Hi,
I have a newborn and read 3 of the Doman books and felt it made common sense and it appealed to me.
I searched these fora for arguments against and found lots of mums saying things like "let a child be a child", "kids don't need to read, crawl early, do maths....etc" Well that's their opinion, but its just an opinion, and was backed up with nothing, so I ignored it.
My thought at this time was if the kid enjoys it, why not do it, Doman has shown its of benefit, so if its doing no harm, why not take as much good from it as you can - makes sense right?
Well now I learn Doman is widely discredited in much of his work, which throws into doubt all his claims, and also rubbishes my own argument that doing will be of some benefit.
I'm not going to be doing this programme, despite having bought books and built materials and am writing this post to give a proper negative argument for people like me who may be looking for a concrete against argument before deciding to go ahead.
Do what you like with your kids, but if you are thinking of this please read the following links, including one from the American Academy of Paediatrics. In short:
"The Doman-Delacato patterning technique is pseudoscience because it is premised on a bankrupt and discarded theory and, more importantly, has failed to demonstrate any significant effectiveness under controlled conditions, and yet it is being purveyed as an innovative and effective treatment, and even possibly a cure. The IAHP and NACD cannot support the claims that they make, and are therefore guilty of fraud. Current regulations should prevent such abuse, but unfortunately such institutions as the FDA lack the manpower and the teeth to properly enforce such regulations and fulfill their role to protect the public from the snake-oil salesman, dressed up in the modern clothes of alternative medicine, that increasingly prey upon the vulnerable, the sick, and the desperate."
pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/104/5/1149.full
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheInstitutes_for_the_Achievement_of_Human_Potential#
www.srmhp.org/archives/patterning.html