The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential

History

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), together with Carl Delacato (an educational psychologist), developed an approach to treating children with brain injury, published in 1960 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).^[1] Their work drew heavily on the ideas of Dr. Temple Fay (a neurophysiologist), who was head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Temple University Medical School and president of the Philadelphia Neurological Society.^[2] Fay 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", also known as the recapitulation theory, is considered obsolete by modern mainstream biologists ^[3], although the two phenomena are widely believed to be connected in some way.^[4] The IAHP claim that brain injury at a given level of neurological development prevents further progress.^[5] The IAHP states that its therapies are based on the theory of neuroplasticity, or the brain’s inherent ability to grow both functionally and anatomically. It claims that traditional medicine has attempted to treat brain injured children by medicating them, and that such medications can have negative side effects.^[6] The IAHP claims that due to neuroplasticity, their programs of increased sensory stimulation can actually physically grow the brain and produce improved neurological function in their patients. Glenn Doman referenced the scientific research of University of California scientists Dr. David Krech and Dr. Marian Diamond^[7], who showed that the brains of rats grew with increased intellectual stimulation.^[8]. Another aspect of the IAHP's theories is that a lack of oxygen to the brain is a key cause of many problems in brain-injured children. The IAHP asserts that their program includes techniques that improve this oxygen supply, and that increased oxygen to the brain will help their patients recover.^{[citation needed]}

In 1964 Doman published the book How to Teach Your Baby to Read^[9], and republished the book in 1991 and 2002. Over five million copies of the book have been sold, and it has been translated into over twenty-two different languages.^[10] How To Teach Your Baby to Read was the first IAHP book in their "Gentle Revolution Series", a line of books for parents of normal children. Doman's next book in the series was How To Teach Your Baby Math^[11], published in 1979, and How to Multiply your Baby's Intelligence^[12] in 1983. In 2006, Glenn Doman and his daughter Janet Doman, the current director of the IAHP, published How Smart Is Your Baby?: Develop And Nurture Your Newborn's Full Potential.^[13] Later the same year, the IAHP's vice director, Douglas Doman, published How to Teach Your Baby to Swim: From Birth to Age Six.^[14] These were also aimed at parents of normal children. These programs for "well children" are a significant aspect of the IAHP's promotional material, literature and web site. In 1975, Janet Doman founded the Evan Thomas Institute for Early Development (ETI), a school for well children, on the Philadelphia campus of the IAHP. It was named after Dr. Evan Thomas, a physician and contributor to the IAHP's work. In 1979, the International School of the Evan Thomas Institute was founded, a school for graduates of the IAHP's "Early Development" program. Famous scientists and thinkers have come to teach at ETI, including biochemist Buckminster Fuller, Linus Pauling, Shin'ichi Suzuki (creator of the Suzuki Method of music education), and astronaut Rhea Seddon.^[15]

In 1973, a documentary directed by John Goodell was created about the IAHP's work, called Always a New Beginning. It followed Glenn Doman and Carl Delacato over a five year period as they travelled through over twenty countries working with children. The documentary was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Feature.^[16]

Glenn Doman published the book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child^[17] 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.

David Melton published a book in 1969, republished in 1985, describing the positive effect of the Institute's program on their child. ^[18]

In 1999, ASICS, a Japanese athletic equiment company, introduced a line of sports shoes for young children called the "G.D." series after Glenn Doman, because of Doman's support of exercise for young children, which the IAHP claims improves neurological health.^[19] ASICS also created an infant crawling track for the IAHP, intended to gives babies increased freedom to crawl, and by doing so, improve neurological function.^[20]

In October 2007, Glenn Doman was awarded the "Medal of the Italian Senate" for his work with children, by the International Scientific Committee of the Pio Manzù Centre, ^[21]

IAHP Programs

Programs for brain-injured children

Before initiation of an IAHP program with their "brain-injured" children, parents attend a five day seminar that the IAHP presents called the "What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course". The IAHP states that this course gives a good basis of understanding of their programs to parents.^[22] This course is presented in Philadelphia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Singapore.^[23]

The program for "brain-injured" children includes:

• Patterning – manipulation of limbs and head in a rhythmic fashion
• Crawling – forward bodily movement with the abdomen in contact with the floor
• Creeping – forward bodily movement with the abdomen raised from the floor
• Receptive stimulation – visual, tactile and auditory stimulation
• Expressive activities – e.g. picking up objects
• Masking – breathing into a rebreathing mask to increase the amount of carbon dioxide inhaled, which is believed to increase cerebral blood flow
• Brachiation – swinging from a bar or vertical ladder
• Gravity/Antigravity activities – rolling, somersaulting and hanging upside down.

