My wife and I have a beautiful five year old boy called Harri. Harri was born with a rare genetic condition that’s affected all areas of development, he has global development delays, low tone, epilepsy, autism and a number of learning difficulties.

We started out with conductive education, we travelled overseas several times a year for various intensive therapies and we were seeing results, but we had to weigh these up against the cost and time we were spending. We had a business to run too and it just wasn’t sustainable.

Like many parents we were told to just wait and see what happens but this didn’t sit right with us, we wanted Harri to discover the world and hopefully live an independent life, so we’ve thrown everything we can at improving life for Harri and have been lucky to be supported by BICT to do this.

Through some further research, which my wife is amazing at, and from following other families doing the Doman International Programme we became intrigued and decided to have a go.

When we started Harri was assessed at a neurological age of 16 months, he was 5 at the time, and his brain was functioning at 25%.

A program was designed with the entire Doman team having input into it and our coach was always available to talk us through anything. It was daunting to begin with, we needed to get our non-verbal autistic walking 5 year old to go back to crawling, but bit by bit we got there.

We now do four hours of therapy a day, six days a week with three people required to help. Harri is also doing the reading program. Reading is something I always thought would be out of reach for him, and now here he is learning!

He can now brush his teeth, follow simple instructions and communicate through pointing and simple sign language – something that he could never do before and something I am sure most parents take for granted.

“The growth in Harri’s attention has been outstanding in his every day activities, tasks, therapy and he simply plays for longer now. Harri’s concentration periods have grown considerably and he will often ask for more. This has been huge for Harri and his learning and social competence when working alongside others…….the Brain Injured Children Trust and Doman programme as well as Harri’s incredible parents has given Harri new
opportunities and Harri is the most amazing, happy, kind and loving wee guy who deserves the world”

Sacha, Harri’s Kindy Teacher

"We introduced Harri in our 2022/23 Annual report, Harri has a rare genetic condition which affects all areas of development, he has global development delay, low tone, epilepsy, autism and a number of learning difficulties. Like many of our families Harri's parents were told to just wait and see what would happen but they wanted more for him and threw everything at improving his life."

Harri’s family had been travelling for intensive therapies and were seeing results but the cost and time of these were not sustainable, eventually they found the Doman program and decided to give it a go. The appeal of the Doman program was that it was all encompassing - it addressed everything from diet to seizures, reading to mobility and breathing and there was a focus on treating the cause not the symptoms.

Within 5 months they were already seeing huge changes in his general health, concentration levels, ability to follow instructions and even sight. Harri does therapy four hours a day, six days a week and in the last 9 months he has continued to improve. Harri’s journey highlights the importance of consistent, structured support in unlocking the full potential of children with neurological challenges and we are so excited to share how he has continued to progress in the last 9 months.

"Harri, BICT is so proud of everything you have achieved and know that with the support of your mum and dad, and wider therapy team you are going to keep amazing us all."

Doman Progress Report

Harrison has shown exceptional neurological development, growing 10 months neurologically during this time. This represents a 103.4% increase in his neurological growth rate compared to before he started the program, and 389% faster than the average child his age. Prior to the Doman Program, Harrison’s neurological development was only 27% of that of an average child.

Harrison has been increasingly drawn to the structure and routine of the program, particularly enjoying crawling, creeping, and patterning exercises which develop his vision and emotional regulation.

Harrison and his family have been diligent with their initial respiratory programme increasing the available oxygen for his brain and body throughout the day and developing his own breathing and ability to better oxygenate his system. This has impacted Harrison’s seizures, reducing not only the number and intensity, but improving his recovery time and ability to self-regulate. Harrison is bouncing back sooner, and in some cases his family have been able to stop or prevent seizures using his respiratory programme. His family are more aware of triggers, signs, symptoms, and how seizures affect the brain. They have now begun the second stage of Doman’s respiratory development programmes aiming to further reduce Harrison’s seizures with the hope of eliminating them.

Harrison’s understanding and awareness have greatly increased giving him a new desire to communicate and engage. This has brought some challenging behaviour, which is an excellent sign of his new level of intelligence, and through the new programme, his team are able to support his emotional development.

Previously at risk of requiring a PEG feeding tube, Harrison now eats all whole foods without issue.

Harrison has started reading small commercial schoolbooks, although the material is still too advanced. He has better success with homemade books that have two lines of text per page.

His ability to assign choices visually has improved, as demonstrated during the evaluation when he successfully used his hands to make choices.

VISION
Harrison’s vision has developed significantly. He can now see at a distance and with better clarity improving his awareness, coordination and general movement.

AUDITORY
Harrison’s hearing sensitivity has decreased improving his awareness, communication and language.

TACTILE
Harrison’s tactile perception has improved orally and throughout his body. He has better internal perception; starting to recognize toileting cues.

MOBILITY 
Harrison has made significant progress in his mobility thanks to his improved vision and balance development. He is better able to navigate obstacles and his environment, walking faster on a variety of uneven terrain and hills.

MANUAL COMPETENCE
Harrison’s manual abilities have shown significant improvement, with better hand coordination and engagement in daily activities.

Harrison’s ability to produce sounds and form words is improving, with greater use of tone and an increasing desire to communicate verbally.