Today, we pause to honor the beauty, strength, and profound humanity expressed through those with Down syndrome. For me, this day is deeply personal. It is a celebration of my daughter, Gitane — a true master of the heart.

She was born with severe hypotonia, with almost no connection between her brain and body. She could not even open her eyes. In those early moments, I searched for the most advanced understanding and care I could find, which led me to Bob Doman and the National Association for Child Development, an organization where I later proudly became their Director of Health.

His words were simple, but powerful:
“We’re going to wake her up.” And wake her up he did.

Gitane went on to graduate with honors from a mainstream high school. She surfs. She practices Karate. She creates art. And now, she is an actress — starring in a film that begins shooting next week. She has taught me something that goes far beyond any diagnosis:

When we say “special needs,” what we truly mean is special abilities. The ability to love without condition. To live with presence. To meet life with courage and joy.

At Neil Naturopathic, we honor the uniqueness of every individual and the truth that healing, growth, and potential exist in many forms. Today, we celebrate Gitane — and all those who remind us that the heart is our greatest intelligence.

With gratitude and love,
Dr. Julian Neil
Neil Naturopathic 

More about Gitane’s journey with NACD:

• Gitane’s early years with NACD
• Getting serious about processing and working memory

The post Honoring World Down syndrome Day appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

So we felt very alone as we tried to figure out what was going on. For the first year of Jake’s life we frequently felt alarmed as we noticed non-typical behaviors and responses, but they were subtle, and as he was such a smiley, happy and alert child, we were told not to worry. 

Then we noticed that our child wasn’t learning properly. He was late with walking and talking. He never crawled. We had done the alternative method of potty training from birth so he skipped crawling and instead bounced around on his bottom. I noticed that he never signed back to us, communication being a part of the early potty training method. He was late to walk and talk and even then, he would come up with a word, say it exclusively and constantly for a few weeks and then forget it. When we taught him things like how to clap, we had to practice it for a while every day before he would try to imitate it, then if we didn’t practice it daily, he would forget that too. His adorable little body seemed oddly stiff, he didn’t cuddle in like most babies did and while he would sit there and smile, he seemed lost in his own dream world and did not respond to much around him. 

After rounds of specialists, three days after the birth of our second child, when Jake was 19 months old, we were given the diagnosis of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, a genetic disorder, a replication of a tricky part of chromosome 17. The pediatrician gave us some pages photocopied from a sterile medical textbook listing the myriad of things that our child was never supposed to do and all the difficulties that he would face throughout life. We were floored and devastated. I leapt into research but everything I found on his diagnosis upset me more and I spent the first few months of our second child’s life crying. I remember asking another pediatrician about what Jake could be expected to achieve in his life and he told me proudly about a similar child who had made his first independent phone call with some limited language by the age of 18. While I understand now how incredible these milestones are for families of children with special needs, however as a new parent at the time, I did not find that information comforting. I asked another doctor what “developmentally delayed” meant, hoping that it meant he would just catch up later. She gently told me that it was a polite term for “mentally retarded”. Indeed as my darling baby could not even master or remember “clap”, how on earth was he going to build higher order skills to handle life? 

Fortunately we have always been alternative minded and I managed to shake myself away from depressing mainstream research. I turned to Down’s Syndrome as a more commonly known genetic disorder, figuring that some clever parent there had found some breakthroughs for their child. And indeed I was right! After scouring FB pages and parent groups, I found in the Down’s Syndrome world that amazing things were happening for children who had either one or both of two things: biomedical intervention and neurodevelopmental therapy. So we decided to launch into both. It took a few years to get going with the biomedical, but with NACD we were able to start immediately. Out of all the neurodevelopmental organizations I liked NACD the most as they had a program that cut to the chase with the most time effective and modern methods, and they also offered ongoing parent support and coaching which as a floundering and disorganized parent, I knew I would need. 

At the time we stared, I remember Jake had a lot of unusual behaviors, every time he saw the ocean he would freeze and stare it and refuse to move on. As we lived in a small island community glimpses of the ocean were frequent. He’d open and close cupboard doors, arrange things in straight lines and never wanted to interact with other kids. He had very limited speech, and all sorts of motor skills problems. He could not even pedal a tricycle. 

I can’t remember much about that time now quite honestly. I was frequently sick and exhausted from having 2 children close together and with an undiagnosed autoimmune condition in the background. My husband and I did program as best as we could though and I remember starting to feel hope. Jake’s mind started to unlock, he started to be able to learn and we discovered he had a few superpowers, an amazing ability understand and order numbers, remember items on sight and he could even say his alphabet backwards. For a child diagnosed with a severe short term memory problem, this felt like sunshine from the heavens. NACD kept guiding us with program and as a family we were feeling more and more normal every day. We started a biomedical approach with specially developed Nutrivene vitamin supplements around the age of 4 and then everything really came together, Jake seemed to “wake up” to a new level of awareness, his speech and motor skills took off and we were so happy. Our second child, typically developing was put on program too and he was well ahead with all his milestones. 

While I don’t remember too many details of that time now, suffice to say we went from despair, hopelessness and rounds of specialists who used lots of big words but actually did nothing to actually help, to feeling like a happy, hopeful and normal family. We no longer felt like a “special needs” family. Program was very hard in those first years, but we were getting results and our lives back! It was wonderful to finally feel like a “normal” family.

