Dx Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome): Manuela Success Story (UPDATED)

One little girl with an extra chromosome and no mother or father finds the family she deserves

Manuela is my adopted daughter, and I realized she had a problem at birth. The lawyer for the adoption process reported that she was born with a genetic problem and that we were free to retract the process.

I already felt Manuela was my daughter. Although I felt scared, it seemed to me that my daughter was the same, she just had an extra chromosome.

Genetic problems, developmental problems and cardiac problems

She also had a very high bilirubin and was hospitalized for 15 days. The doctors told us because of problems in utero that her development might be a problem.

Manuela was also born with 3 cardiological problems. At 5 months of age, she had surgery to correct one of the problems and the two holes have been closing spontaneously, thank God.

I was very afraid because I didn´t know what complications to expect with heart disease. I began to hear and read on the internet that many children did not survive or have a quality life.

“I knew we were going to be fine”

At months 4 months Manuela’s vision was still at a newborn level, she could not hear or feel pain, she was unable to move, make sounds or use her hands. 

However, my love was immense, and I knew that God didn´t play dice, she was my daughter and I was her mother and together we were going to be fine.

I didn’t know where to research until a friend told me that the best way was The Institutes, so I went to the course What to Do About Your Brain-injured Child when Manuela was 3 months old. My life regained hope, I could understand the important things about her brain development.

I started working immediately when I arrived home and we have not stopped since.

Manuela had very little mobility, her muscular tone was very low and although the first year was very difficult and her development was slow, once she began to crawl then her physical development, health, intellectual growth and social growth began to improve significantly. By the time she was two years old she could walk well.

Manuela’s older sister was helping her baby sister and mother from the very beginning

The course gave me the necessary information to start working on Manuela’s development in a precise and systematic way, it´s so clear and deep that it gives all the tools to implement the development program at home and obtain excellent results.

It gave me discipline, order, and daily motivation to develop an environment of intellectual, physiological, physical and social excellence in my home. It gave me the motivation and confidence to work for a goal – the development of the brain of my daughter, Manuela and that of my oldest daughter, Gabriela, who learned at our home school with this program. She also benefited from the program until she turned 9 years old and began school. By that time, she had a lot of information and the tools she needed to learn.

Gabriela gave her time and energy to her sister, but she benefited substantially herself as a result.

Although I am divorced and live alone with my two daughters, the program and The Institutes have been a huge support in raising my daughters. I am the Mother that is fulfilling her life purpose, thanks to the teaching of The Institutes.

Just after her second birthday, she was walking and had begun saying her first words.

Manuela brachiates every day now she is physically excellent.

It ́s normal to feel fear because we are in a standardized society and our injured children fall outside that standard, but that doesn ́t mean that they are not valuable human beings with the ability to develop their full potential and that as mothers we have the moral obligation to do everything possible to help them realize their potential.

Mother taught her with more than 1000 words, and she could identify many of them, at only two years of age! At four years of age, Manuela is reading library books independently

Parents should go to the course because it is so complete and integrated. It is profound and provides information that is pertinent and gives us the confidence to invest our days and our lives in the future of our children.

The Institutes program brings the family closer together

The initial poor prognosis paralyzes parents with fear the support of the staff of The Institutes, their confidence in us, their encouragement to move forward and make us better parents, is only the way to awaken our consciences so we can live meaningful lives, with excellence at the service of others starting with our own family.

At age four Manuela was walking and running 2 miles daily.

Manuela at age 4, practiced gymnastics and enjoyed the trampoline. She did chores around the house and was a member in good standing in her Sunday School class at church.

Update

“Today, at 7 years old, Manuela is in excellent health, she is a child with better than average muscle tone. She walks and jogs between 5 and 7 km every day. She makes 30 trips on her brachiation ladder. She enjoys her gymnastics at home.

“Manuela is a good listener and she has excellent comprehension. She enjoys reading, especially the classics that her sister reads. Her sister is eleven years old now and, just like her, Manuela reads at about a sixth-grade level. Her favorite subject is history of art, as a result she knows many works of art and the biographies of her favorite artists.”

The enriched environment physically, socially, and intellectually, for both Manuela and her older sister, has placed both on the pathway to excellence.

Two musicians making beautiful music together

Two months before her 7th birthday her legal adoption was successfully completed, after many valuable years of waiting, enriched all the while by her mother’s learning in the Initial Course, lectures and intensive program.

“After 2,370 days in temporary status, today I was adopted”

“I am full of confidence in her future because she has benefited from all the effort that we put into her program every day. She loves the program, and she enjoys it.”

Confidence based about her physical ability: Manuela rides the big waves.

“We can see how she is reaching her different development milestones. So, I am convinced that in the future she will reach her full potential and will be an excellent human being with the wonderful ability to love and help other brain-injured people to travel a path toward wellness successfully.”

7-year-old bookworm with a great collection of art masterpieces in her library

“Investing our life in Manuela’s development will not only benefit Manuela in the future, but I am also sure that her older sister who has been a support in the Program and a fundamental part in motivating, encouraging, and helping Manuela meet her daily goals, will be rewarded in being a more sensitive and considerate person, valuing the difference and making this a better world.” 

“All my gratitude to The Institutes, to the staff, to our staff advocate, Susan Aisen, and the legacy of Dr. Glenn Doman.”

Learn More About the What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course.