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.

“Cheatum and Hammond have taken the scientific confusion out of understanding sensory motor development and the sensory systems. This is a must-read for those who are told their child or student has a behavior or learning problem!"
Ariel L. H. Anderson, PhD
Professor, Western Michigan University

”Practitioners . . . will find a wealth of information to share with administrators, teachers, and politicians that validates the potential role of quality sensory-motor programs in the lives of children with learning, behavior, and motor problems. College and university faculty and their undergraduate students will find practical and usable information about the sensory input systems, quality intervention strategies, and motor outcomes. Graduate students will find it a useful reference.”
Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

“As stated in the preface of this publication, it was the authors' intention to write an easy-to-read book for parents and educators about children with learning and behavioral problems and include physical activities to improve their sensory motor development. The authors meet this requirement in an outstanding manner. The tips for sensory motor development programs are very applicable for the target group of readers. Furthermore, the authors cover a wide range of problems of the sensory system, and in this respect the book provides an interesting summary and good guide to sensory motor development with suggestions for correcting possible difficulties.”
Gudrun M. Doll-Tepper, PhD
Professor, Free University of Berlin

“Physical Activities for Improving Children's Learning and Behavior Problems: A Guide to Sensory Motor Development provides teachers and parents with a comprehensive approach to working with children who have learning or behavior problems—special attention is given to promoting sensory motor development.”
Jean L. Pyfer, PhD
Dean of Health Sciences, Texas Woman's University

“I spent many years studying and advocating for physical educators to look at the sensory-motor mechanisms that under-gird motor performance. These authors do an excellent job of unraveling those "mysteries" of the sensory motor systems by discussing the fundamental systems in a way they can be understood. The connection of proprioceptive, tactile and vestibular function with motor output is clearly presented and takes the teacher and parent much deeper into the underlying systems of sensory motor behavior than ever before. They've done a great job and I hope the book is widely adopted as a text or at least supplemental readings in methods of teaching physical activity to elementary school aged children.”
Janet A. Seaman, P.E.D.
American Assoc. for Active Lifestyles & Fitness, Executive Director

“This is the book I needed when my son was small! By making the exercises into games, the book works miracles for both attitude and physical development. As a parent, both tips for working with children and explanations of how the body functions are extremely helpful. How wonderful to finally have this information in a form usable by parents and teachers!”
Gail M. Ledbetter, B.S., MASL
Portage Public Schools