We moved overseas then and stopped our NACD program for many years, happy to just live a normal life. Jake still had challenges, but he doing so much better. He started school with an aide but his superpowers really helped him through, from a child who couldn’t remember how to clap he now had the most astonishing memory! He had a phenomenal ability with geography, and started winning the school’s geography contests from first grade. He beat all the high school kids and even the school superintendent when he stepped in as a special guest. He knew every country, capital, flag, location, shape, and once he mastered that he turned to history and somehow developed an incredible grasp of historical details on top of that too! 

We started formal homeschooling formally around third grade when the covid lockdowns started and muddled through that for a few years. When Jake hit puberty it became apparent to his father and I that he needed further help. He was still having a lot of trouble with reading, he’d been recently diagnosed with an eye tracking problem but the mainstream offered us nothing except devices to learn to live with it. We had tried everything but gotten nowhere. He still had struggles with social skills and motor skills, and while his speech was reasonably good, it was still hard for him. 

As the worry started rising again, we turned to the place where we’d found hope before, the NACD! And in just 7 months back the results have already been incredible! Jake started in November at an auditory processing of 4-5 and in 7 months is has now just touched on a 7! His maturity and awareness has developed in leaps and bounds with it. His eye tracking is improving and reading is getting easier for him every day. He can swim now, and his social skills are improving. He has developed a love for math as the NACD teaches it, and will joyfully tackle page after page of his math text book just for fun. Before NACD he struggled with basic concepts. He is taking off and once again we couldn’t be happier. My only regret is we didn’t get back to it sooner, but fortunately NACD is helping us to catch up and overcome for that lapse quickly! 

I should mention my second son, DJ too. While typically developing he did program for a year or two when he was barely a toddler, and he has continued to go from strength to strength. When he started school the testing they gave him said that he was in the top 1% and was considered gifted and talented. When he was 9, he started getting impatient with all the attention Jake got for his his impressive history and geography knowledge and told me he wanted a superpower too. After watching Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on you tube he decided that it was a pretty nice song, and he wanted to play it. He slowed down the finger movements from a You Tube video and copied them. Within just a few months he was playing piano surprisingly fluently. A music teacher at a summer camp a few months after he started hailed me down one day with wide eyes asking me if I knew that DJ was unusually talented. He is now 12 and works in our community playing piano at events. He is well paid and makes great tips too! 

Everything that DJ does he does so easily and at a high standard. Around the age of 10 he the took up the Rubik’s cube, mastered it in record time and at high speed. It didn’t take him long to get to world competition speeds on nearly of the all the cubes, but then he lost interest and moved on. He is very entrepreneurial, and through primary school would frequently came up with new games or projects which fascinated and created a following amongst other kids. 

Previously homeschooling DJ in math was not working and he had seemed to be going backwards so I put him back in school for math. He was doing reasonably well, but after starting NACD for just a few months his teacher contacted me in amazement asking what we were doing as in the MAPS testing DJ had suddenly jumped from a 6th grade level to an 11th grade level almost overnight! Here’s the message I got from his teacher: “Hey Melissa, just wanted to share some great growth from DJ on our winter math Maps test! He improved his score by +18 points from his fall score! (+3-5 is a significant amount for a year so this is pretty impressive!). Went from a 6th grade average to testing at the 11th grade average! Very proud of him and the hard work he has put in.” A jump of 18 points in a season when 3-5 is a significant amount for a year? Wow. The only thing we had done differently was to start NACD again and get to work on his processing! 

Would DJ be doing so well without the early intervention of NACD in making sure his development was all so perfectly addressed? I guess we will never know but as a mom I am sure NACD had a lot to do with it! 

NACD are truly miracle makers. Sara, our evaluator has laser vision and doesn’t miss a thing. Our program is perfectly tailored to both children, exactly what they need. The parental support and coaching is beyond invaluable. Any behavioral, teen attitude issue is quickly nipped in the bud, and we have a smooth running household now where my boys help out, are well behaved, and are developing into responsible, helpful young adults with initiative. Amy is a coaching wonder woman, and has helped me tremendously to get my act together. NACD offers a whole family, whole life perspective that gives you the perfectly tailored program to your child and life, with the support you need to put it into action, while missing nothing. Chores, responsibilities, and the child’s personal growth and happiness are all a part of it. And guess what? The kids love it. They think homeschooling is fun. Working on processing is central, and we celebrate every step up. Processing parties are the new fun thing in our family! 

Our life can truly be measured in BEFORE and AFTER NACD. All the behind the scenes staff are incredible too, and I can honestly say that I feel like they are family, a group who has always been there for us, giving us the answers and support we need to live our best lives. We are living our dream in remote Alaska, a wild and different life, unconstrained from needing to be in city centers, near specialists and therapists. Life is happy, hopeful and wonderful and I will be forever grateful. 

The post Martin Family Testimonial appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

Understanding the Whole Child

To truly understand a child, we must take a top-down approach, viewing them as a complete individual rather than a sum of disconnected parts. Every child is more than a diagnosis, a test score, or an isolated challenge. Yet too often, professionals—whether doctors, therapists, educators, or psychologists—focus on just one piece of the puzzle without seeing how it connects to the whole.

This fragmented approach is much like the classic parable of the three blind men and the elephant, where each man touches a different part of the animal and comes away with a completely different impression. One thinks he’s found a tree trunk, another a snake, another a fan—none of them realizing they are all describing the same elephant. In the same way, when we look at just one aspect of a child’s development without considering the bigger picture, we risk missing their true potential.

