Just a few weeks ago Hong Kong hosted ISIC 2019 and today Ray-Anne Cook shares her wonderful experience with us. Ray Anne is so well known in local and international SI circles for her passion and enthusiasm for all she does. She is a long-standing and senior member of the SAISI Board since 1991, the international liason for SAISI at congresses along with Annamarie van Jaarsveld, runs a private practice in Durbanville, and I am sure you will feel her passion for the subject in her writing.
South Africa hosted the first International Sensory Integration Congress in 2018, so with much anticipation we awaited the next ISIC congress in Hong Kong to meet our colleagues/friends again.
Our excitement was dampened with news of the riots in Hong Kong but nothing was going to stop me having the privilege of being part of this international ASI® community. The excitement grew as colleagues posted they had landed in Hong Kong, and as we walked into the lobby of the hotel we saw and greeted one another like long lost friends eager to catch up on the latest news.
The theme of the congress was “An International Journey of Innovation, Identification and Intervention in ASI®”.
Innovation has the wisdom and theory from Ayres Sensory Integration® supporting “play” to enhance participation and health for all children. Dr Anita Bundy expanded further in her keynote presentation on “The art of sensory integration “, that therapy is more than just a science.
Identification included the recent research and advancement to promote a comprehensive evaluation and early identification of children with SI dysfunction and Zoe Mailloux updated us on the EASI test.
Intervention in ASI® includes research on intervention adhering to the ASI Fidelity Measure. Prof Shelley Lane took us further on this topic in her keynote presentation of where ASI® is in the current conversations about sensory integration.
Over 20 countries were represented with about 200 participants, expanding and sharing about ASI® in other countries, both successes and challenges.
When there were South Africans speaking I got even more excited. My chest was bursting with pride when Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld, Gina Rencken and Shanna Louwrens presented their papers. Go South Africa!
ISIC Hong Kong was a sensory experience of note and being a sensory seeker, I was in my element, volunteering for an experiment in Stephan Chan’s presentation on the application of real-time electro-dermal activities in sensory integration assessment. The Gala Dinner continued this experience with the food being a visual feast with amongst others the fried chicken head, and the tactile and olfactory senses with the flavours, textures and tastes of all the ethnic cuisine from Hong Kong.
To end the sensational evening: having to describe to everyone my auditory experience of listening to Sensofoam in a shooter glass! Wow! Each ear heard a different sound!.
And the riots? Hong Kong was so organized with regular updates of where the riots were. Typical – my husband and I walked into the rioters late one night whilst trying to find our way home in this huge concrete jungle and the rioters politely let us pass!!
ISIC Hong Kong 2019 was an experience and to end it we did our sightseeing with Annamarie and her husband: the light show, cable car trips etc – memories to treasure.
Are you joining us in the next ISIC 2020 California to celebrate Ayres 100th Birthday?