Our Approach
For more than half a century, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential has been teaching parents about child brain development.
For more than half a century, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential has been teaching parents about child brain development.
Treating the symptoms of injury to the brain without addressing the brain itself will fail. Surgery and medication are often used to eliminate a distressing symptom. Treatment of the brain-injured child must be aimed at brain maturation, in order to be safe and effective. The answer is not to be found in the medicine cabinet—but in stimulation and opportunity.
Brain growth and development are a product of stimulation and opportunity. Brain injury creates a barrier between the environment and the brain, normal stimulus does not get through that barrier. We design a program for each child which provides appropriate sensory stimulation with increased frequency, intensity and duration and enhanced motor opportunity to increase central nervous system transmission. The program is a careful balance of intellectual, physical, social and physiological stimulation and opportunity. It is done at home with mother and father.
Historically, children diagnosed with developmental delay, cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, learning problems, dyslexia, and a host of other symptomatic labels have been considered hopeless. Our objective is to take every hurt child who we see, regardless of how severely injured, and to move that child toward wellness to the full extent that our knowledge and skill permits. We want every brain-injured child to have a fighting chance to be well. We often refer to our children as “hurt kids” because our children are hurt, not damaged, not diseased – they are hurt. That is why we use the term “hurt kids”. It is a more accurate way to describe the brain-injured child who tragically has been called by so many names that are libels more than labels.
Thousands of parents have come to The Institutes to learn how to help their children become better. Our parents do not come looking for miracles, but instead, they are looking for answers to their questions and an effective program to help their child. Those parents have proven, beyond any doubt, that brain-injured children are not hopeless, but have tremendous potential.
The world has looked at brain growth and development as if it were a predestined and unchangeable fact, instead brain growth and development is a dynamic and ever-changing process. This is a process that can be stopped. This is a process that can be slowed. But most significantly, this is a process that can be speeded
- Glenn Doman
For more than half a century, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential has been teaching parents about child brain development. We are dedicated to enriching the lives of all children, whether they are brain-injured or well by providing parents with the knowledge, understanding, and inspiration they need to make their children healthier, happier, and much more capable.
Our program is about brain growth and maturation. With the knowledge that the brain quite literally grows by use, our parents learn how to enhance and enrich the lives of their children and establish an environment of love and respect. The program embraces all aspects of growth and development – health and wellbeing and intellectual, social, and physical growth and development.
The potential of all human beings is far greater than we have realized in the past. In the first six years of life the brain is growing faster than at any other time. All parents want their children to have the best opportunity to realize that potential. Our objective is for all children to be highly capable so that they can pursue their own path and achieve their own goals in life.
“All that we do to speed the process is to provide visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation, and appropriate motor opportunity, with increased frequency, intensity, and duration in recognition of the orderly way in which the human brain grows.”
- Glenn Doman
We teach our parents how to provide a stimulating environment and enriched opportunities for their children at home. When parents have the knowledge and the tools they need, they are the very best teachers for their children. We know each family is unique with unique goals and purposes. Our purpose is not to provide a set curriculum or a rigid schedule but rather to give each family the freedom to pursue whatever they enjoy doing with their child and to do it in a relaxed and happy way.
Our early development program includes reading, mathematics, encyclopedic knowledge, foreign language, music and an extensive physical program. In our experience children raised in an enriched environment become intellectually, physically and socially capable and confident.
A life-changing course. Parents learn what to do, how to do it and why it works. Presented in English & Spanish
Based on six decades of search and discovery, we have created a course for expectant parents and parents of babies 0-12 months old.