Parents, who know their children better than anyone, are often left out of the equation. Yet, they are the experts on their own child and an essential part of any effective intervention. Whether a child has a formal diagnosis or not, each one is unique, complex, and capable of growth beyond expectations—if we take the time to understand them holistically.

The Power of a Top-Down Perspective

One of the first things we teach professionals learning to assess children is to start with the big picture. The first 30 seconds of interaction can often reveal a wealth of insight into a child’s development, personality, and challenges. This top-down approach allows us to quickly identify strengths, pinpoint underlying issues, and develop a roadmap for meaningful progress.

In contrast, starting with individual symptoms or isolated skill sets often leads to a distorted and incomplete understanding of the child. To truly help a child thrive, we must first see who they are as a whole person, then work backward to address the specific areas that need support.

Beyond Labels: Every Child is Unique

Labels can be useful for categorization, but they do not define a child’s potential. Consider:

• Josh, who has a brain injury
• Olivia, diagnosed with Down syndrome
• Jaxon, labeled as being on the autism spectrum
• Lindy, identified with ADHD
• Ryan, considered “typical”
• Lucas, placed in a gifted program

Each of these children is more than their label. They all have complex needs, unique abilities, and untapped potential. When we focus only on the diagnosis, we limit expectations—but when we recognize the whole child, we open the door for extraordinary growth.

Building a Support System for Success

Helping a child reach their full potential requires a coordinated, individualized approach that includes:

• The Child – at the center of the process
• Parents – the true experts on their child’s strengths and needs
• NACD Developmentalist – a trained specialist who designs a customized developmental program based on a holistic assessment
• Family Coach – available nearly seven days a week to provide ongoing support
• The NACD Team – an extended network of specialists with decades of experience and over 3,000 targeted intervention strategies

This team approach ensures that each child receives personalized, strategic input designed to help them develop the skills they need to succeed.

The Truth About Neuroplasticity: No Magic Pills, Just Consistent, Targeted Work

In today’s world, families are bombarded with promises of quick fixes—from supplements to therapies that claim to offer overnight transformations. But the reality is that meaningful change takes time, consistency, and strategic input.

Brain development follows the principles of neuroplasticity—the process by which the brain creates new neural connections and adapts over time. While neuroplasticity offers incredible potential, it does not happen instantly. Real progress requires interventions that follow three critical principles:

1. Frequency – The brain needs repetitive exposure to new information and activities. Ideally, children receive targeted input multiple times per day rather than once or twice per week.
2. Intensity – Learning must be engaging and appropriately challenging to stimulate growth.
3. Duration – Change takes weeks or months, not minutes or days. Sustainable progress requires a long-term commitment.

Unlocking Every Child’s Potential

Every child—regardless of their background, challenges, or strengths—has the potential to exceed expectations when given the right opportunities. The key lies in seeing the whole child, not just their difficulties, and applying customized, targeted strategies that nurture growth at every level.

At NACD, we believe that no child’s future should be predetermined by a label. By focusing on the whole child, working as a team with families, and harnessing the power of neuroplasticity, we help children break barriers, develop skills, and thrive beyond what anyone thought possible.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 39 No. 1 , 2025 ©NACD

The post NACD’s Whole-Child Philosophy: Seeing Beyond the Labels appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

From Salt Lake City to Ogden, Park City, and St. George, NACD has provided thousands of children with customized, science-based educational and developmental programs. Whether a child has been diagnosed with autism, down syndrome, ADHD, learning disabilities, or simply needs help reaching their full potential, NACD offers individualized programs designed to help each child maximize their abilities in both education and life.

How Utah Families Are Finding NACD—From Across the Globe

Despite being headquartered in Utah, many of our local families have discovered NACD through referrals from parents in other countries. Families in the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Brazil, and beyond have firsthand experience with NACD’s impact and frequently recommend us to families in Utah through Facebook groups, special needs communities, and word-of-mouth referrals. Parents from all over the world recognize the effectiveness of NACD’s approach, often before Utahns do.

It’s incredible to think that families on the other side of the world actively refer Utah families to NACD—yet many local parents are unaware that they have access to this life-changing program right here in Utah. NACD’s international headquarters is located in Washington Terrace, a short drive from Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Park City. We also have an additional evaluation site in St. George, providing in-person services to families in Southern Utah. In addition, families throughout the entire state can work with NACD remotely via video conferencing.

For families seeking the best possible educational and developmental resources for their children, NACD is already trusted by families across the globe—and it’s right here in Utah, available to you.

NACD: A Utah-Based Resource for Child Development & Education

For Utah families searching for the right educational and developmental support, NACD is a local resource that provides world-class expertise. Unlike one-size-fits-all therapy programs, NACD takes an individualized approach, designing a custom program for each child based on their unique strengths and challenges.

We work with children who have:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• ADHD & Attention Issues
• Learning Disabilities
• Down Syndrome
• Speech & Language Delays
• Processing Disorders
• Brain Injuries
• Accelerated & Gifted Learners
• Homeschooling Families – Watch Our Free Homeschool Seminar

In addition to working with children with developmental and learning challenges, NACD also helps homeschooling families, typical children, and those struggling with behavioral challenges reach their full potential. Whether a child needs help excelling academically, improving focus, addressing behavior, or enhancing processing and cognitive skills, our individualized approach is designed to support their education and overall development.

NACD & Utah Scholarships

We know that finding the right resources for a child’s education and development can be overwhelming, especially when cost is a concern. That’s why NACD is an approved vendor for the Utah Fits All Scholarship, making it easier for families to access our services. We are also an approved vendor for the Children First Education Fund, providing additional financial support options for families.

