I'm going to the Institutes (IAHP) this weekend!!!

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
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Talk about a last minute decision! I just booked my spot at the “How to Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence” course. I only learned about the course date last week - on a random whim I went to their website to check the dates for future seminars and was like “holy cow, it’s next week!”. I hemmed and hawed about my decision as it’s a hefty investment. But it almost seems as though the stars were aligned for me to go: my husband is able to take time off of work next week and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of teaching my soon to be baby #3 in December (and I’m not nursing!! :). :thumbsup:

A little background on myself: I discovered Doman about 10 months ago - my older son was 30 months and younger one was 13 months. Yes, you’re hearing me correctly - come December, I will have 3 under 3.5!! Crazy right?? You’re telling me. :hi5: At any rate, I put his methodologies into full force and my older son was reading within 5 months. We delved into every facet of Doman life from teaching both boys how to swim to creating an academically and exploratory rich environment. It was a complete mental shift as to how we spent our days and how I perceived them and their abilities. But like most of you, I had a hunch that there was more I could be doing with them which is how I stumbled upon Doman (I’m still surprised at the lack of familiarity people have with early learning!!!).

I know this forum is an immense source of knowledge but for me I feel like my knowledge and execution is similar to a colander. It has holes - and I would like those holes filled. Sometimes I spend an hour or two at a time on this forum scouring to see how others are approaching something I’m stuck on but it’s only a hole or two at a time that I’m able to fill and if I read something counter to what I’m doing it starts to shake my confidence. What’s worked for my older son doesn’t always seem to be working for my younger son and I need the confidence and conviction to believe I’m on the right track. I know the courses at the Institutes get mixed reviews - some say they are redundant to what’s in the books and if you’ve read them then there isn’t much added value to attending the course unless you are a newbie. But for me I need the tangible - I want to see, feel, touch and ask as many questions as I can so that I’m better prepared (and more relaxed) about throwing another one into the mix and to keep on track with my older two. Plus, I’ve never executed Doman’s methods with a newborn and that somehow seems like an awesome task to me. Now, I’m realistic and I know I’m not going to come back and be able to do this stuff with my eyes closed and I’ll probably still have many questions- we all have stumbling blocks - but just the knowledge to keep trekking along and the confidence to weather those stumbling blocks will be worth every penny to me.

Enough babbling from me. I’ll be sure to post my thoughts/take-aways upon my return. Curious if anyone else is attending?? And for those who have in the past - any thoughts/advice?

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Please share about your experience after you attend!! Have a wonderful time!!! :slight_smile:

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Will do! Thank you, TheyCan!

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Have fun!

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I would love to take that course. I am so happy for you. I do hope you follow up and share what you learned here. I hear it is amazing.

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Thank you! Yes, I plan to share my experience on this forum – a simple way to give back to people that have given so much and been so inspirational!

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subscribing to the thread

I want to hear all the nitty gritty details

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Have a great time!
The travel cost sadly have been my road block to go myself. However I have found out about the NACD which is run by Glenn Domans nephew. They start working with families one on one and provide one on one parent coaching. Plus they can do it over skype.
Please share what you learn!

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enjoy and please do report back! i would have loved to attend one of these and am sure it would have made a big difference but I don’t live in the US. Please share your experience!

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Oh you sound so excited! I bet you get heaps more out of the course than you could from the books alone. You sure will have a busy life doing Doman Style with three ata time. Love to hear all about it :smiley:

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I call the Institutes “my slice of heaven on earth”! I mean it, I cried from joy nearly every day I was at that course. Here is my 2c worth, the course is EVERYTHING and more but more importantly, DON’T FORGET TO NETWORK WITH THE PARENTS. These are parents who are like minded. The bond that is forged there goes beyond friendship. I made two friends there that I call my soul sisters. And for good reason. These will be the people that you will celebrate with and cry with (on your challenging days). But most of all, they will understand you and where you are coming from. Second piece of advice, have all your questions ready and hit those yellow jackets for as many questions as you can. They are literally, worth their weight in gold. So take videos of your children crawling etc. They can analyze them there for you. Then of course, you have to say Hi to Connie and Susan for me ;). Waiting for your report back! Did I mention I was jealous of you. Please don’t feel guilty for leaving your children, this is one of those airplane, parental air masks first situations. Enjoy!!

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Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging words!

I write this from my hotel room this morning. It’s all a bit surreal but I am tremendously excited and eager to learn directly from the experts. Attending this course wasn’t even on the remotest of my radar but when an opportunity falls into place, you need to seize it, right?

