Glen Doman Institute...anyone hear of or go there??

[5knights3maidens]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here has heard of or gone to the Glen Doman Institute. I would like to know why and/or why not. Thanks so much for your input.

[Plaid Dad]

I should preface this by saying that I have no personal experience with Glen Doman, but I did discover that the American Academy of Pediatrics has been very critical of his methods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Institutes_for_the_Achievement_of_Human_Potent ial).

Criticism of the Doman-Delacato method is widespread in the medical establishment, many of whom regard it as quackery. One of the most vocal is the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Their Committee on Children With Disabilities has issued warnings regarding patterning as early as 1968. They updated and repeated their warnings in 1982. The latest cautionary "policy statement" from them was in 1999, which was reaffirmed in 2002 and 2005:[14]

"This statement reviews patterning as a treatment for children with neurologic impairments. This treatment is based on an outmoded and oversimplified theory of brain development. Current information does not support the claims of proponents that this treatment is efficacious, and its use continues to be unwarranted."

"the demands and expectations placed on families are so great that in some cases their financial resources may be depleted substantially and parental and sibling relationships could be stressed."

Just a FYI. As I said, I have no personal experience with this.

[5knights3maidens]

Thank you. :)

[Becki in IN]

Well, make sure you read his book. It's all about the history of this. It's interesting.

NACD and ICAN is based on the same process. Maybe not so far out there though. My dd did ICAN for a year. In the first 3 months it raised her processing level 3 years which allowed her to learn to read. Math was a total wash for her though.

[5knights3maidens]

Thank you Becki. I did talk to someone who is doing the program with their daughter and it is helping wonderfully.

[LizzyBee]

I know one family who did Glen Doman's program with their daughter who had Down Syndrome, and another family who did Robert Doman's program with their dd with Down Syndrome. The original program (Glen's, I think) takes about 10-12 hours per day, and his brother's program takes 4-6 hours per day. I used to help the family doing the shorter program. The dad is a doctor who was very opposed to the program at first, but agreed to it to appease his wife. His wife had gotten passports for herself and the baby, and was planning to go to Germany to get drugs that were not approved for use in the US. The compromise was the Doman program. After a month or so, the dad was amazed by the difference in their daughter and he was fully convinced that the Doman program was helping.

I don't really have any opinion one way or the other.

Elizabeth

[dirty ethel rackham]

I am not familiar with Glen Doman, but we have been using NACD (Robert Doman's organization - his brother.) I am very pleased with the results. My son, who has suffered with sensory issues and auditory processing issues, expressive language delays and reading difficulties, is doing so much better. After 6 months on program (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours per day), I noticed that he was smiling more. I didn't realize how rarely he smiled. In the past 2 years, his schoolwork improved tremendously. We have an NACD family in our area who's youngest boy has CP. When I saw him 2 years ago as a 4 year old, he was mostly in the fetal position, unable to sit up or feed himself. Doctors told her he would never walk. I saw him 6 months ago. He is walking and smiling!

edit - one thing I wanted to add - NACD is very flexible working with parents to find the best way to accomplish something within their family. They are always refining techniques based upon the latest research as well as what works for families who have had to make modifications to their program.