HANDLE's Founder: Judith Bluestone

Judith Bluestone was born with neurodevelopmental challenges and structural irregularities, due to profound prenatal chemical toxicity.

Judith engaged in applied neuroscience instinctively, from the inside out. She was born before labels for her condition were commonly used and her family allowed her to behave in some unconventional ways.  These behaviors allowed her to protect herself from her greatest vulnerabilities, to achieve, and to succeed.

For example, what is now called echolalia was expressed in Judith’s attempts to commit to memory the shape of her mouth, and the positions that her lips and tongue must be in to produce a particular word or sound. For Judith and her family, echolalia was not considered a maladaptive behavior, to be extinguished. As a result, ultimately, it was a behavior that led to improved self-expression.

Then Judith approached neurodevelopment from the outside in, with over 12 years of extensive study in neuroscience, neuropsychology, neuro-rehabilitation. human development, visual processing, sensory-motor integration, education, counseling and more.

The HANDLE Approach grew out of all this experience. In 1994 Judith founded the HANDLE Institute, now a non-profit corporation with headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

Some of Judith’s achievements during nearly 40 years of professional work include: 

  • 1989 undefined National (Israel) Annual Early Childhood Education Award for designing and supervising  the program of screening and early intervention in Givat Olga, through which the need for special education was reduced from nearly 50 percent to approximately 4 percent in less than 18 months.
  • Who’s Who in American Education, 1992, ‘94, ‘95
  • 2002  Case Western Reserve University Distinguished Alumni Award for outstanding contributions to the fields of education and neurorehabilitation and to those served through those fields.
  • 2004  Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service, 
    “for creating and sharing HANDLE to enhance the quality of life of individuals and families in her community, country and the world.”
  • 2004 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award

 

 


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