I’m attaching the agenda for the seminar to give you an idea of the topics that will be covered and how the course is structured. Today is mainly an introduction day and we’ll dive in tomorrow morning.

Mandy, you are an inspiration! I will pass along your regards – I’ll say Mandy from California says hi! :slight_smile: Thank you for your pointers as well. I have a page of questions ready to fire off and I’m sure more will crop up as I go. And I remember you mentioning that you built a support system over the years with a couple of other mothers you met while attending the course. I will make it a point to network. I hope I can still hold adult conversations :slight_smile:

I’m particularly interested in the physical aspect of Doman’s methodology - this I must say I have a preconceived notion of. My husband is a former athlete and has always promoted sports/extracurricular activities and I’ve never given it much thought beyond that it’s a great distractor for kids - a nice focus and a way to keep out of trouble. He generally handles all things physical and our 3 year old is on the verge of independent swimming. But the more and more I read the more I’m humbled in learning that it’s critical in brain development. It’s very fascinating. My questions range from the math program to the foreign language implementation. We are dual language at home with a sprinkling of a third so looking to build upon this as well.

Now, I’m off to try the best philly cheesesteak this town has to offer!! I’ll be in touch!

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Wow! You are inspirational! Excited for you to take this journey, it sounds wonderful! Gosh I struggle doing less with my 2 who were both under 2 at one time so I appreciate how full your hands are! Love your excitement and ability to find more to do :-). I am with the NACD via skype and love them but can’t help but look over to the institutes and would love to experience them too! I look forward to hearing how you are going. Good luck and happiness to you :slight_smile:

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Your excitement is tangible! I would give anything to be able to relive it again. My friend Susannah is attending the course. I hope the two of you find each other. Enjoy!! Isn’t it funny, how some women go to the spa for the week. I couldn’t imagine anything worse. The Institutes is my idea of indulgence.

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So excited to read about your experience!! Fill us in when you can…

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I’ve been eager to hear an update about your experience! I hope you had a great week and learned a lot!

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Sorry for the delayed post! I was even hoping to post every evening from the conference but the days were full and I spent the evenings catching up on reading or out to dinner with my new friends :thumbsup: As I’ve mentioned, I also have two under 3.5 and expecting #3 in a month :wacko: so we’ve been feverishly preparing for baby and recovering from colds and a slew of other stuff (excuses, excuses, I know!). This post is looooooong so I thought I’d break it up into segments.

It was a fascinating week to say the very least!!

I am going to summarize my experience based on topics as listed below. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Course Layout: The course is 7 days in length beginning on Sunday and ending on the following Saturday, although the two weekend days are half day instruction. A different topic was covered each day. For example, Monday was teaching your baby to read, Wednesday was teaching your baby math, etc. The agenda was broken out hourly with 10-minute breaks every hour. Those ten-minute breaks were not to be wasted! You could use the time to ask questions, use the rest room, shop at the book store, or grab a coffee/tea/juice (and sometimes snacks) that were provided. Generally, it was a frenzied attempt to ask a question that likely popped up over the previous 50 minutes, quickly throw back some water and if you were lucky enough to get your question answered and indulge in a drink, then perhaps even squeeze in a bathroom break. But those 10 minutes were always over far too quickly and they were strict about closing the doors once the break was up. No drink or food was allowed in the auditorium. Instructors were identifiable by their expertise based on the color jacket they were wearing. Beige jackets were the intellectual experts; black jackets were the physical experts; and green jackets, the physiological experts (ie. nutrition and respiration). The mornings were generally spent watching a pre-recorded lecture from Glenn Doman (so we felt we really got to know him and his personality through his old lectures) and the late mornings were filled with examples of stories/anecdotal evidence in each of the relevant topics. (Mandy, Susannah spotted her MIL in one of the old Doman lectures!!). The afternoons were generally lectures from Janet Doman or an intellectual/physical expert depending on the topic. Lunch was in a different building and was communal. This was a fun time to connect with others and I always made it a point to change where and with whom I was sitting with.

BITs: I know this has been debated on the forum in the past – whether the exercise in showing BITs is for the transfer of knowledge or simply an exercise in right-brain training. I’ve confirmed that there indeed is the expectation of knowledge transfer not simply exercising the mind to absorb vast amounts of information. Meaning, we aren’t just right-brain training. Btw, they never touched on left-brain vs. right-brain – when I asked, it was mentioned that the topic is brought up in the graduate course (once you “graduate” from the “How to Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence” course – aimed at ages 0-2 – you can return for the “graduate course” – aimed at ages 2+). The assumption of course that from 0-2, as is the framework of the course I attended, all children are right-brain dominant.

