A Brief History of
Neurodevelopment Brain Retraining

In the 1950's a neuro-surgeon named Dr. Temple Fay, chair of neurosurgery at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, was doing research in several fields of neurology, including neurodevelopment. He had occasion to do autopsies on children who had died at different ages. He drew a correlation between what areas in their brains had been myelinated (covered with the fatty insulation called myelin) and what these children were able to do before they died. By doing this he was able to correlate function with structure in the brain. In other words he determined which part of the brain is responsible for which task.

In the late 1950s, a center in Philadelphia was founded which used the knowledge of this correlation to redo that early developmental work for individuals who had lost a function. After much trial and error and research, they came up with the reorganization program. The team leaders in this work were Dr. Glen Doman, a physiologist, Dr. Carl Delacato, a psychologist, Robert Doman Sr., a medical doctor and Florence Scott, Robert’s registered nurse. This has come to be known as the Doman-Delacato method. During this time Florence Scott trained Jean Ayers, who became the founder of Sensory Integration Therapy.

In the 1960s, awareness of the Doman-Delacato program spread around the country. Many people came to the center to learn how to do this method, and some founded their own centers. At the time the method was used primarily to help children who had severe birth injuries, like cerebral palsy, and adults who had severe traumatic brain injuries.

In the late 1960s the American Academy of Pediatrics published a statement which cooled interest in the method at the time, but a number of people around the country continued using the method. Over the years, there have been several centers started based upon the work in Philadelphia. CAN LEARN Therapeutic Center & School are among them.

As time went on, it was discovered that other issues like Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, Moebius Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FAS/D), and Reactive Attachment Disorder could be addressed by using a brain reorganization program. Those working in the field found that more types of clients, if their presenting problems stemmed from neurodevelopmental issues, could benefit from participating in a brain reorganization program, including those who have physical, mental, developmental, cognitive (thinking), learning, attending, emotional, social and behavioral problems.

Reorganizing the brain through neurodevelopment theories results are not perfect but they are substantial, observable, and better then other more restrictive methods.  Our clients and families are able to live high functioning lives because of the work we do.

Can Learn cannot offer miracles.
There are no silver bullets. We offer hope with a future.