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Infants & Toddlers

The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential is a non-profit organization providing teaching programs and literature which, it claims, improve the health and development of children who have sustained a brain injury. The accelerated development of normal children is also promoted. more...

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The IAHP's methods have, however, been widely criticized by the medical establishment.

History

"The goal of The Institutes is to raise significantly the intellectual, physical, and social abilities of all children." – www.iahp.org.

Founded in 1955, the Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP, also known as "The Institutes") is located in a suburb of northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The founder, Glenn Doman (a physical therapist) worked with Carl Delacato (an educational psychologist) and developed an approach to treating children with brain injury. This was published in 1960 in the journal JAMA and remains the IAHP's only independently published research in a peer-reviewed journal. Their work drew heavily on the ideas of Dr. Temple Fay (a neurophysiologist), who believed that the infant brain evolves (as with evolution of the species) through stages of development similar to a fish, a reptile, a mammal and finally a human. This idea, encapsulated as "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" was briefly popular then but has never been mainstream embryology. Brain injury at a given level of brain evolution prevents further progress. These ideas have not found common acceptance amongst neurologists. Doman and Delacato's treatment is often termed "patterning", but is referred to in some literature as the "Doman-Delacato" method. Another aspect of their theories, is that a lack of oxygen to the brain is a key cause of many problems and their program includes techniques that claim to improve this oxygen supply.

In 1964 Doman published the book How to Teach Your Baby to Read (ISBN 0-7570-0185-8). This was followed in 1979 by Teach Your Baby Math (ISBN 0-7570-0184-X) and How to Multiply your Baby's Intelligence (ISBN 0-7570-0183-1) in 1983. These were also aimed at parents of normal children. Since 1979, the IAHP has targeted these "well babies" with their Better Baby Institute. This consumes 10% of The Institutes yearly program of courses, but is a significant aspect of their promotional material, literature and web site.

Doman published the book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child (ISBN 0-7570-0186-6) in 1974, which describes the ideas and techniques used by IAHP. The subtitle of the book "or your Brain-damaged. Mentally Retarded, Mentally Deficient, Cerebral-Palsied, Epileptic, Autistic, Athetoid, Hyperactive, Attention Deficit Disordered, Developmentally Delayed, Down’s Child" lists the many conditions the author regards as being encompassed by "brain injured" – the term favoured by IAHP.