Hope and Help for Parents in Brazil
Brasilia gives a warm welcome to the staff of The Institutes
The iconic Congresso Nacional of Brazil
The staff of The Institutes was invited to present lectures to parents in Brasilia, Brazil last week. Pregnant mothers and parents of newborns and young children attended a full day of lectures on enriching brain growth in the first twelve months of life.
Mothers and Fathers learn how to evaluate their baby on The Institutes Developmental Profile
Parents came from all over Brasil
Waldemar Neghme and his staff did the hard work that made the entire trip possible and gave parents in Brasilia the opportunity to learn what they could do to help their brain-injured child. Even though the idea was to serve parents in Brasilia and the interior parents came from as far away as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mato Grosso and Tocantins.
Waldemar Neghme and Shirley Hiramatsu with Leia Coelho Reilly, Janet Doman and Thaisa Mendez.
Waldemar is the director of the Colégio Vale de Filadélfia in Brasilia. The Colégio Vale de Filadélfia is pre-school for children from birth to age six. This school uses the Early Development Program of The Institutes.
Enriching the first 12 months
The first day of lectures was for parents of brain- injured children. They learned what they could do at home to improve their children’s mobility, intelligence and language. The second day was Smart Baby Day. Young parents learned how to enrich the environment at home to insure their baby’s growth and development in the first twelve months was optimum.
Janet Doman, the Director of The Institutes, began the presentation with an overview of the history of The Institutes and a summary of the philosophy and basic principles of child brain development. The entire day was devoted to teaching level I to level IV of The Institutes Developmental Profile. Janet Doman and Leia Coelho Reilly taught how to evaluate each level but, even more importantly, what to do to provide appropriate stimulation and opportunity to develop each level.
Smart Baby – Here Leia Coelho Reilly, Director of Physical Excellence teaches how to provide the ideal environment to encourage the baby to creep
Thaisa Mendes, long-time member of The staff and Professional Mother is also a professional translator who has undertaken the major work of translating of all The Institutes books. She has recently completed the reading and math books. Soon she will complete “What to Do About Your Brain-injured Child”.
Thaisa Mendes did the simultaneous translation for both days of lectures.
The Pathway to Excellence
Parents were extremely attentive and asked excellent questions. At the end of the day parents were very excited to learn that they would be the first parents in the world to read The Pathway to Excellence in Portuguese. Thaisa Mendez translated the work and Valdemar Neghme surprised us by arranging to have to published before we arrived.
The new edition of “The Pathway to Wellness” in Portuguese was unveiled and each parent received one.
The Institutes Invited to talk with the President of the Senate of Brazil
While we were there to our surprise we were invited to meet with the President of the Senate of Brazil. The president of the Senate is the third highest post in the government of Brazil after the President himself. This was a formal meeting that took place in the beautiful Congresso Nacional of Brasil.
The Director of The Institutes had the opportunity to meet with the President of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre and his wife, Liana Andrade
Davi Alcolumbre, the President of the Senate, expressed his strong interest in the work of The Institutes and his desire to see the children of Brazil, both hurt and well, benefit from The Institutes program. We also met with Federal senator, Flavio Arns, from the state of Paraná along with several of the most senior senators interested in brain-injured children and education.
The Director of The Institutes had the opportunity to meet with the President of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre and his wife, Liana Andrade
To our surprise and delight, Senator Arns is well versed in our work. He had met Glenn and Katie Doman with Dr. Jose Carlos more than 30 years ago in Curitiba and had studied our books and papers.
Senator Fabiano Contarato of Espírito Santo and Davi Alcolumbre, President of the Senate, invite the Director of The Institutes, Janet Doman to sign the Guest Book of the Congresso Nacional.
We felt very much at home with these senators who welcomed us so warmly and were passionate about helping the children of Brasil.
It was a wonderful trip to a wonderful country. We met dedicated and determined parents who, like our parents all over the world, are fighting the good fight to help their children have a better life. We met government officials at the highest level who understand the importance of brain growth and development and want to help us really do something about it.
We deeply appreciate the Herculean efforts of our team of Brazilians at The Institutes who worked extremely hard to make this trip happen and the staff of Waldemar Neghme in Brazil.
Our promise to Brazil – we will be back.