My association with Glenn Doman and IAHP.org (The Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential) goes back 11 years. Blake was just a newborn when I caught sight of an article by Glenn in a magazine. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it said something about teaching your baby to read, of all things. Naturally, I was a little skeptical, but I made my way to the bookstore and picked up his book (written with his daughter Janet Doman, who is also awesome). So I made up some flashcards and started showing them to my newborn son. People thought I was nuts and maybe I was, but it fell under the heading of "can't hurt, might help" so I was willing to try it.

In addition to using the flashcards, I took a totally different approach with Blake than I had with Matt. I put all sorts of interesting things in his crib and changed them out frequently. I played lots of classical music for him. I allowed him to explore the physical world a lot more than I had Matt. By then the Baby Einstein videos were starting to come out, so I showed them to him at every opportunity and I played Spanish tapes in the car. All because of the ideas Glenn had shared with me in his book. It literally opened up my mind to a lot of new possibilities and it had a big influence on how I have dealt with my son on a daily basis, even now.

As Blake grew older, I always knew that he was very intelligent. He was an exceptionally bright and alert baby. He was always very involved with people. He used to flirt with the grandmas at the grocery store and never showed a trace of shyness, even with complete strangers and he played well with the other kids. But I was a little concerned. He wasn't hitting some of his milestones, particularly with regards to speech. He seemed to want to communicate badly, but he didn't seem to be able to make intelligible words. We made jokes between ourselves that it was a cross between Apache and parrot.

Also, he was hyperactive, almost to the extreme. He started walking about three or four months earlier than Matt had and at times I couldn't control him physically. I had to have a special chair for him in the bath because he would.not.sit.down no matter what else I tried. By 14 months, I couldn't keep him off the jungle gyms and slides at the park no matter how big they were. He just had an imperative to explore the world or die trying and there just wasn't much we could do about it, but try to keep him from hurting himself too much.

By the time Blake was three he was barely talking and had a lot of coordination issues. By then, we were talking to doctors, speech therapists, and special ed personnel. They gave us a diagnosis of ADHD with delayed development and speech deficits. We started him in twice-weekly Special Ed classes (which didn't do him a bit of good, in my opinion), and a program of weekly speech therapy. At that point, I wasn't sleeping much and was a nervous wreck. I had visions of him being stuck in a lifetime of special ed classes and never being able to have a normal life with friends and girlfriends, and a job. My husband kept telling me it was going to be alright, but I was terrified. Reluctantly, very reluctantly in fact, I bought Glenn's other book "What To Do About your Brain Injured Child" and started doing some of the exercises in it.

By now the Internet was starting to get more popular and I was in communication with the people at IAHP, both the staff and their wonderful on-line Mom's group. I made the decision to travel to Philadelphia to attend their week-long program for the parents of brain-injured children. By the way, their definition of a brain injured child covers ADHD, autism, retardation, visual/hearing problems, as well as more serious conditions like Downs, traumatic brain injury, strokes, and Cerebral Palsy.

When I got to the Institutes, I can't explain it. There was just something magical about that place. It's a gorgeous campus and the people there, who include Glenn's whole family - wife, daughter, son, and daughter-in-law, and now some grandkids, are all so very professional and helpful. I was so overwhelmed to be there, I cried all through Glenn's first lecture. I just knew that if anyone in this world could help me make my child better, these people could. And they mean business. The classes were 8 to 10 hours a day for 5 days straight, a 10 minute potty break every hour and 45 minutes for lunch. You take pages of notes, you ask dozens of questions, and you leave each night with your head so crammed with information you can't even sleep. There were parents there from halfway around the world and they were serious about getting the answers that would help their kids.

I came home with a whole program of physical exercises, dietary suggestions, vitamin supplements, educational materials, basically the whole enchilada. Even though I had to work full time to support the family, I still managed to cram everything into my day one way or the other (well except for the diet, I really stank in that department). But I carried flashcards in my purse, we had tapes in the car on the way to day care, I had maps and charts up in my dining room, every stick of furniture was labeled for his reading program, and we built a set of monkey bars right over his bed for his daily physical conditioning.

By the time Blake turned four, he could read about 50 words in both English and Spanish, could count up to 20, could recognize the music of half a dozen different composers, identify a dozen different dog breeds, could make his way across the monkey bars and back unassisted, and best of all was speaking in complete sentences. Still had some speech difficulties, but he was able to communicate understandably.

When he was five, they released him from the Special Ed program, passed him off on speech therapy, and cleared him to start regular Kindergarten with his pre-school class. I had improved his coordination, strength and balance, taught him to read simple books, write his name legibly, taught him his states and capitols, and dozens of other things, all in just brief sessions here and there because I was still working full time. We'd do a few minutes while he was eating his cereal, while we were waiting at the post office, or during bath time, driving in the car, just whenever.

The best part is, he loved it. I never had to nag him or pester him to do lessons. If you teach things the Institute's way, kids really enjoy it. The key is quick, fun sessions of 3-5 minutes, change the material frequently - about every 3rd lesson, and never do any kind of testing. Kids learn much faster than adults, their brains are like little sponges, and they are relentless in their search for the next NEW thing to learn. Fortunately, I had paired up with another Mom who made her own flash cards and would let me borrow them when her son was finished with them. That was a huge help since I didn't have much time to make my own. (I think that has a lot to do with the fact that now Blake has a 12th grade reading level, nearly the highest in his class.)

I look back and I think where my son would have been without Glenn and Janet Doman's books and the help I received from the Institutes. I just don't think he would have ended up as a happy and healthy sixth grader, nearly indistinguishable from any other normal sixth grader. I don't know and I'm glad I didn't have to find out.



That's why Glenn is my hero. I don't even know if he is still living, he was about 85 when I met him, so I'm kind of afraid to go and look, but I know if he still has breath in his body and a brain in his head, he is out there doing everything he possibly can to help the children of the world live up to their potential and I think that is the most amazing work anyone could ever do.

Here is a link to Glenn's books, videos, and other materials on Amazon:

Doman Materials

Update: I got some literature from the Institutes today. Happily, Glenn is not only still with us, he is celebrating his 90th birthday this year and from the sound of it, is still devoting his time to helping our children. That was great news for us to hear.



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