You can find NACD listed as an approved vendor on the Utah Fits All website here.

For Utah families looking for individualized educational and developmental support, NACD is a world-class resource that has been hidden in plain sight. Families from all over the world trust us—now it’s time for more Utah families to discover what’s available right here at home.

Learn More & Get Started

Want to see if NACD is a good fit for your child? Learn more about our Get Started Process or contact us at info@nacd.org to schedule a free informational call.

Check out real success stories, expert insights, and more on our NACD YouTube Channel.

Don’t miss out on this life-changing resource that’s been right here in Utah all along!

The post Utah’s Best Resource for Child Development & Education appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

by Bob Doman

The key to understanding and improving global function in children and adults with Down syndrome is determining and developing their cognitive function.

Whether we are looking at a two-year-old or an adult with Down syndrome, their level of function, their ability to learn, think, and communicate is a reflection of their cognitive level. 

Cognition is the mental function that permits us to process information, to acquire knowledge, to understand, think, and communicate. Cognition is not reading, math, or specific knowledge per se; it involves the neurodevelopmental pieces that comprise auditory and visual short-term memory, working memory, and eventually executive function. 

Cognition, or intelligence, is partially a reflection of what we were born with, but primarily it is something that develops. Anything that develops can be developed, impacted, improved. Unfortunately addressing cognition, how we process and manipulate what we see and hear, is missing almost universally from all education. For children with developmental issues, this leads to inappropriate, untargeted* input, low and unrealistic expectations, and poor outcomes.

Case in point

I recently received a report from a school outlining their curriculum for a twelve-year-old child with Down syndrome. Her curriculum includes the following:

• Science – forces and magnets
• Geography – comparing Australia, Greenland, and Africa, including significant historical events
• History – Stone age to Iron age
• Reading – creating and writing sentences about what they did over the weekend
• Math – shapes, positions, directions, statistics
• Computing – the pros and cons for social media advertising
• and a project to research, create, and launch a campaign to encourage others to be healthy.

Sounds wonderful—what a great opportunity for this child. This curriculum would be appropriate for perhaps a typical or gifted child, and even a few children with Down syndrome who have been given the opportunity to develop typical or better processing skills and who had a commensurate educational foundation. Unfortunately, the child in this classroom is functioning at the cognitive development level of a two-going-on-three-year-old. She is just putting two to three words together, learning to feed and dress herself, and developing the ability to process two to three step directions. She’s not twelve, she is two going on three. This is perhaps an extreme example, but it’s real! However, it would not be at all unusual for a twelve-year-old, but functional two to three, to be taught phonics and printing and other inappropriate things, based on their functional level. Would you think it appropriate to teach a typical two-year-old phonics and printing? How successful would you be, and how much of a waste of their time would it be? And what about all the things that would have been appropriate for them? The point is that when targeting the needs of children, it is their level of function, their cognitive level, their ability to process information and their complexity of thought that should determine what is appropriate and targeted.

Children develop when we provide them with what is targeted and appropriate for them. This targeted input is what develops their global function, helps build cognition, and leads to good outcomes. Where they are is more a reflection of their processing level than their chronological age. You don’t try to teach algebra to a child who can’t add.

Looking at a child with Down syndrome primarily through the lens of their chronological age does them a great disservice and results in inappropriate, ineffective education and therapies, and poor outcomes. Such historic failures have resulted in a poor perception of potential. The foundation of all development is neuroplasticity, and the first fundamental rule of neuroplasticity is to provide the child with input that is targeted to them.

We have been fortunate to have worked with many thousands of children and adults with Down syndrome, and in the case of many individuals, we have worked with them for decades. We have seen what is possible if we, along with the family, work with an understanding of the whole child and work diligently to build cognition. Without exception, those who develop processing abilities in the “normal” range can become the adults who have good jobs, drive, have good social relationships, and enjoy good lives. After these years and thousands of individuals with Down syndrome, we have never seen one reach these high global functional levels without having developed the commensurate level of cognition. 

Optimally we start working on processing and cognition virtually from birth; and the sooner we start the process, the more we begin funneling in the pieces that help produce global knowledge and functional intelligence. Years lost are gone. Can we start working on this function later? Absolutely. Addressing the foundational pieces of cognition, short-term memory, working memory, and executive function even starting with adults can produce dramatic change; but time lost is time lost in teaching that brain how to learn and think and filling that brain with the knowledge and experience that builds full lives.

Developmental and educational priority number one is developing the ability to learn and think—cognition/processing power. 

To learn more about processing power, watch our video below

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 37 No. 2 , 2024 ©NACD

The post Down Syndrome & Cognition appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

by Bob Doman

Whether you have a gifted or typical child, a child with learning or attention issues or special needs, parents need to understand what their role is, and the role, if any, of schools.

More and more parents are realizing that the one size fits all education—just plug them in and let the chips fall where they may—just may not be doing the job for their children. Some parents are ready to explore the options and are looking for a long-term plan, while others want to help their children catch up or give them a boost so they can return them to school, but at the top of the heap.

This may be the time for a change.

Questions every parent should ask themselves:

Is parental involvement in a child’s development important?

Absolutely, and the more the parents are involved with their child’s development and education, the better. Parental involvement is the single greatest factor affecting a child’s development, education, and future.

Can parents be educators/teachers?

