Religions > Atheism > Quack medical criminals: "For $10,000 or less," Kitty says, "I can totally fix my kid."
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fredric L. Rice" |
| Date: |
22 Jun 2004 10:01:24 PM |
| Object: |
Quack medical criminals: "For $10,000 or less," Kitty says, "I can totally fix my kid." |
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/22/Floridian/Anything_to_reach_Ryan.shtml
Anything to reach Ryan
To scientists, it's quackery. But to a Clearwater family with an
autistic child, a controversial treatment plan is their best shot at a
normal life.
By KIM CROSS Published June 22, 2004
<snip>
When Ryan was 10, someone recommended a book called What to Do About
Your Brain-Injured Child by physical therapist Glenn Doman. To Kitty,
it was full of explanations that "just made sense." The book, first
published in 1974 and now in its second edition, described autism,
Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other conditions as
treatable brain injuries. Doman wrote that his rigorous treatments
would stimulate and "(organize) the hurt brain so it might perform its
own functions." The Youngs flew to the Doman institutes in
Philadelphia, founded in 1955, for the first in a series of lectures.
They estimate they will have spent almost $10,000 on tuition, travel
and lodging once they've attended all nine.
Kitty had already quit her job in finance at the Church of Scientology
to devote herself to Ryan's care. Randy says he works from home as a
freelance home designer. The family moved to Clearwater from Miami two
years ago.
When talking about the future, the Youngs often use the phrase "when
Ryan is well." They believe the Doman program will make him a normal
boy.
"For $10,000 or less," Kitty says, "I can totally fix my kid."
<snip>
The "patterners" usually linger for a while when they're done,
finishing conversations they started around the table. Some, like the
Youngs, are Scientologists. Others are neighbors and sympathetic
parents. To Kitty, they are the truest of friends.
"My entire social life is the people who come and pattern," she says.
She plies them with her cookies, cakes and brownies. She offers to
babysit, bake birthday cakes and reciprocate any way she can.
Yet there are too few volunteers to get Ryan through a full week of
patterning. Kitty has exhausted herself and her possibilities in the
search for more help.
She tried papering the neighborhood three times with letters politely
explaining her situation. She visited five churches, posted bulletins
at the YMCA and even went to the fire station seeking help. But only a
handful of people came - mostly friends and neighbors.
"It's not that hard," Kitty says. "I don't see why people won't do
it."
* * *
The driving concept behind the Doman program is that we must learn to
crawl before we can walk.
Children should never skip a stage of development, such as crawling,
because doing so could stall their functioning at higher stages. When
children like Ryan can walk and run - but not necessarily crawl - they
must be "patterned," a way of teaching the brain what it has missed.
During that process, the theory goes, inactive parts of the brain
suddenly light up with neurological activity, growing stronger with
use.
"Think of patterning as a kind of closed-brain surgery," says Janet
Doman, Glenn Doman's daughter, who now runs the organization. Like the
Youngs, Doman is a member of the Church of Scientology, though she
says there is no connection between the organization and the church.
"Without having to take a kid in the OR and crack his skull, we can
actually access the subcortical area of the brain to teach him how to
crawl."
Janet Doman says patterning is just a small part of a program that
treats the brain through physical, neurological and intellectual
stimulation. The maskings and the brachiation ladder are all part of
an effort to develop the whole child, intellectually, physically and
socially.
The Doman organization, a nonprofit, reported revenues of
$4.5-million in 2001 with a net loss of $441,867. Janet Doman
estimates it has helped 20,000 children since 1959. Among them are
severely retarded, paralyzed or blind children, along with perfectly
healthy kids whose parents want to make them smarter.
Most of the children show significant improvement, Janet Doman says.
Of the 572 speech-impaired children treated between 1998 and 2003, the
organization says, roughly half learned to speak for the first time.
Other children made leaps that seem miraculous. Of 123 children who
were blind, 85 percent saw the world for the first time. Of 436
children who were paralyzed, 40 percent learned to crawl, according to
the organization.
<snip>
© Gerry Armstrong
http://www.gerryarmstrong.org
---
Where to find Fahrenheit 9/11: http://www.f911tix.com/
"There's nothing innocent about the Arabs, dumbass." - Creosote 216.67.201.248
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