. My parents taught me from when I was very young, that they had always strived to treat all their children equally. 

I’ve always kept that thought in my heart to accept all of my family that 

I’ve been blessed with, by birth or by marriage, equally as well.

My folks had seen other families that didn’t always do this, and we were all very lucky to have this wonderful tradition.

I may not have always been rich in money, but I’ve always been Very rich in family and friends!

Zam and Jacki finding Happiness with each other was always a real Blessing that made us all more complete and Joyful!

I remember visiting them in the Cayman’s in the last Century, with my teenage son, Louis. We both learned to dive for that trip, and I became certified. 

I also remember another later trip to Key West with Louis, when we took a trip over Key West in their friend Fantasy Dan’s small plane, from Big Pine Key.

Back to the Caymans; It was a Magical experience! I had just recently met my wife to be, and sent her post cards. 

On a dive with Zam, I spotted a dive computer watch amongst the coral on the sea floor, that someone had lost the week before. 

Louis recently reminded me that once, when I had borrowed Jacki’s car to drive around the island, she got a call from their friend the police chief of Cayman Brac, that I had been seen driving on the wrong side of the road. 

They were part of a wonderful community there where everyone knew each other. The Island’s population was around 900!

There were stories of a ghost that haunted the rooms of the hotel we stayed in.  (one of two on the island). We heard the ghost moving around, but never saw it.

Zam, six months earlier, had made friends with Jean Michel Costeau, and had spent time showing him around the local waters. 

Jean Michel had returned for a week during our stay, to document the evolution of sea life around a destroyer that had been recently sunk to create an artificial reef. 

We had some interesting evening conversations with him at the hotel bar, and later spent some time with him while awaiting our flights at the Cayman Brac Airport Terminal.

Zam was a Very Special person in our lives, and I miss him and my sister Jacki.

I know that they are not gone as long as we carry them in our hearts.

Blessings to All,

Daniel