Re: Re: First visit with Developmental pediatrician tomorrow... Getting enough speech?

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I just finished reading your story with Zach.

I would like you to watch this video as there are examples of kids with brain

damage who started very young to work the neuro-plasticity of the brain.

I have posted videos from NACD before.... but you really need to watch this one

for it shows the success one can find.... how one can indeed overcome....

http://www.nacd.org/tour/video.html

In addition, I heartily recommend for you a book, one of my absolute favorites

to enable you to understand the brain, neurodevelopment and how plasticity of

the brain works to repair itself. It is called What to Do About Your Brain

Injured Child by Glen Doman

To further convince you to buy this book, I am going to post some reviews of it

from Amazon.com. It is historical in the sense that you will not necessarily

have a plan afterwards but you will have an understanding of the brain that is

very necessary when dealing with any type of brain damage. This book served as

the basis from which I operate. It is old but the knowledge is useful and

relevent.

Hope these people convince you to buy it! The earlier you understand the

principles, the better. See below....

63 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

OK, Tongue-out-of-cheek, February 15, 2004

By Blake " ===Blake=== " (Winnetka, CA USA) - See all my

reviews

This review is from: What to Do About Your Brain Injured Child, 30th

Anniversary Edition (Hardcover)

All right, my satirical review of this book and the Institutes for the

Achievement of Human Potential was not widely appreciated, so I offer this

straightforward look at things.

Our family has been doing this program for two years, and we've been able

to see its effects on three children: A 12-year-old diagnosed Severely Mentally

Retarded with Angelman's syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, etc., a mildly

brain-injured six-year-old who has symptoms fitting several forms of dyslexia,

and a six-month-old, who actually started the program several months earlier,

since it's so easy to do with babies. (Actually, we've seen it work on many

children, including those with Down's, but I'll reserve my comments for these

three.)

The baby, now 2 1/2, is reading, has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds,

primates, U.S. Presidents, and a few other things, and has a way better grasp of

geography than most high schoolers (she can point out Madagascar, Sumatra,

Borneo and other exotic locales out on a world map). She's physically superb:

she can run a mile and climb, well, anything.

The middle child, now 8, has stopped reversing his Ds and Bs, can read and

write and =enjoy= reading and writing, and has evolved more drawing and artistic

abilities.

The 14-year-old, formerly speechless, now says about 2-3 sentences a day.

She used to be on the ketogenic diet to control her seizures, now she's on a

normal diet. She used to lurch and stumble as she walked, and now she can run,

if only for half a block. I won't discuss her mental achievements here because,

frankly, they have to be seen to be believed (cf. Savant Syndrome). And the

program didn't make her that way, it " only " allowed us to see and appreciate

what was there.

The Institutes have nailed their success rates down to very specific

numbers, but out of ten kids, roughly, two won't be materially helped by the

program (and their concept of " not materially helped " includes things considered

as relatively large gains by every other professional who has ever seen this

girl), six will be materially helped, one child will be improved enough in his

parents' eyes to graduate from the program, and one will meet the Institutes

standards for " superb " .

The Institutes publish their results quarterly. They have for 30 years.

They've offered, for 30 years, to publish anyone else's results. They actively,

aggressively seek others who are successful in their field. They put together

money to fund a study to compare their results with those of a local

university's. (The university took the money and spent it on remodeling.) It's

easy to cast stones, and it's probably comforting to many to believe that

" nothing can be done " .

Now, let's talk Jell-O. This program is not for everyone. If Jell-O

figures prominently into your view of what childhood should be, this program is

not for you. Wider: If junk food, junk entertainment, institutionalized

education or even " me-time " are your priorities, just keep moving, there's

nothing here for you to see. This isn't to say that you or your child won't or

can't have these things while on the program, simply that they can't come first.

I'll take it even a step further: If you view a program of dedicated

physical and intellectual excellence as a sacrifice, you probably ought to just

give this a miss.