Reading: Biggest ah-ha moment – maybe this one was lost on me but we are not supposed to have our children read out loud to us. When my son started reading, I checked out many easy readers on a weekly basis from our local library and he had been making steady progress by reading to us every night. I had also taught him phonic rules and he can decode words that he doesn’t sight-read. However, both reading aloud and decoding phonetically slows down a child’s reading pace. Speed reading training is such a hot topic on this forum. By flashing the recommended homemade Doman reading cards quickly, we are inherently training the child to speed-read – presumably by also training the right-brain (although, again, this wasn’t referenced specifically). But by text-pointing and having our children read aloud we are training them to scan from left to right rather than to be able to absorb a page in the way we can look at a painting and take it all in. So you might be asking, well how then will we know our children are reading? When you go to read to them the next chapter in a book the following night and they tell you they’ve already read it :slight_smile: They said older siblings reading to younger siblings is perfectly acceptable but not to slow down their potential deliberately. I was a little surprised by their stance against teaching phonics but their argument is that English isn’t a phonetic language and as adults we primarily sight read. Further to their point, very few adults can speed-read naturally because we’ve been trained from early on to scan a page from left to right. Another interesting point is reading should be easier for a child to learn than speaking. How many times have we asked for something to be written down because we can’t make out what is being told to us orally? Doman found that by showing a baby/child the associative written word that children could learn to read just as effortlessly as they learned to speak.

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Math: Ah, the good ol’ dot cards. They’ve encouraged me to reintroduce them to my 3 year old and my 23 month old. Yes, it’s true that almost everyone loses the ability to perceive the quantities after a certain age (typically around 3); however, the ability to manipulate the quantities never goes away. I asked one of the beige jackets (the intellectual experts), who happened to be a Doman relation and was introduced to Doman’s methods from birth, if he could still perceive quantity and what process he goes through when he’s confronted with a math problem. While he’s since lost the ability to perceive quantity, he said math is one of those subjects that just comes easily to him. He couldn’t quite walk me through his process as he breaks down a math problem – I point blank asked if he manipulated dots in his head – and he said it wasn’t as concrete as that. Math is simply something that clicks and has always clicked for him. Janet Doman said it can’t hurt to reintroduce dots even if the child is older and cannot perceive quantity as this in no way precludes a child from becoming a great mathematician. Learning how operations work is a great foundation even if he/she cannot perform instant math. My older son knew his number symbols (“1”, “2”, etc.) before he was a year and a half – and I couldn’t stop him. I think that stood in the way of his ability to perceive quantities when I initially started him with the dot cards at 30 months (seemingly the magical cut-off age; so it’s debatable whether I didn’t catch him in time or if his knowledge of number symbols played a bigger role).

Foreign Language: There were quite a few bilingual and multilingual families at the conference so this was a topic many of us found interesting. Pick one foreign language to teach your child at first. Then follow the same curriculum that was used to teach you child to read but incorporate the foreign language. Begin with BITs that are familiar to your child (animals, foods, etc.). Then work up to the reading – follow the exact pathway as you would in your primary language of instruction: words (if the language has definite articles but the language isn’t spoken at home, include the articles in the flashcards – i.e. “l’elephante” vs. “elephante”), couplets, sentences, homemade books, songs and poems.

Music: I asked whether there was a strong opinion as to teaching notes in solfege vs. letters and the verdict is that it doesn’t matter. However, a father of two of the impressive children at the International School (kids play both the piano and violin) differed with his thoughts; his argument being that solfege can become confusing when trying to differentiate sharps and flats and letter notes eliminate the added confusion of moveable vs. fixed do. I’m sure this can be debated (but I’m not in the position to be able to do that!)

Medium: I posed the question about using computer-based “flashcards” for each of the learning disciplines (reading, math, EK) versus physical cards and not surprisingly they touted physical cards. I tended to think they were somewhat Draconian in some of their beliefs, and learned to take some of their opinions with a grain of salt (don’t get me wrong, Doman is still my hero), but to be science-based is to use evidence to support a belief. They’ve only ever used physical cards so it’s hard to advocate a medium that’s not familiar to them. They are also not a fan of “plugging in” whether to a computer or to an ipad and I know with our programs on this site, we are engaged parents and sit alongside our children and participate with them. We don’t press play and walk away. So, in my opinion, using a mix of physical cards and electronic cards is perfectly acceptable. My younger son used to run the opposite direction when I pulled out any form of physical flashcards but was instantly and continues to be mesmerized by BrillKids. Since the conference, I’ve reintroduced BIT cards (some homemade and some authentic Doman cards) and he seems to enjoy them now that he’s almost 2.

