What is Tatum's therapy program all about?

I thought I should back track a bit to explain what our 'Institutes' program is, why we have chosen to take this route of therapy vs others and what is involved in our current daily (yes 7 days a week!) program.

Let's begin with the 'Institutes'. The name of the organization responsible for Tatum's program is 'The Institutes for Achievement of Human Potential'. The Institues believe that developmentally delayed kids, such as Tatum, are brain-injured kids. The problem causing the delay is in the brain, and it is the brain that needs to be treated.

Historically, brain injured kids were institutionalized and/or thought to be hopeless and unintelligent. For more than half a century families have come to the Institutes from all over the world to learn how to treat their brain injured children at home. These families have proven that brain injured kids are intelligent and with stimulation and opportunity to gain real ability they can be helped. Our brain injured kids have incredible potential.

The Institutes exists to insure that all brain-injured children have a fighting chance to be well. The IAHP believes in non-surgical and non-pharmacological treatment of brain injury. We have chosen the Institutes program because it feels like the right answer and the only answer for our family. Our hospital visits have left us feeling as though there is nothing that can be done for Tatum, except wait and see. We are not prepared to 'wait and see'.

Now let's move onto Tatum's current program. The program is done everyday as long as she is well and I am up for it. The program is intended to be done joyously. Each activity is done repeatedly throughout the day in very short sessions. The duration is kept short to ensure that the child does not bore of the activity and enjoys the program. As we know, if you don't enjoy what you are learning it makes it far more difficult to retain the information.

For the last 2 months, Tatum has followed a daily routine of the following activities:

• 20-25 trips down our 8 foot incline plane - 2 minutes per trip 
• 10 patterning sessions per day 
• 10 rebreathing treatments per
• 10 sessions of holding a dowel for 1 minute *
• every meal is perfectly balanced and excludes dairy, gluten, high glycemic index food, artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. 

We begin our program every morning at 8am and do our best to wrap it up just before Tatum's afternoon nap. After nap time, we spend time together as a family both indoors and out. Much like her big sisters who go to school every day, Tatum spends a big part of her day learning as well.

We are in Philadelphia right now and will be visiting the Institutes for our first time with Tatum tomorrow and Tuesday. We will spend all day Monday having Tatum assessed by the Institutes' team of experts. Tuesday will be spent teaching us Tatum's new program! The IAHP program has already made a world of difference in Tatum's development. It has also given our family tremendous hope... real hope for an amazing future. For more information about the Institutes, check out their web site at www.iahp.org. Be sure to check out the media link to see how the reading program works and also read a great article about my dear friend Gillian's son Dylan who followed the Institutes program for several years.

Our Visit to the Institutes Today was a long day but very informative. We arrived at 9am this morning with Tatum and met with several members of their team. We reviewed Tatum's medical history and my medical history during my pregnancy with Tatum. We also formalized Tatum's functional diagnosis and discussed how Tatum's brain injury is thought to have happened. Finally we reviewed Tatum's progress since starting the intensive program on July 2nd 2012. Tatum's progress is remarkable!!! In 2.8 months of programming, Tatum has grown 2.9 months. This is a growth rate of 106%. Tatum's growth rate is currently 215% faster than her growth rate before starting the program. When we first visited the Institutes in June, Tatum's chronological age was 13 months. We determined that her neurological age was 6.41 months at that point. Today, Tatum is 16 months old and her neurological age is 9.39 months. Our goal is to continue working with Tatum and the Institutes program until her chronological age and neurological meet up! This little girl is capable of everything and anything. Way to go Tatum!!!

Thank goodness there is always something new in Tatum's world!

So far this week she:

• found her toes! 
• sat all by herself for 15 seconds! 
• is rolling over every day, all day and night!
• moved herself forward at least 12 inches, turned herself 45 degrees and moved another 12 inches while lying on her tummy during dinner prep last night! 
• moved from the bottom to the top of her crib at least 5 times last night... Mommy's a bit tired but can't dare complain! 
• is holding onto me when I carry her! She is looking and seeing everyone and everything. 
• she is so connected to the world around her and so wants to be a part of it. 

 Hooray for Tatum's victories!! Today has been a great day so far. It's almost lunch time and we've already had our 2 sets of patterners in at 8am and 10am, taken about 10 trips down the incline plane and worked our way through the reading and breathing program. Now it's time to go do some normal Mommy and baby stuff... coffee break! :)

Tatum Reese is our beautiful baby girl. She was born 15 months ago with a brain injury. She is a happy and interactive little girl who babbles, coos and giggles all day long and loves being around people.

Tatum’s brain injury has seriously delayed her development. She cannot yet sit or crawl but she is on an incredible pathway to wellness and is getting stronger and wiser every day.

Tatum has been involved in an intensive therapy program for the past three months. This program will help us make Tatum’s hurt brain well and give her the potential to crawl, walk, talk, feed herself and play... just like her sisters.

Tatum is a bright little girl with a determined will and a joy for life. Our therapy program comes to us from the Institutes for Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia. It is the only program that feels right for us and fills us with hope that everything will be ok for Tatum. 


Since starting the program intensively, we have seen Tatum's health dramatically improve, her energy and stamina have increased significantly, her hair and teeth have finally started to grow. Tatum is now interested in and is playing with her toys, she is holding her own bottle and putting it back in her mouth when it falls away. She is able to get her knees under her and her butt up in the air and push her self forward! She's moving!! She is able to roll over from her front to her back with ease and on occasion rolls from her back onto her front. She is now ticklish and so much more vocal. All of this progress and so much more has happened for Tatum because of our program, her hard work and the amazing help of our team of patterning volunteers... and it has only been 3 months! I can hardly wait for the next 3.