Doman Method As An Alternative Learning Method
The Doman method is an alternative learning method created by American physician Glenn Doman more than 60 years ago and is still applied by many professionals to this day. A child’s learning potential is greatest in his or her first years of life. The main idea of the Doman method is that all those involved in raising children would make the most of this potential. According to Doman, early provision of stimuli is important for a child’s intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development.
Doman method
In 1955, Glenn Doman, along with educational psychologist Carl Delacato, founded the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential , which was designed to treat children with brain damage using a method based on sensory stimulation. After some time, great progress could be observed in these patients at both the motor and intellectual levels. Thus, Doman and Delacato decided to start using the method also in those children who do not show any brain damage. This is how the Doman method was born.
The main goal of the Doman method is to utilize the plasticity of a child’s brain. This method involves doing repetitive, playful, dynamic, and motivating exercises several times a day. They are intended to promote the creation of connections between nerve cells. According to Doman, this strengthens the child’s intellectual and learning capacity.
The first six years of life are an important time for learning
According to Doman, it is easier for a child’s brain to establish connections between neurons, or neurons, until the age of six. Indeed, Doman refers to this stage as the birth of ingenuity. During these years, the child develops more and more effectively compared to the next stages of development. That is why the Doman method as an alternative learning method emphasizes so much the importance of stimulation during early childhood.
In addition, it emphasizes the importance of the environment. Although the genome is thought to help in the rapid development of maximum potential, it is much more important that the child is allowed to grow up in an environment that provides varied, complete, and high-quality stimulation opportunities.
Areas of knowledge that the Doman method can help improve
The Doman method can help improve a child’s seven areas of knowledge where a child can succeed or reach their full potential:
- Reading
- Writing
- Encyclopedic information
- Another language as a foreign language
- Musical skills
- Mathematical skills
- Physical development
Learning takes place through continuous exposure to certain stimuli, called pieces of intelligence, grouped by category. These stimuli capture the child’s attention and curiosity, which processes and assimilates the information they receive through any of their sensory pathways. These include the auditory (hearing), visual (sight), tactile (tactile), olfactorial (smell), and gustatory (taste) pathways.
Criticism of the Doman method
The Doman method is used by both education professionals and parents around the world – they swear by the effectiveness of this alternative learning method and the results it offers. However, the Doman method has also received criticism. According to some, this method can be detrimental in the sense that when a child learns early, he or she will get bored at school because he or she is ahead of his or her classmates. In addition, the Doman method is said to be too general, as it suggests similar stimulation to all children, whether the child had a brain injury, an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, or none of these.
Today, however, we know it to be a very effective method, as this type of intervention can be identified and personalized as much as possible according to each child’s own needs and environment. The American Academy of Pediatrics criticizes the Doman method because it does not have enough scientific evidence to support it. According to the association, the method is based on an oversimplified and outdated theory of neurodevelopment.