Demonstrations: The demonstrations were by far the highlight of the week. What struck me the most was that these kids are so well adjusted! These children, along with their parents, attend/attended the Evan Thomas Institute’s Early Development on-campus program once a week and practice and implement their learning at home. As the Institutes puts it, these children were average children whose mothers attended the course when they were pregnant or when the children were very little. They are being taught at home exclusively for the first five years of life. When these children graduate from the Early Development Program, they are invited to attend the International School on-campus program. It was interesting to see both the younger kids and how their parents are implementing the program, and the older kids and how they’ve evolved through the program. By the time the kids are in the International school, they are reading Shakespeare, speaking multiple languages, have a solid music theory foundation, knowledge of greek/latin etymology, can quote classical pieces based on one or two lines given to them from the book, can determine an animal based on its dental records, can identify a bird based on its sound –this was evident when they put on an intellectual bowl and had two conference attendees join either team. The adults were zero help to these children :tongue: It was comical to see! The physical demonstration was amazing. We got to see these children tumble, balance, perform gymnastics, and brachiate. After the demonstration, a brachiation ladder and balance beam were brought into the auditorium for the adults to run through how to use them. We also had to each demonstrate crawling and creeping – very comical to watch the adults on their hands and knees.

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Physical and Physiological excellence:
Physiological Program: Eating well and eliminating toxins in our lives is crucial. We need to ensure clean air, clean water, clean (non-toxic) homes and a strong nutritional program. This helps to control other factors that can be hindering us from maximizing our potential. Each of the points above was drilled down further – how to ensure clean air, clean water – what products to use to clean our home – what to cook with, how to rotate foods, which oils to use, organic vs. inorganic. Again, to some degree you have to do what works for you. A complete overhaul of your life and eating only organic foods isn’t practical for many people but adopting a more natural way of life is basically the rule of thumb.
Physical Program: Convergence with vision is essential for reading which is why the infant schedule is important. You can tell a civilization by its floors. No floors = no civilization (reading/writing). Babies who are bored will cry a lot. They crave to be on their stomachs and to explore. IAHP links ADHD and in some instances, autism because children don’t have enough opportunities to creep and crawl – these are essential neurological functions. A gymnastics program should be started at 2 years of age. By 4 years of age, child should be able to creep 1000 yards and crawl 400 yards. By 2 years they should be able to run 1 mile non-stop (crazy, right?!). No pack n plays and limited stroller time – should give child every opportunity to walk/run when possible. The Human Development Program consists of a floor program, the balance growth program, basic human development course, brachiation and running. IAHP advocates physical activities that are extensions of basic mobility versus competitive sports because competition pits people against each other. If you’ve skipped the passive balancing activities, it’s essential to go back and revisit for a few months because there are neurological connections made that make the active balancing activities easier on your child. I’d recommend reading Fit Baby, Smart Baby, Your Baby (updated edition of How to Teach Your Baby to be Physically Superb) as it outlines the objectives and pathways clearly.

Schooling: The IAHP doesn’t mince words when it comes to their views on public schooling. It’s herd mentality and isn’t geared toward the individual child. The school system is heavy on testing. SAT tests and other IQ tests were abandoned by their creators but already adopted in school systems and they test what kids don’t know versus what they do know. And as we all know, they advocate for one parent to be home with their child(ren) at a minimum for the first 6 years of life if not to also home school. This had to also be taken with a grain of salt as we had participants from countries whereby the social pressures and circumstance warranted two working parents. (These parents said they would fit in Doman where they could – and I have to hand it to them –what a display of dedication and love for their children to take time off work and to travel great distances to learn about enhancing their childrens’ lives). They mentioned gifted schools are great but should be offered to everyone (couldn’t agree more). One successful public school treated juvenile delinquents like gifted and talented children and the high expectations they placed resulted in high output from these children – children whom typical public schools would have discounted.

What’s in store after International graduation?: Most of these kids go on to community college or university after 8th grade. They are clearly accelerated and some have come back to teach at the Institutes (a testament of their gratitude and belief in the “system”) and others have pursued their own lofty goals. They didn’t focus so much on providing examples of outcomes from graduates of their program – I tend to think because the goal isn’t to produce a certain type of person. It’s to teach your child joyously and to enrich their lives by doing so. I also got the impression that the onus of keeping in touch lay with the former student so they weren’t always abreast on the “where are they now”. (They did mention one graduate they kept in touch with who breezed through an Ivy League whereas his classmates had to work much harder. He was well prepared and could absorb vast amounts of information much quicker than his peers and he had a greater base of general knowledge)

