DID YOU KNOW THAT?

Outcomes of the TTAP Method © designed for neurodegenerative diseases
During my teaching over the past week in Finland, through the Alzheimer’s Association in Finland and the University of Applied Sciences, it was brought to my attention that since last May of 2009 there have been 4 published clinical studies which have utilized the TTAP Method© with a wide range of the aging population.


One study looked at an individual who was home with mild stage Alzheimer’s disease, another study looked at a group of Finnish individuals in a Community day Center, and another looked at training support staff on an entire unit specifically for Alzheimer’s with moderate/advance stages and the final study conducted an education process-action learning-model using the TTAP Method©. All four studies found significant and positive correlations between participation and improved cognition and psychosocial wellbeing at all levels of cognition. The additional outcomes which weren’t expected or measured included increased social and emotional interaction of the staff, caregivers and educators’.

These current research findings on The TTAP Method© in the Finnish culture, supports the earlier work of Alders, A (2008) and three studies published in 2009 (Levine Madori 2009a, 2009b, 2009c). The TTAP Method © designed to stimulate specific brain regions through multiple learning styles supports the theory that involvement and learning through self expressive art therapy activities does inhibit the cognitive decline even all stages of the disease process; mild, moderate and advanced stages.

Stern’s Cognitive Reserve Theory (2009) supports the evidence of the early Cornell Study on the TTAP Method, where participants (recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease) openly discuss through video interviews how the participation in only one 2 hour session weekly, directly affected their “perceived” cognitive increases and aided in their overall feelings of increased self esteemed and self worth.
It is my hypothesis that The TTAP Method© encourages intimate, and emotional exchanges of personal life experiences that provides direct activation of the limbic system otherwise known as the seat of our emotions. The hippocampus resides in the Limbic system and therefore gets ultimate stimulation which occurs regularly and frequently throughout the 9 steps of the TTAP Method©. Thus participants as well as caregivers and therapists directly are affected aiding in higher levels of satisfaction, and overall quality of life issues.