Parents are the child’s first, best, and most important educators/teachers. Who teaches children to understand and speak their language, a foreign language? Who teaches your children how to take care of themselves from feeding themselves to toilet training, to dressing, bathing, and grooming, etc.? Who teaches your child how to behave appropriately? Who teaches your children how to throw a ball, set the table, do the dishes, mow the lawn? Who teaches your children about family, respect, compassion, responsibility, faith, religion, and probably at least the basics of reading and math and more and more and more? The truth is that on graduation from high school, measuring what your child has learned as opposed to what they were “taught” and have forgotten, the odds are that what the children actually learned from involved parents significantly outweighs what the schools “taught.” Your child’s future as an adult is more a reflection of lessons learned from parents than schools. 

Who knows your whole child best?

Involved parents know their child the best and are the only people who know their whole child.

Do teachers, therapists, psychologists, and doctors know your whole child?

No, they temporarily deal with pieces of your child, not your whole child. How often have you had a new teacher or any other professional for that matter go out of their way to ask you, the experts, about your child?

Who needs to be in charge and steering the ship, those who only think they understand your child, looking at pieces, or parents who know their whole child?

Parents. Those dealing with pieces of your child never do or can understand your whole child.

Whose vision of the child should be directing the outcomes?

Parents, your child is your child. Those working with your child should be helping you fulfill your vision.

Have parents been largely encouraged to abdicate their roles to the professionals over the last 50 years?

Yes, the trend has been to let the professionals take charge. Parents are often perceived as irrelevant or even as interfering pieces of the equation.

Are the teachers, schools, psychologists, etc. responsible for your child’s education and future?

These folks will often tell parents that they, the experts, are responsible, and you need to trust their training, their vision, and that you and your child need to follow their direction. The system doesn’t grade the teachers, psychologists, and therapists based on how your child does, they grade your children. They, the professionals, don’t fail, your child does. While they are well meaning, their role is limited and transient. Transients working with pieces of your child are not responsible for your child’s future. If they fail in their job, your child won’t be living in their basement when they’re thirty.

Should schools be viewed as a tool in the parent’s toolbox that they can choose to use or not, and if so to what extent?

For many families today, school is an option, not a foregone conclusion. Some families do not have a choice, but for those who do, school needs to be perceived as optional—there if and when needed.

If you take your child out of school, how hard is it for them to return?

In most states if you decide to take your child out of school, you can do it tomorrow. Just let the school know that you are going with another plan. In a few states it is a tad more involved, but not much. And generally, to put them back in requires nothing more than contacting the school. For some children a placement test may be part of the process; but every child can attend public school when the parents choose, with the possible temporary exception of children who have been expelled. The bottom line is that it is rarely an issue to remove your child from school or to put them back in. 

Ultimately who is responsible for your child and their future?

You are!

Do children with learning and attention problems, with special needs or the gifted require schools to address their specific individual needs?

The reality is the educational system is not able to individualize and provide for “typical” children, let alone those with greater needs. Children in need of specific therapies need those therapies multiple times per day, not once or twice a week for 30 minutes. That is what the school can provide, not what the children need. At best schools can plug children into different levels of their curriculum or change the pace, but they do not and cannot create curriculums to fit individual children.

Is group/classroom, or set curriculum an efficient, effective way to educate?

Group/classroom instruction is a means to mass education but is by no means the best way to educate an individual. Individual targeted education is by far more efficient and effective, and the younger the child the more important it is. Two minutes of targeted 1:1 education for younger children or those with special needs can easily be more effective than an hour of group, set curriculum-based education.

Do children need to attend schools for their social development?

Social interaction in most schools occurs at minimally supervised times, such as recess, in the hallways and restrooms. If your child is not learning how to interact socially at home, they will often have social issues at school. And school provides a great opportunity for bullying, and the greater your child’s need for positive social interaction, the greater the targets they are for exclusion and bullying. There are many supervised social opportunities that exist outside the school setting that afford better opportunities for social engagement than school, including church groups, Scouts, 4H, community sports, and martial arts, not to mention family, extended family, and so on

What education can and should be: home-based education

Many parents who had previously just assumed that their children had been receiving a good, if not quality, educational opportunity are starting to pay attention. “Virtual” schooling gave many parents a better look into their child’s curriculum than ever before; and many were rather shocked at how inappropriate much of it was for their child and how far it was removed from fitting or targeting their child.

The reality is that mass education, schools, and set curriculums are not producing good or what should be considered acceptable results for most children, even if our children apparently are doing well. The United States in 2018 ranked 30^th in math, 8^th in reading, and 11^th in science internationally. So much for the myth that we have a great educational system. It is certainly nothing to brag about. And to maintain perspective, think about what countries might rank above the U.S. and how good their educational systems actually are.

Many families are beginning to really examine school as they now see it to be and are considering alternatives. At the same time many work and home situations have changed; and as a result, more and more parents are finding that they can work from home for at least part of the day, or that they can do fine on one salary,weighing a new car when the old one runs just fine against assuming a more active role in their child’s education and future. If one parent could be home educating the children, even if for part of the day, it opens alternatives that may not have been perceived before. We tend to forget what was, but to gain perspective, in 1967 49% of mothers were stay-at-home moms. That number dropped to 23% in 1999 and has climbed a bit, but is still only 29%.