The hurt kids have the least slack in life. Every day they're not growing

faster than average--every day they're not catching up, that is--they're falling

behind. And the social stigma gets worse, too. As a 2-3 year old, my daughter

used to love going to the mall. Even though she was different, at that age

people commented on her beauty and charm and disregarded (or more likely did not

perceive) her injuries. As she's gotten older, people are less and less able to

deal with her, and when she recognized that (probably around 7 years old or so),

she stopped wanting to do those things. As she recently wrote " People are polite

to you in direct proportion to your ability to speak " . As a result, the program

for hurt kids is the most intense.

Well. Duh.

More to the point, those of us with hurt kids wrestle with guilt, regret,

shame, accusatory looks, superstition, moralizing and caveman-grade ignorance,

and this program--any program, effective or not--can focus that all in one

laser-like beam. If you read this book, and you " get it " , you begin to see brain

injury on the one hand as a spectrum, something we all have to one degree or

another, and on the other, akin to a broken leg or bruised arm. If you don't

" get it " , you may come away feeling guilty, inadequate or bitter.

There's considerable effort on the part of the Institutes to avoid that;

They never ask you do more than you can, or to do something you're not

comfortable with. You're the parent. You are the expert on your own child. There

are many stories related in this book and others from the Insitutes that detail

the contributions of parents.

I'll be honest. I would like to be able to say that, after two years, our

oldest was completely well, indistinguishable from " normal " kids except for her

towering intellect. But it wouldn't be true. I would guess she has another two

years to go. At least. I've watched much younger kids at the institutes make

much faster progress with a certain degree of envy. (I wish we hadn't discovered

this when she was twelve, rather than when she was two.)

But that's okay. She's measurably better. She's clearly happier. And her

siblings have been hugely benefitted as well.

And, for that matter, so have her parents.

I will, in the future, write another review and report honestly on how all

the children are.

But as a father who has been told by doctors, therapists and " conventional

wisdom " that his child would never crawl, walk, live, stop having seizures,

comprehend anything or amount to anything before he ever heard of this book,

forgive me if I regard the naysayers with bemusement.

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24 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

A travesty!, June 26, 2003

By Blake " ===Blake=== " (Winnetka, CA USA) - See all my

reviews

What do you need a book like this for? After all, everyone knows what you

do with your " developmentally disabled " child, whether he has Down's Syndrome or

Autism or epilepsy: You drug them, take care of them for as long as you live, or

as long as you can stand it, then you institutionalize them, where they get more

drugs, shock treatment, and some therapeutic abuse from the doctors and

orderlies. It's a problem that society has totally handled, yet the Domans and

the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential ... insist on pushing

" alternate solutions " to something we're all happy with.

And they have the nerve to insist that their techniques work on almost

=all= children, and that, really, brain injury is largely a matter of degree.

The kid who has trouble reading may have an extremely mild brain injury, as may

the kid who has trouble sitting still. And that a perfectly normal kid can

become physically, intellectually and socially " superb " through techniques

described in the above book and the Institutes other works. Can you imagine

responsible doctors and therapists suggesting that kids =don't= need drugs, and

lots of them?

Worse still, they actually fix these kids! They've developed techniques

for helping blind kids to see, deaf kids to hear, and immobile kids to move. Not

only have they brazenly published their results in the Institutes magazine, they

invite all others who work with hurt children to submit their results for

publication! They even have the audacity to introduce you to these children.

The clincher, though, is their insistence that highly trained

professionals shouldn't be raising, educating and rehabilitating our children!

They expect =parents= to do that and actually give them the tools to do so! What

do they expect the hundreds of thousands of tax-funded professionals to do if

=parents= are raising their own children and helping them get well far faster

and far better than the experts?

This book recklessly places the health and well-being of a few children

over that of a well entrenched, extremely lucrative agglomeration of

pharmaceutical companies, mental health professionals and public educators. It

cannot be endorsed by any responsible person.

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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

Breaking the paradigms, June 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What to Do About Your Brain-Injured Child

(Hardcover)

Glenn Doman & his Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential

make ground-breaking progress in the treatment of brain-injured children. Where

the conventional medical community treats symptoms with medications & surgical

interventions, IAHP treats the actual injury by training the brain to learn and

develop. This method is controversial, but there are just too many success

stories to ignore. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

How Could You NOT Do This For Your Brain-Injured Child?, May 7,

2006

By Lori Brinks ( City, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What To Do About Your Brain-injured Child: Or

Your Brain-damaged, Mentally Retarded, Mentally Deficient, Cerebral-Palsied,

Epileptic, Autistic, Athetoid, Hyperactive, Attention Deficit Disorder

(Paperback)

This fantastic book taught me more in 2 days than I've learned

elsewhere in 2 years. Finally actual help is out there, not just negativity.