(The above is taken from Understanding Mental Retardation, page 185-186.)^[24]

The program is highly intensive and designed to be used by a parent full-time at home. Patterning is perhaps the key technique. IAHP state "if we have to put everything we do on one hook, patterning is really not a bad place to hang our hat"^[25] and "that if these patterns were applied rigorously, on a specific schedule, and done with a religious zeal, brain-injured kids improved." The IAHP have their own Developmental Profile that is used to measure the degree of ability and disability of a child as well as monitoring progress. They believe the order of brain development occurs as higher brain stages are successively brought into play.^[26]

Programs for well children

The IAHP also provides programs and literature to the parents of well children. Glenn Doman believed that because the neurological development of brain injured children could be speeded, that the same should be true of well children. The IAHP provides a series of books called the "Gentle Revolution Series". These books claim that the development of well children can be made faster if parents provide the IAHP's prescribed programs. The IAHP teaches a week-long seminar called the "How To Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence Course", which provides demonstrations of children taught with the IAHP's methods. The IAHP claims that at the course, "parents learn how to teach their children to read, how to learn a foreign language...mathematics, and music appreciation. Parents learn about sensory and motor development and the fundamentals of a good nutritional program for the family."^[27]

Epilepsy treatment

The IAHP requires that all brain-injured children be gradually weaned off anticonvulsants. They claim that seizures are a "natural reflex defense response to a lethal threat to the brain"^[28], but that the seizures themselves are not directly harmful to the brain. Instead of placing children on anticonvulsant medications, the IAHP claims that resources should be directed at "developing methods and bioactive agents that promote neuroplasticity", the brain's ability to grow and change.^[29][30] The IAHP asserts that status epilepticus can be caused by anticonvulsants and may be best left untreated by them. Instead, they believe that seizures can be reduced or eliminated by a "masking" program, which they claim periodically reduces oxygen intake and increases carbon dioxide intake. The IAHP also claims that seizures can be reduced by decreasing intake of salt and fluids, supplements of magnesium calcium and pyridoxine, and a healthy diet and environment.^[31]

Scientific evaluation

The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children With Disabilities issued warnings regarding patterning, one of the IAHP's therapies for brain injured children, as early as 1968. Their latest cautionary policy statement was in 1999, which was reaffirmed in 2002 and 2005. It stated:^[32]

This statement reviews patterning as a treatment for children with neurologic impairments. This treatment is based on an outmoded and oversimplified theory of brain development. Current information does not support the claims of proponents that this treatment is efficacious, and its use continues to be unwarranted...The demands and expectations placed on families are so great that in some cases their financial resources may be depleted substantially and parental and sibling relationships could be stressed.

In September 2006, Dr. Gerry Leisman, director of the the F. R. Carrick Institute for Clinical Ergonomics, Rehabilitation, and Applied Neuroscience and a Professor of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology at Leeds Metropolitan University^[33], along with Dr. Denise Malkowicz, a neurologist and professor at Drexel University, published a scientific paper in the International Journal of Neuroscience called "Rehabilitation of Cortical Visual Impairment in Children", which described changes in children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) while on an IAHP program of intense visual stimulation. The paper studied 21 children, all who had sustained "bilateral visual loss due to injury of visual areas in the brain without significant eye or anterior visual pathway impairment" over a seven year period. The study concluded that "twenty of 21 children (95%) manifested significant improvement after 4 to 13 months on the [IAHP] program. Results indicate that even in this challenging group, there may be considerable neuroplasticity in visual systems leading to reintegration and visual recovery."^[34]

Controversy

Scientific support

Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel Prizes, praised the Institutes in a symposium paper: "I believe that there are great possibilities for improving the lot of human beings, the health of human beings, including the work of the Institutes for Achievement of Human Potential and I admire the work that has been done in these Institutes very much. I know that considerable emphasis is placed on good nutrition for the people who come to the Institutes and that large doses of vitamin C are given to them."^[35]

In October 2007, Glenn Doman was awarded the "Medal of the Italian Senate" by the International Scientific Committee of the Pio Manzù Centre. ^[36][37]