Many parents see their options as perhaps more limited than they need to be. The options list often includes public school, charter schools, or private schools, which are often prohibitively expensive and not necessarily better than public schools. Or there are home-based online schools that just plug children into a curriculum and keep them attached to a screen all day. Or traditional homeschool that tends to take up most of the child’s and parent’s day and just replaces one packaged curriculum for another. Packaged curriculums that children are plugged into are the bane of education and disregard our children as unique individuals. They ignore neuroplasticity and the value of targeted input, the child’s interest in and relationship to the input, affecting the intensity of the input and the effect on the brain.

What most folks think of as homeschool is not at all what home-based education started out being or can be. Homeschool as most parents think of it is essentially recreating school at home. A ton of curriculum/”stuff” that no one really expects the child to learn, nothing targeted, nothing specific to the child, and like school, most likely to produce less than stellar results.

What’s the latest U.S. literacy rate?

There is one huge piece missing from school and many homeschool curriculums—the child. What is taught, when, and how should be based on the child, the child’s level of development, their processing ability (link to Processing article), the child’s level of academic function, the child’s interests, the understanding of the needs of the whole child, and the vision. The needs of the whole child go way beyond curriculum, including turning the child on to learning, making them readers, and learning to love learning, learning that they don’t need to be hand fed to learn (they can do it themselves), teaching the child how to think, be responsible, including owning chores, and how to take care of themselves from cooking to laundry. From how to earn, save, invest, and how to learn about and even engage in entrepreneurship, to having an adult rather than peers teach them about appropriate behavior, morality, faith, respect, values, family, etc. Providing them with an opportunity to develop strong processing, short-term and working memory, which translates into greater maturity, better executive function, and simply, being smarter; and to have the encouragement and flexibility to explore and develop their interests, talents, and passions.

Achieving our vision for our children requires much more than classes and grades, and if we understand the reality of the needs of our whole child, we understand the reality that the time and energy required by school or packaged curriculum does not leave the time and energy to put together the whole package, the whole child. Targeting academic education to fit the child is so efficient that the time needed to educate them per day is a fraction of what school or typical home school requires.

The parent’s job is to turn their children into happy, well adjusted, successful, contributing adults who have the tools to succeed at something they are passionate about. Giving birth is just the beginning; the job, the responsibility, and the privilege of parenting involves years of active participation.

Unfortunately, many parents do not start off with a vision. But all parents need a vision of what their child—this wonderful, unique new person—can be. Start with that vision, then actively work with your child, getting to know them and permitting them to learn and understand, and you can then together continue to develop the vision and bring it to fruition.

As someone once said, “Look where you’re going and go where you’re looking.” Take responsibility and take charge.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 35 No.2, 2022 ©NACD

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The post Educational Options 2022 appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

In his relatively short life, nineteen-year-old David has impacted and had a very positive influence on the lives of his four siblings, as well as his nieces, nephews, and the hundreds of children he has worked and interacted with at the family’s childcare center. If not for David, none of his siblings would have had the NACD jumpstart on their lives, nor would their children. If not for David, they would not have had his mother’s model of hope, faith, and tenacity as she worked and continues to help David be all he can be, or David’s model of perseverance, compassion, and selfless hard work.

Today David works at the childcare center about 15 hours a week and is expanding his duties and hours. In addition, he still willingly and happily does his daily NACD program. David presently plays with and entertains the children and serves the toddlers their lunches and takes care of a variety of little jobs that are needed around the center. He has a large social community through his family, coworkers, and of course all the kids, and is also involved with Special Olympics.

One of David’s significant contributions is to the children at the center. Young children accept most everyone for who they are. They’re not just color blind, they are “different” blind, they just accept people as they are. David just being there, just another person, a person who plays with them, entertains them, and even feeds them, teaches them to value him for who he is. Hopefully these early lessons will have a positive impact on the rest of their lives. As David is demonstrating, you don’t need to be a super star to have value, to contribute, and make other lives fuller and better.

Click here to read more about David’s story and watch his video

Tragically many in the world have not learned the lessons the toddlers in the childcare center are learning and have not learned to value those with exceptionalities, including those with Down syndrome. Counties are starting to “proudly” announce their success in eliminating Down syndrome. Many countries now are making a concerted effort to eliminate Down syndrome. Prenatal screenings are encouraged, if not pushed, for the express purpose of identifying babies with Down syndrome so they can be aborted. Today in countries like Iceland and Denmark they are coming close to aborting 100% of Down syndrome fetuses. In the United States the rate is about 67%.

Some of my favorite people have Down syndrome. I see them as wonderful, valuable, contributing members of our families and communities. Our families around the world adore their children with Down syndrome and can’t imagine what their lives would be without their precious child. Most of those born with Down syndrome have the potential to live full, happy lives and contribute to their families and communities.

We at NACD have been working for decades with many thousands of families who have children and now adults with Down syndrome. It is tragic that babies are being aborted out of ignorance. It is also tragic that most individuals with Down syndrome are not really being given a real opportunity to become all that they could be because of perceived limitations. The baby born today with Down syndrome can become a happy, fulfilled, gainfully employed adult; can get a higher education; can drive a car; can live independently and live a full, rich, wonderful life—if given a real opportunity. But, as David demonstrates, even those who do not achieve such a level can be happy and help enrich and contribute to the lives of all the rest of us.

There is a place for us all. Don’t be afraid to move over a tad, offer a hand, and make room for a wonderful person who has an extra chromosome.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 34 No.7, 2021 ©NACD

The post Down Syndrome – A Gift appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

Below is a message from Dawn Zachmann, a superstar mother of a young man with Down syndrome and autism. Dawn is one of our exceptional parents who has taken her role as parent and grandparent very seriously, to the great benefit of her family and others.

