The Doman Method has been part of the way I parent since I was first introduced to Glenn Doman back when my oldest Wesley was almost 2 years old. I have seen with my own two eyes how much a young child is capable of when given the right learning environments.

Back in 2016 I finally took the plunge and went to The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. There I took a 5 day course, and learned how to use the Doman Method to help my youngest son Zakari who lives with Autism develop.

If you want to read more about that trip, check out the following blog post:

Day 1&2 Of My Trip Traveling To IAHP

Monday- IAHP What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child

What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child Course – Tuesday

Wednesday- What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child course

What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child – Thursday

What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child Course – Friday

WTD Course – On My Way Home. Children of Dreams, Children of Hope.

Our First Appointment

In August 2017 I flew back to Philadelphia for our first appointment. This time I was not alone, my husband and Zakari joined us.

You can read more about this journey below:

IAHP Visit – Traveling Day – Friday

IAHP Trip- Free Day #1- New York City

IAHP Trip- Free Day #2- Maryland Zoo with Friends

Sadly I didn’t get around to blogging about the rest of the week. I don’t regret much, but this is one thing I do regret. I have tried to sit down and remember how the days went, but sadly because so much time had passed, it didn’t flow just right.

Split Between Doman International & IAHP

In December of 2017 Janet Doman sent out a letter to all the families stating that what was suppose to be a split, but under the same umbrella with IAHP American and IAHP Europe was not happening.

The letter was shocking to me as a parent. I felt it was unprofessional announcing who the IAHP had “fired”. Something didn’t sit right with me after reading this letter. I also realized because of this letter that I had just lost a lot of respect for Janet Doman.

Making the Switch

This is when Doman International was born as its own separate organization.

After that I realized the staff that my family had mostly connected with were what made the IAHP special. With that team of people gone, I was not getting the support I needed to help my son. I felt like they didn’t want to answer my questions during our 6 months of support, but just wanted to get me to commit to coming back the Philadelphia.

Eventually after I started asking the staff at Doman International my questions. Even though I was suppose to be supported by the IAHP, it was actually Doman International that carried my family through the remaining of our support period. They did not receive a cent for doing this, but did it anyhow because in the end the children are what matter to them.

Over the last year and a half, I have noticed several soft digs at Doman International in the IAHP newsletters. However through this whole ordeal Doman International has never said or implied one ill thing about the IAHP. Instead they choice to focus their energy on helping kiddos like Zakari.

Break From The Program

During the 2018/19 school year we took a break from our Doman programs. I felt like I as being pressured to explore another avenue and complete our ABA program, before I fully committed to the Doman Method. In the end, I know this was a mistake. But that being said, now I know with 100% certainty we are on the right track.

Book & Canceling Appointments….

I must have booked and rescheduled our appointment with Doman International a million time before I fully committed to the week of August 2019. Honestly I must have drove poor Emma(Doman International’s Clinical Manager) crazy. But she accommodated us with each change with absolute patience.

I didn’t do this because I wasn’t sure this was the way to go, but because I really needed to do this appointment during the summer. Originally I thought that I could schedule our visits during my daycare children’s nap time. But soon I came to my senses and realized if I was going to do this, I needed to commit a full week without distractions.

Our Remote Consult with Doman International

In the past I have been just too tired after a visit or day of appointments to blog about our journey. I figured I would do it at a later date. Problem is, weeks and months later, it becomes harder and harder to remember all the details.

With this appointment I committed to sharing our journey via YouTube videos. Sometimes its just easier to say what I have on my mind, instead of trying to write about it. So I apologize to my readers who prefer blogs over vlogs, but this time around I believe a few vlogs do this story more justice then I could ever blog.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Final Thoughts About Our Remote Consult

There are a lot of benefits to meeting the staff in person, and I am glad almost everyone that is working with us at Doman International has gotten to meet Zakari in person before. However overall I felt this appointment was easier on our whole family.

• The appointment itself is more affordable. Because the staff can remotely call us from anywhere for the appointment, the overhead costs on their side are much lower. Therefore the appointments are much cheaper then an in person appointment.
• No need to pay for hotels, car rentals, plane tickets, meals out, etc.
• Zakari could stay in his regular routine. When we were in Philadelphia, Zakari’s sleep schedule was so out of sort. So he was not really showing the staff his best self because he was so sleep deprived.
• I did not have to figure out how to entertain and keep Zakari busy between appointments. We just went on with our day. During appointments I did not have to stop Zakari from “redecorating” a staff members office. I could set him up and know for the most part my home is “Zakari Proof”. Sure he interrupted us a few times. But the staff were VERY understanding.

So unless we feel that there is some reason that Zakari should be seen in person, we will continue to do any upcoming appointments remotely.

Would you like a FREE 30 min consult with Doman International? Fill out this form and you they will contact you to set up an appointment.

Disclaimer: This post is written from my perspective as a parent. It is not to say that my opinions are right for every family. I just want to encourage parents to do their own due diligence before booking an appointment for their own child. By sharing my experience I hope that it might help another parent along their journey from Special Needs to Wellness.

