Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) Success Story: Sara

“We began to see that we have a child, not a problem – we had increasing hope.”

On the day of Sara’s birth, her parents were told that she had Trisomy 21. This began the family on a search to find answers for Sara, leading them to The Institutes. After graduating from The Institutes’ Intensive Treatment Program, parents wrote about their family’s experience on the program and Sara’s inspirational story:

We started to look for help and information, to learn what we could do for our baby. We became very confused because every doctor had a different opinion and none of them had any answers.

As time went by, we did see how our Sara was not developing as she should; even to feed her was a difficult task.

A friend gave us the book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child. We finished the book and said that this is what we have been looking for. Immediately we began a program following the book.

We went to The Institutes in Philadelphia with Sara when she was seven months old and then a really new life began. Sara couldn’t move by herself even one inch. It was a tremendous moment when she, for the first time in her life, crawled two feet. We saw this with tears in our eyes and realized we were on the right path for her.

Every month, Sara improved. We began to see that we have a child, not a problem, and with every visit to The Institutes, we had increasing hope.

In mobility, Sara began to crawl, then to creep, then to walk, and then to run. We and Sara’s sisters made sure she made every goal that was set for her.

She led us to understand the brain and human potential, and to this island of hope at The Institutes.

To develop her mobility, we used tunnels, and kittens, and lots of love and encouragement. When Sara was nine years old, she was running five kilometers every day. Mom was in great shape, too!

Before the program, Sara’s eyes crossed severely. Eventually, she was reading big red words and phrases before she was two years old!

She was able to read books before she entered school.

Sara began a gymnastics program when she was four years old. She became a proficient gymnast, and was clearly above her peers physically early on.

Sara was a lovely little girl who put a touch of heaven in everything she did. She changed our family completely, from being an ordinary family, to an extraordinary family.

Today, Sara goes to school, and continues to be above her age level in academics, athletics, and in social situations, too.

Our Work

The Institutes For the Achievement of Human Potential teaches parents of brain–injured children how to put their child on a pathway to wellness.

Our deep appreciation of how a child grows and develops from conception onward sets the standards and goals for all our children. Our goal is to enable each parent and every family by teaching mothers and fathers what matters most for their children so that they can become the very best they can be.

The pathway to wellness for a brain-injured child is accomplished through a careful home program of appropriate and effective stimulation and opportunity aimed at treating the central nervous system, not the symptoms. When parents understand how the brain grows and how to enhance that growth they can achieve extraordinary results usually without the use of medications or surgery.

We are a not-for-profit, non-denominational, international organization, headquartered in Philadelphia. We have been engaged in vigorous research and discovery for the best methods to help our children achieve their potential for more than 60 years. Thousands of parents have come to The Institutes from 100 nations and learned how to help their child. Hundreds of thousands of parents have read our books and used our materials to help their children.

Our parents have proven beyond question that children who have the opportunity to pursue an intensive program at home can achieve substantial, and often life-changing, results.