For what it's worth, Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has a website devoted to teaching early reading. Www.reading bear.org.    Obviously, he believes in it.  I think Doman addressed quite thoroughly in his books the adverserial attitude mainstream medicine has toward him, and how he was too busy healing kids to worry too much about it.

Thank you so much to all who posted.  My daughter with DS is now 2 years 4 months.  I have been meaning to start her with the Doman methods; I am very interested in these programs.  I am appreciative and excited to hear your results.

Thank you, andreasro and kmum, for your encouragement and the links.

We do raise the end of the crawling track and now I think we just have to do it OFTEN.... she's really not interested in crawling down it but maybe if we keep basically sliding her down it, she'll gain interest.

I have spent much of the weekend looking at the success people are having, such as at http://naturallybetterkids.com/, and am filled with excitement that there is so much hope for our little ray of sunshine!

Thank you all!

One idea for teaching boys to grow up handy....  There are SO many YouTube videos available; when something in your home breaks (doorknob, appliance, etc.) first check online to see if it is something YOU or your husband could learn to fix.  If so, try to do the job and involve your son.  Even if you are unsuccessful, you both will learn something and most importantly, teach your son to be resourceful.

I'm a believer!  I wish I had been aware of this with my first children!

Hello all!
Hello all,

My baby girl was born 8 mo. ago and diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome.  I immediately started reading all the Doman books.  I was enthused to follow the suggestions, and we built a crawling track.  It was a bit discouraging.  Doman advocates tummy time (pretty much all the time!) and she was so content on her belly that she just lay there with her head down and would look at the floor or pick at the carpet until she fell asleep!  Her PT said she never saw a baby so content on her belly. We started laying her more often on her back and stimulating her with toys, etc.  Now that she can finally hold her head up better we are putting her on her tummy more.  To me, her most serious problem seems to be the hypotonia, which has worried me as I think the physical development is related to the neural development.

We recently started the Doman-style reading flashcards.  She looks at them and seems to think they are funny

I'm interested in the Little Musician.  My older kids have been Suzuki-method trained, and I hear DS babies can excel at music, and love it.

I am interested in people's experiences with their Down syndrome children's experience with early education and their physical development, and any advice/suggestions you may have.

Thanks to all for these great suggestions!

I'm sure all mothers share your feelings often; I tend to spend too much time worrying about getting the "best" thing and am trying to get to a point where I "just do it" without so much procrastination

One thing I took away from the Doman books is to do everything with your child in an enthusiastic, joyful manner, even if it's ever so much less than you feel you should be doing.