Dawn, mother of 5, brought her then five-year-old son David to see me in 2006. David has Down syndrome and had been diagnosed with autism as well. When I first met Dawn and David, I discovered that Dawn’s husband had just recently passed away. Dawn, with five children and now a single mom, impressed me that she was willing to take on NACD home education and bear the responsibility for David almost entirely on her own shoulders. Within the first year on program, her house burned down, and she still carried on, financially supporting her family through childcare and home educating all her children. In 2012, all while home educating her children, she opened “Small Wonders,” a home daycare, and in 2017 opened her now large and successful childcare center.

David’s story is important, not because his story is one of the typical Down syndrome success stories, of which we have many. David is not one of the kids who now as an adult functions independently, drives, and lives a typical life. David’s level of involvement was and is such that he will be living with some issues throughout his life (not really unlike most of us); but David’s story is a success story, an important success story, because David has made and continues to make a significant contribution to his family and community and has made other lives and the world a better place.

—Bob Doman

David Zachmann

Hello, my name is Dawn Zachmann and I want to tell my story of how I meet Bob Doman and how he has helped my son David and in turn how David has touched and influenced so many lives.

I am the mother of 5 children, one of which has Down syndrome and autism. David was born with a heart condition, which later needed surgery. He has had over 30 surgeries and to say that life for us has been quite stressful would be an understatement. I wanted to help David all we could, we all did, and figured preparing him to be as independent as possible is one of the best gifts I could give him. It was actually my brother who told be about NACD. He said he read an article about the program, so I reached out. It was in 2006 when David had his first evaluation. I was so impressed with Bob’s knowledge about brain function and physical development. He evaluated David and said he could help him. It was pretty intense evaluation, but when we left, I felt a sense of relief. I finally found the person who could help David reach his potential.

One thing I love about Bob is that no matter what the scenario I told him about he always had an answer. I know without a doubt he was meant to be in our lives. In just a few days David received his program. It was very easy to understand because everything was explained in detail. Most of the activities take less than a couple of minutes, are performed a number of times per day, five days a week and produce tremendous results. David loved doing his program and my family noticed big improvements in his behavior and intellectual development. He had sensory issues, which causes him in some situations to have temper tantrums and they slowly became less and less.

After David’s 3^rd evaluation I decided to enroll two of his brothers in the program. I was homeschooling them and felt NACD would help them have a better love of learning. They didn’t always like doing their schoolwork but as a mom I felt like the program they were on was a good one. Well, I was mistaken. Bob discovered some learning challenges with my son Joshua and designed a specialized program just for him. My other son Jacob is a very self-motivated and he also designed a specialized targeted program just for him. When we received their programs both of my boys were so excited and overjoyed with the fact they didn’t have to spend an hour on math every day and hours on their other subjects as well. Joshua started to love learning because his new program was so doable. Bob told me about neuroplasticity and the importance of frequency, intensity and duration and how vital that children’s education be targeted for the. With targeted input children can learn more in minutes than hours. Jacob would wake up, eat breakfast, do some of his chores and then be ready for his program. Life was so much less stressful, and I didn’t worry about them getting a proper education. The program fit us and made life much more enjoyable. Their memory skills, reading comprehension, math and other academic skills improved a whole school year after just three months and we spent only a third of the time on their new program that we had spent on homeschool previously. I wish I knew about NACD when all my children were younger because I think they would have had more of a love for learning earlier in life.

My one and only daughter also joined NACD and has done very well. Bob has taught all of my children the importance of being self-sufficient. My 15-year-old daughter Abigail runs her own online business and makes more money than some adults. My son Jacob purchased his second home by the age of 23 and Joshua has his own online business and helps me run our very large daycare center. Bob has always been someone my children look up to too. They think he is a pure genius and love that he never makes them feel bad when they make a mistake. He taught them how to be responsible, helpful and to work for things.

In 2020 I enrolled all four of my young grandchildren in NACD. My youngest was 6 months and oldest 8 years. I help them all do program and they all love it. Bob told 8 year old Khloe that if she works hard on her program he can have her graduating from high school in a few years. She is super smart and she and her brother Mason test scores as already much higher than their peers.

Ashton was bow-legged when he started walking and Bob designed a program to help straighten his legs out and now at 18 months he walks normally. My granddaughter Madison has a digit span of 6 and she just turned four, I can’t thank Bob and NACD enough for the gift they have given my family. NACD families get a coach who is always available for any questions or concerns about the program. The staff is always friendly and cheerful. I would highly recommend NACD to anyone with children no matter what their situation is. I know without a doubt Bob can help any child reach their potential.

Dawn Zachmann
Happy NACD Parent/Grandparent

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 34 No.7, 2021 ©NACD

The post David’s Story, A Family’s Journey appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

Today is marked as a day to raise international awareness of Down syndrome and to help advocate for the rights of people with Down syndrome.

Having worked with many thousands of individuals with Down syndrome from all over the world for over fifty years, NACD needs to begin a discussion of rights, with the right to be perceived as unique individuals with unlimited potential as a primary focus.

Perception of potential is used to define what constitutes an appropriate opportunity. If you do not have a vision of what can be, your limited vision will dictate what will be.

Individuals with Down syndrome can live a “normal” life, including being educated and going beyond high school to college, trade schools, and other specialized training. They can drive cars, live independently, have decent jobs, and good social lives. And they can fulfill dreams if given the opportunity. But the first requirement is the vision of what can be.

