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.