Physical Activities for Improving Children's Learning and Behavior

Dr. Billye Ann Cheatum has spent some 30 years devoting her life to the needs of children and adults with disabilities. She received her PhD in Physical and Special Education from Texas Woman's University in 1965 and has worked at Western Michigan University as an advisor of gerontology specialists, Coordinator of Special Physical Education, Special Physical Education instructor, and director of three disability laboratories. Throughout her career, Cheatum received almost $2 million in federal grants. Part of the grant money was used to create SPELL (Special Physical Education Learning Laboratory). Located at WMU, this lab offers no-cost assessments of children and adults with special needs, individualized treatment programs, and follow-up. Federal funds also assist in providing laboratories for at-risk infants and toddlers and children exposed to drugs in utero. Cheatum has also published two books as well as a children's disabilities booklet with Dr. Hammond for the Michigan State Department. Now retired, she enjoys sailing, swimming, and snorkeling in her hometown of Kalamazoo, MI. Allison A. Hammond is a sensory motor development specialist who provides sensory motor development programs to children through her private practice, The ResponsAble Child Clinic. She has received two master's degrees in adapted physical education as well as an EdD in Education Leadership with an emphasis in Special Physical Education. During Hammond's educational years as coordinator of the laboratories at Western Michigan University, she evaluated and planned special physical education programs for hundreds of children with a wide variety of disabilities including mental impairment, cerebral palsy, and learning disabilities. Hammond has conducted numerous workshops and presentations concerning sensory motor development for parents. She has also trained teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and administrators on the subject. Hammond currently lives with her husband Michael in Kalamazoo, MI.