Magician helps speed healing process

Illusionist Kevin Spencer helps patients by making pain vanish. Or so it seems.

For 25 years, Spencer, who will be at Johnson County Community College next month, has worked to incorporate simple magic tricks into therapy – particularly for those who have injuries or disabilities. What he has found is that a little sleight of hand can help patients achieve big goals.

It is an idea he developed through personal experience.

Spencer was involved in a car accident with a tractor-trailer. He suffered a head injury and spinal cord injury and faced a long process of physical and occupational therapy.

“In that process I realized how incredibly boring it all is for a long-term patient,” Spencer said. “You are working on exercises you know are going to help you, but they are just not fun.”

His motivation waned as he performed the repetitive exercises.

“I started thinking about simple little magic tricks to accomplish all of those same goals,” he said.

After completing his therapy, Spencer asked for permission to work with stroke patients in a hospital, using his magic skills.

Halfway through a summer of working with these patients, the hospital’s director of rehabilitative medicine stood up and took notice. The medical professionals realized that patients who normally would have taken about 20 weeks to achieve a certain goal were reaching goals in six to eight weeks, Spencer said.

“All of the movements required to do these tricks are the same movements required in therapy, but because they are fun, patients do them more often,” Spencer said. “It is not because they want to do therapy, but because they want to show the trick to their grandchildren, their boyfriend, girlfriend, mom or dad. Every time they practice they are doing therapy.”

The result of his discovery is called “The Healing of Magic.” The program, which he created with his wife, Cindy, is now used in more than 2,200 hospitals and rehabilitation centers and 30 countries around the world. He works with occupational, physical, speech and recreation therapists to incorporate magic into health care.

All of the tricks he teaches use everyday items such as paperclips and rubber bands. Practicing and performing the tricks can help people who have had strokes, spinal cord or head injuries, or have learning or developmental disabilities.

“The great thing about magic is magic doesn’t work unless you do all steps in the right order,” Spencer said. “Those are things they can transfer over to activities of daily life… If you can do a simple magic trick you can learn the sequence to button up your shirt or tie your shoes or make a cake.”

Spencer’s work grew into the development of another program, “Hocus Focus,” created to help students with ADHD and autism accomplish goals.

“For a child who has been labeled as ‘special education’ or (having) learning difficulties, to give them something to do that their able-bodied peer can’t do is such a boost to their self-esteem and self-worth that it motivates them in other areas of their lives,” Spencer said.

The kind of out-of-the-box thinking that magic tricks require often helps students with disabilities achieve breakthroughs, he said.

“I have some of the coolest letters from parents, principals and teachers, especially about kids with autism, who say, ‘I don’t know what happened in the workshop, all I know is my autistic child is talking and doing magic tricks for us at the dinner table,’” Spencer said.

Kevin and Cindy were named 2009 Magicians of the Year by the International Magicians Society. Their act, called “The Spencers: Theatre of Illusion,” is one of the largest touring illusion shows in the country. Spencer will soon present all three programs at Johnson County Community College. Spencer’s weeklong residency is sponsored by the JCCC Performing Arts Education and Health and Human Services departments.

Penny Shaffer, Health and Human Services director, said she has learned through her years in nursing that therapy is “boring” and “painful.” She hopes the Spencers’ presentations will provide creative ways to help people through rehab.

“Rehab is not fun. This will take their minds off the pain and hassle of trying to do whatever they have got to do,” Shaffer said. “If people can master a magic trick, it adds extra motivation. Fun is motivating. Work is not.”

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