Therapeutic touch (TT) was conceived in the 1970's by Dr. Dolores Krieger, author of Accepting Your Power to Heal. It is based on the theory that a person's body emits an external energy field a few inches outside the skin that feels like "warm Jell-O or warm foam." According to TT practitioners, people who are ill have hot or cold tingly spots in their fields. TT practitioners say they can help treat and cure medical problems such as Alzheimer's and cancer by hovering their hands a few inches over a patient's body without actually touching him or her. They claim that doing so adjusts the patient's energy field by removing "congestion."

This TT method has been taught to thousands of people in over 100 colleges and universities in 75 countries, used in scores of hospitals, and promoted by leading nursing organizations and journals. TT practitioners insist that the human energy field is real, and people can be trained to feel it and use it to heal patients. Many doctors disagree, since they have never seen proof that the human energy fields exist.

After watching a TT videotape with her mother, Emily questioned the procedure and, for her science project, set out to test its validity. She designed a cardboard screen with cutout armholes that separated her from her subjects. TT practitioners placed both hands, palms up, through the openings. Based on a flip of a coin, Emily decided whether to hover her unseen hand over the practitioners right or left hand. The practitioner was then asked to detect Emily's energy field by naming the hand over which Emily's was hovering.

Emily conducted 280 tests using 21 practitioners who had between 1 to 27 years TT experience. Each subject underwent 10 trials. The practitioners were correct less than half the time. If they had randomly guessed, they would have scored better or at least 50 percent correct.

Emily recorded her study and submitted it to JAMA with help from: her mother, Linda Rosa, who is a registered nurse and a member of the National TT Study Group and the National Council Against Health Fraud; her stepfather, Larry Sarner, a mathematician and member of the TT Study Group; and Dr. Stephen Barrett, board chairman of Quackwatch in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a nonprofit group that publishes information on the Internet about questionable medical practices.

JAMA editor Dr. George Lundberg published his message with Emily's article. "Practitioners should disclose these results to patients, third-party payers should question whether they should pay for this procedure, and patients should save their money unless or until additional honest experimentation demonstrates and actual effect."

Close your eyes and imagine how you would feel,
knowing you had helped this child get a meal.
There are no words that express the way you would feel,
when you know you have helpd a child to heal.
If everyone could do a small part,
just imagine the warm feeling you would have in your heart.

When Kyle saw how many people were interested in helping, he conceived the idea of a kids' organization to help kids with cancer. His idea led to a nonprofit organization called the Kids That Care Pediatric and Cancer Fund, which is affiliated with the foundation of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. The group not only helped create Jackson Memorial's pediatric transplant unit, but also provides trips, toys, computers, clothing, and other items that bring a smile to the faces of sick children.

In 2001, Kyle, a sixth grader at Palmetto Middle School, was honored by Prudential as one of America's Top Ten Youth Volunteers of 2001.