What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child in Tokyo

Parents Come From Four Nations To Tokyo

For more than a half century parents have been making their way from around the world to The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia to find answers for their brain-injured children and for almost that long, the staff of The Institutes have been traveling around the world to provide those answers closer to home whenever they could do so.

Glenn Doman continues to be the primary lecturer in the course through a state-of-the-art video presentation.

One of those countries is Japan where the course has been given every year for three decades. This week that tradition continues in Tokyo where a team of Staff from The Institutes is presenting the course to parents from China, India, Japan, and New Zealand.

The children for whom these parents have come seeking answers range from those who are paralyzed, blind, deaf and tube-fed, to children previously diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, autism, neurological problems caused by genetic problems such as Trisomy 21, developmental delay, attention deficit disorder and high level learning problems.

In five short days parents understanding will be transformed and their options for their child will be multiplied.

How is that possible?

Day One

“After the second hour of the course on Monday, I called my mother and told her that just those two hours were worth the time, effort, and money.”

Parents will be introduced briefly to the history of the work of The Institutes. They will learn about the causes of brain-injury, why the conventional treatments commonly used to treat hurt children do not succeed and what is essential in effective treatment. They learn that parents are often confused and disheartened by the symptomatic labels that have made them think their child was hopeless. They end the day understanding that their child has an injury to the brain and that the brain has great plasticity and can be treated.

Day Two

“The staff was wonderful. They were knowledgeable, kind, helpful and, most of all, quietly confident that they can help your child.”

The day begins with the basic principles of brain growth and development. These principles will become the guiding light in the home programs of each child in the future. The neurophysiological evidence that the brain has incredible plasticity is presented. The most important dynamics in central nervous system transmission are taught. As parents understand the importance of stimulation and opportunity their most important question becomes “So, what is happening in the brain?” This question is addressed.

Parents learn about The Institutes Developmental Profile and how to use that profile to evaluate where their child is compared to the well child. This careful evaluation will be essential as the week goes on. The day ends with an overview on diagnosis in which parents learn that a proper diagnosis cannot be a simple description of symptoms but must provide where the problem is located, how much of a problem there may be and to what degree. Parents now have a clear picture of where their child stands and they are ready to learn what to do about it.

Day Three

“This is the first time I’ve attended a training institute where I actually felt the staff loved and believed in what they were doing and teaching. It was a pleasure to hear over and over again that a brain-injured child can be helped and had potential.”

Now that parents know how the brain gets injured, why treatment must be directed to the brain and not to the symptoms, how to evaluate their own child and discover the areas of the brain that need stimulation, they are ready to learn how to begin a program. On this day the staff of the Institute for Physical Excellence take over and they teach all aspects of mobility from the immobile child all the way to the child who may walk and run. Parents begin to understand that the physical program is not only about mobility but it is designed to provide neurological organization to all areas of the brain that may be injured. Parents see demonstrations by children on the program. They are taught directly how to do certain parts of the physical program and they actually get to do some of the physical program their child will be doing.

Kids’ Demonstrations: Children on the program sometimes come to demonstrate. Here one child demonstrates his gymnastics skills.

Day Four

“I did not expect to be on the edge of my seat every minute of every lecture. I did not expect to get excited and gain this amount of knowledge.”

The staff of The Institute for Intellectual Excellence begin the day with the reasons why reading is the single most important part of a vibrant and effective intellectual program. They present a full background on reading and a detailed program that can be done at home with excellent results. Visual problems and their effect on reading and learning are reviewed. Children on the program are presented and parents have a chance to see the materials developed at home by our families.

In the afternoon parents learn about oxygen enrichment, medications and detoxification from the medical staff. Environmental toxins and their solutions are presented as well as a comprehensive presentation of The Institutes nutritional program. The day ends with the sensory stimulation program where parents learn how to provide appropriate stimulation to help a blind child see or a deaf child hear or an insensate child feel. This one day covers so much ground that it could be a one week course all by itself.

Day Five

“Do whatever it takes to get to the course. These five days will forever change your life and, more importantly, your brain-injured child’s life.”

By the final day it is time to answer the question “Is there really hope for my brain-injured child, if so, what are his chances to improve?” The Institutes has kept meticulous records of each child in its Clinical Archive which goes back more than six decades. A summary of the results of treatment is presented so that parents can evaluate for themselves the significance based upon their new understanding of the development of the brain.

On this day we take a simple but profound look at the family and each parent understands why at The Institutes it is the family that is the answer. When parents understand exactly why the brain grows the way it does, they are the very best therapists for their children.

Finally, we step back and offer our very best practical advice about what to do and what not to do with a brain-injured child. Sixty years of night and day experience nose-to-nose with the most challenging range of hurt children and teaching the very best parents makes this final presentation invaluable. Parents know they are part of the family of The Institutes.

Take Home

By week’s end parents have:

• A functional neurological evaluation
• Their child’s rate of growth compared to average
• The areas of the brain that must be addressed
• The initial physical program,
• The initial intellectual program
• The initial physiological program
• A lecture notebook that has enough to keep that program going for 6-12 months.

But most of all, parents have the understanding and confidence they need to go home and get started making a better life for their child.

And that, is what it is all about.

It has been a wonderful week for the staff and the parents. Many parents in the group did their homework before the course and have already been doing a very good program and getting significant results. What a pleasure it is to be here again. We look forward to welcoming another great group from all over Asia to the course in Tokyo one year from now.

27th – 31st January 2020