I started this blog hoping to inspire other parents to help their children with Down syndrome reach for the sky! My daughter was reading words, before she was 2 years of age & reading books by 3.5 years. I believe kids with Down syndrome can do amazing things if we give them the right tools. I truly believe high expectations can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our children!
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Sunday, May 1, 2011
Neurodevelopmental Organizations
We have been doing a home program with K since she was A few months old. Shortly after she turned 3, we were fortunate to be able to take K for an evaluation through ICAN and have a program set up for her. I feel K did fairly well with our homemade program, but I am really pleased to finally take her to a neurodevelopmentalist (ND) because her program is now so specific to her. There are so many areas that we can now work on that I was either unaware of, or had no idea how to address. I have been sharing details of our home program, however I will not share any details of the program she has now as it is designed specifically for K and may not be beneficial to another child.
Here are some links to the ND organizations that I am aware of and like always, I appreciate your comments and extra information, so if you know of some others, please leave a comment.
ICAN - International Christian Association of Neurodevelopmentalists -
http://d473662.u33.truepath.com/
The institutes for achievement of human potential -
http://iahp.org/
National Association for child development -
http://nacd.org/index.php
Can I ask a couple of questions? Sorry to be longwinded...
ReplyDeleteCan you explain the differences between these organizations? Obviously, the Christian identity of ICAN is differnt that the other two but otherwise? I know that IAHP and NACD both involve Domans (and by the bios IAHP is the older) and was struck by how the NACD site makes no reference whatsoever to IAHP. I'm not sure if any Doman is related with ICAN.
The other question is why the reason for secrecy about activities (aside from the obvious caveat that not every activity is right for every child)? I am reading the Doman books right now (obviously these share about ND activities) but have seen more than one blog post by an ND using family saying they cannot share that they do. I have a lot of respect for the ND approach but without knowing a good reason behind the secrecy it makes me suspect a profit motive and, quite frankly, makes me think less of these organizations.
Longwinded is fine!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I am the best one to answer your question about the differences betwen the different organizations. I think many of the general principles are similar, as well as many of the activities. As far as differences, I know that their assessment schedules can differ as well as fees, & I think the length of the programs as well, but again, I'm sure there are others much more qualified to answer this question.
I think a lot of the reason for not sharing is, as you said, that not every activity is right for every child, & I think sometimes the wrong activity can be detrimental. I understand why you would wonder about a profit motive, although if you consider the amount of time they spend in evaluating & follow up support, it is actually a lot less expensive than traditional therapies.
Perhaps these questions could be asked of these organizations directly? If you get a better answer, I'd love to know about it.
Fair Enough! Thanks for trying to answer :)
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