I’m writing this having just finished a Skype evaluation with a five-year-old little girl with Down syndrome, who has been on an NACD program since she was ten months old. Ioana, who lives in Romania, is reading and doing math on about a high second grade level and loving it. Her processing and short-term and working memory are above many of her typical peers. All of her functions are equivalent to her typical peers. But Ioana is not a miracle. Where she is today is the reflection of the vision that we all have for her and the opportunities that we have provided. Ioana is not alone. We have children all over the world doing this well because we, NACD and the families, have the vision of what can be and are providing the opportunities so it can be.

One of my all-time favorite NACD videos was one made by one of our children (who happens to have Down syndrome), Arianna, who lives in Barcelona. When she was 17 years old, she approached her mother and told her she wanted to make a video so that people could understand Down syndrome better and provide them with some insight into the life of a teen with Down syndrome. Arianna wrote her own script and filmed her presentation in English, Spanish and Catalan, the three languages that she speaks, reads and writes fluently. As you will see, she is a very intelligent child with a message that should actually resonate with everyone. You do not have to be perfect.

Today Arianna has a very full life and is in her 4th year of trade school in administration and customer service. She is presently doing her internship as a receptionist in a psychologist’s office. She is a very competent young lady. We are very proud of Arianna, as we are of our other children and families around the world.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 34 No.3 2021 ©NACD

Start with the vision!

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NACD has worked with Arianna, a teen with Trisomy 21 – Down syndrome, since she was two years old. Watch her self-produced video (above) where she comments in three languages!

The post World Down Syndrome Day 2021: A Vision of What Can Be and Should Be appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

The seasons are changing and with that change comes increased congestion for children around the world. Whether you are moving from fall into winter or winter into spring, the changing temperatures, moisture levels, and changes in the trees and other plants outside can produce allergic responses in children and adults. So while these changing seasons can often bring increased opportunities to get outside with all of those benefits to breathing, regulating the nervous system and disrupting repetitive behaviors, there is the real issue of increased congestion.

So what’s the big deal with congestion? My grandchild’s pediatrician told us that we should expect my grandchild to be sick 90% of the time if she attended a preschool or day care. The doctor went on to say that this was nothing to be concerned about because most of the illnesses were just colds and congestion. What that really meant is that my grandchild would be experiencing distorted auditory information 90% of the time. That’s a big deal.

Whether children attend preschool, playgroups, grade school or go to “kid gyms” the increased exposure to illness combined with seasonal allergy triggers create a perfect setting for long periods of congestion. If congestion is so common among children in the general population, why are we so worried about it? Why should you be concerned? The short answer to that is that it impacts negatively on the quality of sound that is being transmitted to the brain.

Let’s look at how this might impact on a child with Down syndrome or any other syndrome that impacts negatively on the structure of the sinuses and ear canals. With many children, the ear canals tend to be small. By the way, many neurotypical children have small ear canals as well. These narrow canals make it hard for physicians to see or address typical issues such as ear wax that reduces the ear drum’s ability to move as well as making it difficult to see ear infections. Nasal and sinus congestion backs up into the middle ear causing the eardrum to lose much of its movement which then results in poor communication of accurate sound signals. Your child is not hearing with clarity. What they hear can be muffled and difficult to understand.

Obviously receiving poor quality sound impacts negatively on auditory processing, auditory attention and the development speech and good articulation. It also results in the child not necessarily responding when spoken to, being slow to imitate sounds, and appearing to tune out to what is going on around them. There’s more bad news in that nasal congestion produces mouth breathing which results in the child leaving their mouth open for long periods of time. This allows the jaw to stay in a relaxed position and can lead to the tongue sliding forward. So we have a cascading impact triggered by congestion.

Now let’s consider the impact on children with sensory issues. Have you ever had a cold and had that feeling of being detached from what is going on around you? Your head hurts. You’re tired because the congestion disrupts your sleep and you feel spacey because your hearing is distorted and even your sense of balance is impacted. You can’t taste your food and don’t even feel like eating. If this is how you feel with a cold, imagine the impact of congestion on your child with sensory issues.

For children who already may spend a great deal of time not processing auditory input or not processing it accurately, congestion adds another layer of distortion and isolation. We spend a lot of time doing program pieces that require and invite children to attend well to auditory input, to language, frequent congestion can result in even less attention to auditory input and a resulting increase in DSA’s (stimming behaviors).

So what can we do about this? Our best bet is typically to improve or maintain an extremely healthy diet rich in deeply-colored and diverse organic vegetables and healthy proteins. We will talk about nutrition and diets as a regular part of our monthly newsletters in the future. For now, let’s just simply state that we want to avoid mucous-causing foods during any period when the weather or exposure to other people may increase the risk of congestion. Typical mucous-causing foods include dairy, eggs, pasta, cereals, bananas, potatoes, corn, soy products and to a lesser degree, cabbage, corn and red meat. Many of these foods are not good for a variety of other reasons as well.

In future articles we will write about how to get your child to eat “the good stuff” and we encourage and invite you to share recipes and ideas on our Facebook page. Let’s help each other discover great ways to get our children to eat well. I’ll give a little shout out here to one of our new families in Australia who grow all their own organic foods for themselves and their little girl. Evie is a very lucky girl to have such incredible food resources. Unfortunately, we don’t all have a home that would easily allow us to grow all of our own food but we can share resources from around the world to give our children and ourselves the best nutrition and health possible.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 33 No. 11, 2020 ©NACD

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