They Make Blind Children See
I know some people who can do some pretty amazing things. Seriously, amazing things. Like making blind children see. Making children walk who had never walked before. You know, boring stuff like that.
Take this man. Looks a little like Santa Claus, doesn't he? But he gives kids a gift that is much better than mere toys. His name is Glenn Doman and he has devoted his entire adult life to the treatment of brain injured children. Not just his own life, but his wife's life and at least two of his children's lives - (maybe three, I can't remember). That's dedication. He's 90 now and I haven't seen him in a decade or so, but if I know him, he's still at it. You can't retire when you've got so many injured kids and their parents who need you.
I'm sure you're wondering why you've never heard of this program. I am too. Isn't it funny that we live in a world where everyone knows everything there is to know about Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, and Brittney Spears, but you don't hear about a tiny little place in Philadelphia that is doing these wonderful things. Although they aren't just in Philadelphia any more. They are in Japan and Spain, and about 5 other countries.
Here are some actual numbers - out of 278 blind kids that were seen in a 2 year period, 236 of them are now able to see and 194 of them can see well enough to read. That's an 85% success rate. Sounds too good to be true, but it's not a hoax, or a gimmick, or a scam. What is it? It's a lot of hard work, mostly by the parents of the kids.
To get a child to see, the parents do something very simple - they take the child into a dark room and they take a $2 flashlight and they turn it on and off. And on and off. For about five minutes out of every hour. For 10-12 hours a day. 7 days a week. 365 days of the year. Plus a bunch of other exercises - all day, every day. Yes, it is a drastic amount of work. But if your child is facing a lifetime of blindness, how much is too much?
Seems completely bizarre doesn't it? No one ever thought to shine a flashlight at a blind child. Why bother if they can't see? But that's just the point. There's a natural law about the body - form follows function. If you run long enough and hard enough, you'll have the body of a runner. Seen Biggest Loser lately? If you do ballet for enough hours of the days for enough years, you'll develop the body of a ballerina. If your brain senses a light shining in your eyes hundreds of thousands of times, it will slowly, gradually build a new pathway to the optic nerves. Weird, huh? But it's worked for all these hundreds of kids.
How do I know these folks? Well, about 10 years ago, when my youngest son was a baby, I found a magazine article that sparked my interest. Then I found one of their books, then I found their website. Eventually, I got on a plane and flew to Philadelphia to spend a week in their program. My son wasn't blind or anything, but I was seeing some things that had me concerned. I was terrified he was autistic or something. Turns out he wasn't, but he did have ADHD and some speech problems. But they took me just as seriously as the parents of the kids with downs syndrome or cerebral palsy and they taught me what to do.
Then I came home and set to work. My son is 13 now, he's in Jr High, he reads on a college level, is pulling mostly A's on his report card, and he's working towards his Eagle Scout badge. I don't think that would have been possible without the help I got at the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia (yes, I HATE the name, but I love the place).
For more info on our experience, I have an earlier post on our experiences with IAHP here. You can also go to their website at IAHP.org and there are TONS of great information - articles, statistics, books, case studies, etc. Their big focus is on disabled children, of course, but they also have an outstanding school and many great resources for well children as well, so it's information any parent can benefit from.
Check them out - I guarantee they are MUCH more interesting than Lindsay Lohan!
By TwitterButtons.com
Take this man. Looks a little like Santa Claus, doesn't he? But he gives kids a gift that is much better than mere toys. His name is Glenn Doman and he has devoted his entire adult life to the treatment of brain injured children. Not just his own life, but his wife's life and at least two of his children's lives - (maybe three, I can't remember). That's dedication. He's 90 now and I haven't seen him in a decade or so, but if I know him, he's still at it. You can't retire when you've got so many injured kids and their parents who need you.
I'm sure you're wondering why you've never heard of this program. I am too. Isn't it funny that we live in a world where everyone knows everything there is to know about Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, and Brittney Spears, but you don't hear about a tiny little place in Philadelphia that is doing these wonderful things. Although they aren't just in Philadelphia any more. They are in Japan and Spain, and about 5 other countries.
Here are some actual numbers - out of 278 blind kids that were seen in a 2 year period, 236 of them are now able to see and 194 of them can see well enough to read. That's an 85% success rate. Sounds too good to be true, but it's not a hoax, or a gimmick, or a scam. What is it? It's a lot of hard work, mostly by the parents of the kids.
To get a child to see, the parents do something very simple - they take the child into a dark room and they take a $2 flashlight and they turn it on and off. And on and off. For about five minutes out of every hour. For 10-12 hours a day. 7 days a week. 365 days of the year. Plus a bunch of other exercises - all day, every day. Yes, it is a drastic amount of work. But if your child is facing a lifetime of blindness, how much is too much?
Seems completely bizarre doesn't it? No one ever thought to shine a flashlight at a blind child. Why bother if they can't see? But that's just the point. There's a natural law about the body - form follows function. If you run long enough and hard enough, you'll have the body of a runner. Seen Biggest Loser lately? If you do ballet for enough hours of the days for enough years, you'll develop the body of a ballerina. If your brain senses a light shining in your eyes hundreds of thousands of times, it will slowly, gradually build a new pathway to the optic nerves. Weird, huh? But it's worked for all these hundreds of kids.
How do I know these folks? Well, about 10 years ago, when my youngest son was a baby, I found a magazine article that sparked my interest. Then I found one of their books, then I found their website. Eventually, I got on a plane and flew to Philadelphia to spend a week in their program. My son wasn't blind or anything, but I was seeing some things that had me concerned. I was terrified he was autistic or something. Turns out he wasn't, but he did have ADHD and some speech problems. But they took me just as seriously as the parents of the kids with downs syndrome or cerebral palsy and they taught me what to do.
Then I came home and set to work. My son is 13 now, he's in Jr High, he reads on a college level, is pulling mostly A's on his report card, and he's working towards his Eagle Scout badge. I don't think that would have been possible without the help I got at the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia (yes, I HATE the name, but I love the place).
For more info on our experience, I have an earlier post on our experiences with IAHP here. You can also go to their website at IAHP.org and there are TONS of great information - articles, statistics, books, case studies, etc. Their big focus is on disabled children, of course, but they also have an outstanding school and many great resources for well children as well, so it's information any parent can benefit from.
Check them out - I guarantee they are MUCH more interesting than Lindsay Lohan!
By TwitterButtons.com 
1 comments:
As someone with two blind siblings I'm wondering why I've never heard of this myself. What an amazing place and what wonderful work!
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