This is what I expected to learn from my developmental pediatrician, but didn't.

It's wonderful to know there are people in this world who give so selflessly for

our children. I loved this one so much I ordered " How to Teach Your Baby to be

Physically Superb " & " How to Teach Your Baby to Read " I can't wait to see some

real improvement in my daughter!! Help other customers find the most helpful

reviews

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Great Knowledge to Have, January 2, 2008

By Amy J. Young (Alpine, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What To Do About Your Brain-injured Child: Or

Your Brain-damaged, Mentally Retarded, Mentally Deficient, Cerebral-Palsied,

Epileptic, Autistic, Athetoid, Hyperactive, Attention Deficit Disorder

(Paperback)

When my son was born with brain damage this book was given to me (an

original copy) and I bought this for my own library after I had read the

original. Very in depth and helped me get my mind and perception of my son on a

positive path. I learned many little things that are actually big things in

helping my son's development. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

very helpful, May 3, 2006

By N (Centreville, VA USA) - See all my reviews

I have a Down's child. I found this book to be very helpful. There was a

bit of weeding of the history of the Institute to be done. But, by following the

information I was able to create a program to fit our lifestyle. (It helped to

read the other books by the author on Reading, Math, Physical Activity and

Knowledge.) I read the author's other books first, and I felt that this book was

the missing link I needed to create a program for my child.

If you are looking for a Step A, Step B... it is not quite that clear.

This is a guideline...not child specific. But, frankly if it was specific I

would be very skeptical. How could one program be good for the wide variety of

" brain injured " children that exist?

If you want to help your child, it will take effort on your part. And, it

can be time consuming, depending on how far/fast you want your child to advance.

But, after only a couple of months mild/moderate effort, I have seen significant

progress...and my son amazes his therapists. Comment | Permalink | Was this

review helpful to you? (Report this)

[ ] First visit with Developmental

> pediatrician

> > tomorrow... Getting enough speech?

> >

> >

> >

> > Hi there,

> >

> > Two questions:

> >

> > I am taking my 3 year old son to a developmental pediatrician for

> the

> > first time tomorrow and just thought Id ask if anyone has any

last

> > minute advice?(I know its short notice)I have been told by his

PT,

> > OT, ST and SI

> > (Special Instructor-music) that he is definitely apraxic. He has

> > global apraxia, though speech is the worst for him. He doesnt

have

> an

> > actual diagnosis yet but I am hoping this doctor will give him a

> > diagnosis so he can maybe recieve more services.

> >

> > Up until his third birthday he was recieving through BCW PT, OT,

> ST,

> > and Music 1/hr wk each, and his music thrapist focused on speech.

> His

> > insurance will not cover special instruction (music) so he lost

> that

> > a couple weeks ago when he aged out of BCW.

> >

> > He just started special ed preschool this week and likes it but

he

> is

> > only getting one 30 min session speech individual and one 30 min

> > speech as a group. He will be starting with a new ST next week I

> hope

> > for 1 hr wk but we are filing for two to see if they will approve.

> >

> > Receptive he scores high and he understands everything you say to

> him

> > but expressive is very, very limited. He can only say 4 or five

> words

> > that the average person could probably understand. He does know

> about

> > 60-80 signs (many he has made up himself to try and communicate)

but

> > he is so far behind I think he needs Speech 4 to 5 days a week to

> > really help him. Is this something that anyone else has been able

> to

> > get on insurance alone or does most everyone private pay for

> > additional services? What should I expect insurance to pay?

> >

> > I think the therapy he gets through the school is probably going

to

> > be minimally helpful.

> >

> > I have heard/ read that age 3-4 yrs is a crucial point for

apraxic

> > kids to learn speech and I dont want him to miss any opportunity

to

> > catch up. Any advice or others experinces are appreciated.

> >

> > Mom to Zach, 3 and Callan, 1yr

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >