Montserrat, the Saldana family's second child, was born by Cesarean section on August 26, 1989. As a newborn Montserrat slept too much, cried very little, and had to be awakened to be fed. At two months of age, Montserrat was diagnosed with the chromosomal abnormality of Down syndrome, Mosaic pattern. She had recurrent urinary tract infections during infancy.
When Montserrat was an infant, her parents read What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child and began a home treatment program with her. They began patterning, balance activities, and a reading program with their little girl and saw the results in her improved alertness and ability to crawl. In February 1990, Mrs. Saldana attended the What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course, and her husband took the course in June 1990. The Saldanas learned how to further stimulate Montserrat, and prior to her first birthday, she began creeping on her hands and knees.
Montserrat was first evaluated by The Institutes staff in August 1990, when she was eleven months old. Due to her parents' excellent efforts, Montserrat's visual, auditory, and tactile competence were progressing well, although her hearing and sense of touch were not perfect for her age level. Montserrat was creeping but not yet walking, and her manual coordination was not at age level.
The Institutes staff designed an intensive treatment program for Montserrat to follow. Her program included crawling, creeping, patterning, respiratory masking, reading, mathematics, Bit of Intelligence Card Sets, auditory stimulation and nutrition.
Montserrat began walking before her six-month revisit, and her language began to develop as well. The Saldanas felt that Montserrat had no intellectual problems and, in fact, was advanced for her age due to her early learning program. At that point Montserrat's hearing was perfect for her age.
Over the next several years, Montserrat's home treatment program included walking, running, gymnastics, brachiation, the Gravity Free Environment, crawling, creeping, vestibular activities, respiratory masking, respiratory patterning, the Oxygen Enrichment Program, reading, mathematics, encyclopedic knowledge, problem solving, laterality, social growth, and nutrition.
In February 1998, Montserrat was reading commercial books at a level above her well peers. She was physically well coordinated and able to run 3 miles nonstop in less than 30 minutes and one mile nonstop in less than 10 minutes. She was a skilled gymnast and a good swimmer. Montserrat was speaking and writing in paragraphs, although she still experienced the occasional reversal of letters in writing and sometimes she spoke too fast. Parents and staff agreed to continue Montserrat's home treatment program for another six months and then enroll her in school for the fall semester.
In December 1998, the Saldanas contacted the staff to report that Montserrat was doing very well in all aspects of her schooling and in her after-school activities. They reported that she was succeeding intellectually, physically, and socially even more than they expected she would.
At her revisit in March 1999, Montserrat was continuing to advance in reading, writing and language skills. She continues to steadily progress in all classroom subjects and in her ability to work independently.
As Montserrat's teacher wrote: "She has had a very good relationship with the rest of her classmates. She is well accepted and she has a very good interpersonal relationship with them. In my point of view she has improved in all areas of her life."
The staff and her parents agreed that Montserrat should graduate to life and continue her successful experience in school alongside her peers.