The IAHP found support from antropologist Raymond Dart. Beginning at age 73, Dart spent the next twenty years dividing his time between South Africa and the IAHP. Dart supported the "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" premise behind the IAHP's work. Dart stated that "the development of the individual does, indeed, recapitulate the evolution of the species."^[38][39]

Neil Harvey summarizes in his book, Kids Who Start Ahead, Stay Ahead: What Actually Happens When Your Home-Taught Early Learner Goes To School the results of 314 children that were stimulated with the IAHP's programs for "well children" as babies. From his research, Dr. Harvey summarized:

We are able to conclude, based upon parent comments, that the 314 children in our survey are kids whose eyes shine. They are children endlessly interested and interesting. They're imaginative. They're kids you like to talk to; they listen (all adults like kids who listen) but, more than that, they stick with the give and take of conversation. Their questions are fresh although, sometimes, biting. They're rapt, attentive to solid answers, tickled when they learn something new.... You enjoy being with them. They continue to manage emotions well; they deal smoothly with all age groups and, perhaps most importantly, they persist in being kind and caring and sensitive, far more than others the same age.^[40]

'The International Journal of Applied Kinesiology and Kinesiologic Medicine in its Fall 2001 issue claimed that Doman and the IAHP have "been involved in bringing brain-injured children to wellness for a half century and we are proud to honor him and the staff herein."^[41] Dr. Philip Maffetone, a consultant to professional atheletes and a past president of the International College of Applied Kinesiology, is also a supporter of the IAHP's work. ^[42]

Raymundo Veras M.D., claims in his book Children of Dreams, Children of Hope that he was impressed by the IAHP's work, so he brought it to his home country of Brazil. He writes, "The goal of the staff of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential seems to me to be a proper goal--to make each child a complete and functioning human being--to make him well."^[43]

Edward Le Winn, M.D., a former Chief of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, claimed that the IAHP's treatment of brain injured children is "based on the concept of neurological organization" and "can often produce signifant improvement in the capabilities of individuals with all degrees of neurological disorganization. " Dr. Le Winn would eventually resign from his position at the Albert Einstein Medical Center to work full time as the IAHP's Director of Clinical Investigation.^[44]

Scientific criticism

The Doman-Delacato method has been criticized by some in the medical establishment, and some have called it quackery.^[45][46]

Kathleen Ann Quill, in her book Teaching children with autism: What parents want,^[47] says "thousands of families have wasted time and money to follow Doman's methods." She goes on to say "Professionals have nothing to learn from Doman's pseudoscientific treatments, but they have plenty to learn from his marketing strategy", which is aimed at parent's "hopes and fantasies".

Martha Farrell Erickson and Karen Marie Kurz-Riemer discuss Early Intervention with "Normal Infants and Toddlers" in their book "Infants Toddlers and Families".^[48] They claim Doman "capitalized on the desires of members of the "baby boom" generation to maximise their children's intellectual potential" and "encouraged parents to push their infants to develop maximum brain power". However his programs were "based on shaky or nonexistent research evidence" and "most child development experts at the time described many aspects of the program as useless and perhaps even harmful."

Martin Robards also cites criticism in his book Running a Team for Disabled Children and Their Families^[49] but concedes that Doman and Delacato caused paediatricians and therapists to recognise that early intervention programs are needed.

Steven Novella, MD is a neurologist who has criticized the technique in an article called Psychomotor Patterning: An Expose of a Cruel Pseudoscience. The conclusion is reproduced here:

The Doman-Delacato patterning technique is premised on a bankrupt and discarded theory and has failed when tested under controlled conditions. Its promotion with unsubstantiated claims can cause significant financial and emotional damage. Such claims can instill false hope in many people who are already plagued by guilt and depression, setting them up for a further disappointment, guilt, and feelings of inadequacy. The process can also waste their time, energy, emotion, and money. These resources may be taken away from their children. Parents can also be distracted from dealing with the situation in other practical ways and coping psychologically as a family with the reality of having a brain-injured or mentally retarded child. Parents are encouraged, in fact, to remain in a state of denial while they are pursuing a false cure.

Popular support

Supporters of this program have included U.S. President George W. Bush (in a letter to Glenn Doman)^{[citation needed]}, Liza Minelli, who served on their board of directors for some time.^[50] and appeared in their commercials ^[51], and several former patients and their parents. ^[52], ^[53], ^[54], ^[55], ^[56]

Naturally, the IAHP web site contains a significant amount of promotional material for their programs and techniques. There are numerous case histories and testimonials as well.