Overall: Was the conference worth attending?? Absolutely. Is it critical in properly implementing Doman at home? No, I don’t think so. Our forum is vitally helpful in the exchange of information and ideas. Some felt the course could have been condensed if the anecdotal evidence and Glenn’s prerecorded lectures were shortened. I don’t disagree with that. Some days ran later because they stuck with their predetermined schedule even though lectures ran late. The general sense we got was that the graduate course is a notch up from this course and is highly recommended. It heavily emphasizes the social impact of accelerating your kids. Attendance of the graduate course is contingent upon successful “graduation” from this course. I flew back home Friday night and missed the official graduation. However, I stuck around for part of the parents’ take-aways and I was thoroughly moved. Some of these parents were visibly affected as they described how this course has changed their lives and how they will now perceive their children. I must preface that perhaps 40% of the attendees had been implementing some form of Doman at home (and of the 40% perhaps 25% had heard of or are registered with Brillkids) while the rest attended out of sheer curiosity. For me, I decided to attend the seminar because I needed assurance that I was teaching the right way. I felt that I was providing the right environment but unsure of its effectiveness because any type of indirect testing wasn’t typically showing me that I was gaining traction with my efforts (other than with reading). The one major takeaway for me was to allow my children to decide their own interests and to never, ever consider testing them – no matter how tempting it is or how disguised the testing is. Since we’ve been back, I’ve allowed them to lead the way and I’ve created books with each of them as the main character and they LOVE it. It’s truly enjoyable now for all of us. I was feeling rather burdened with the task before the seminar; I felt I was forcing the lessons onto them primarily because I wasn’t allowing them to lead the way. Now, lessons are put away upon their insistence and I feel out their moods prior to showing them any cards and the balance seems to keep their interest and at the same time, makes things more positive and joyous. I was also trying to do too much and cramming in too many programs – perhaps in an attempt to cover all my bases. I was craving proof of our efforts and thought maybe I’d find the perfect curriculum to unleash their excitement in the form of tangible results! Ha! (as parents we just want to be sure we’re doing the right thing and teaching the right way and time seems of the essence). I plan to strictly implement Doman with both of my kids and once the older one turns 4, I will supplement with other programs (abacus class, dreambox, etc.). An exception is I plan to start my 3 year old with Suzuki lessons and once I am at the part of the math dot flashing where numerals are introduced, I will resume with Right Start. I also love the tactile Montessori approach to math. My older son used to have the most intense attention span (I could read him the dictionary and he’d find it fascinating :clown: ) but he’s on the go now – always wanting to explore and touch and imagine . Even Right Start is losing its appeal to him.

Summary: I can’t leave off the parents! I thought I would attend a seminar, learn more, take away improvements on how I was implementing Doman’s methods with my children and come back armed with more confidence (and my entire list of questions answered—which it was!). While, yes, this was true, I didn’t anticipate meeting such an incredible group of parents. Every single person I talked to at the seminar was someone relatable and like-minded. I have made some life-long friendships and that was just the cherry on top! Three out of the five nights of the conference, I did dinner with conference attendees. I was half expecting pocket-protector types but I am not exaggerating when I say that every.single.parent.was.relatable. And how amazing to meet parents from all over the globe!?

At the end of the day, the Institutes began as selfless dedication to helping brain-injured kids maximize their potential. Janet and her team are truly an inspiration and exemplify the altruistic nature that is simply admirable to say the very least and heroic to place the proper descriptor. I will continue on my Doman journey with an enriched experience having been to the Institutes and the time spent there will always have a special place in my heart.

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Mandy -

Funny story about Susannah…do you remember that you’d have to switch seats every day and you’d walk into the auditorium each morning and scope out your spot? I was constantly rotating either from the front row to the very back row but seemed to be in the front row most often. This particular morning (I looked for her after I read your message–day 2 I think), I was in the front row again, in the middle between two other attendees. I scanned the entire room, the first name tag in my row and then resolved myself that perhaps I had her name wrong or she went by another name. I never thought to look at the name tag of the person on the other side of me! The only name tag I didn’t catch was hers! So I sat next to her all morning not realizing it was her and asked Connie if she knew who Susannah was at lunch. duh! Anyway, she was one of the three other attendees I dined with a couple of times later in the week. She’s such a lovely girl – and so sharp! Most people at the conference came with someone else (spouse, sibling, friend) but the four of us were solo. I even tasted some of the chocolates you sent to her – how sweet of you!

Connie instantly recognized your name and said your accomplishments with your son are incredible – even as compared to Doman standards. Most of their students attend college after the 8th grade and they’ve never had someone as young as 8/9 accepted into college! So a testament to your hard work and your son’s dedication is in order!!