Grammar is a subject that often I feel ill-equipped to teach. I feel that not enough time was spent focusing on this when I was in school. So I’m always looking for better ways to teach grammar to my kiddos.

Zakari & I had the chance to review and share with you our experience with Easy Grammar:  Grade 1 by Easy Grammar Systems.

What is Easy Grammar

Easy Grammar is a grammar program designed to be used as a teaching text. You can expect to spend between 5-15 mins a day per lesson.

Easy Grammar cycles through concepts. They understand in order for a student to fully grasp concepts they need the chance to have many encounters with it. Each encounter strengthens the students knowledge on the subject, making it more likely to stick.

Does You Need to Purchase a Workbook for Each Student?

No you don’t!

If you have more then one child, Easy Grammar can be reproduced and passed down from child to child. This makes the system even more affordable, as it can possible be the only grammar program your family needs to buy.

We received the digital version to review. If you plan on using the program with more then one child, digital may be the way to go. Instead of standing over a photocopier, you can just select the lessons you want to print and send it to your printer.

How Does Each Lesson Look?

Each lesson consists of:

Capitalization: The student is asked to look at the sentence and capitalize different words. For example: the word I, initials, days of the week, and names of states just to name a few.

Punctuation: The student is then ask to place a missing punctuation mark into a sentence.

Lesson: Then the student is taught a short lesson. For example:

• Tracing capital and lowercase letters,
• What is a noun,
• What is a vowel,
• and more

Sentence: Then the student is asked to trace or write a sentence to end the lesson.

How Did We Adapt This Program For a Child With Autism and Fine Motor Skills Issues?

While looking though the samples of this program I thought that it was going to require a lot of adaptation in order to use it with my son. However I soon realized that this program, at least in the early years is very teacher intense.

So Zakari and I went through the lessons, just as I would with any student. I supported him while he wrote his answers, but overall it needed very little adaptation.

What Do We Think About Easy Grammar Grade 1?

Easy Grammar Grade 1 was just as the title suggests, its easy. I like that it only requires 5 to 15 minutes of teacher/student time. The fact the lessons are short and sweet, my son never bored of them.

What To Learn More About Easy Grammar Systems?

Click the banner below to learn more! 70 other homeschool families are reviewing different Easy Grammar Systems products, like:

Easy Grammar:  Grade 3

Daily GRAMS:  Grade 3

Easy Grammar Plus 

Daily GRAMS:  Grade 7

Easy Grammar Ultimate Series:  Grade 9 

Easy Grammar Ultimate Series:  Grade 11 

We Did Not Hit Our Goal This Month…

But you know what? That’s OK. Because it was not because we were not read, but because we devoured a nearly 400 page books!

This year I am a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and we had the chance to review Britfield & the Lost Crown. So this book landed up taking up a HUGE part of our read aloud time in August. But that doesn’t matter, because the story was worth the time.

The most important thing is that we are reading, not how many books we get through in a month. As Zakari gets older, the books we will read will get long, and we will get through less in a month and that is alright!

The End Of Our Monthly Series

So I have been trying to decided how I want to move forward. This year I have been wanting to do weekly homeschool updates. Since we are working with Doman International, I want to record our journey for two reasons. 1) To record our progress. Sometimes we are so caught up in the NOW, we for get about the PAST and don’t see where we have come from. 2)If I can share our journey and help even one other family, it is worth the time and effort.

So instead of sharing what we read during the month, I will be sharing this with our weekly updates.

So this will be the last Raising Bookworms: What We Read This Month Video. But don’t worry, you can see all that we read in our upcoming weekly videos instead.

Raising Bookworms: What We Read In August 2019

Britfield & The Lost Crown: What an awesome read! If you want to read what we thought, check out my review: TOS Review: Britfield & The Lost Crown

Fizz and the Police Dog Tryouts: Fizz 1

Fizz and the Dog Academy Rescue

Fizz and the Show Dog Jewel Thief

Fizz and the Handbag Dognapper

Puppy Pirates 1: Stowaway! This month my YouTube friend, _little_mama_purple got this book free from a Kellogg’s program. When I saw that I remembered we owned it. So we gave the series a try. Its not a MUST read, but its a nice to read. Sweet story. We have a few more of the series that we will read. I would never pay full price for it, but garage sale or thrift store prices are worth it for sure.

Calendar Mysteries 8: August Acrobat: Of course a month would not be complete without the kids from the Calendar Mysteries!

Dolphin Freedom: Zakari and I were introduced to Wayne Grover and his dolphin friend “Baby” when we were working thought Bookshark Level K. We read Dolphin Treasure and Dolphin Adventure:: A True Story and just fell in love. I was surprised to find out there was a third book that was not included in the curriculum.

I actually had trouble getting my hands on it. We ordered it twice through Amazon Marketplace and both times it never arrived.(Don’t worry, I was refunded.) Finally one of the woman I buy used books from on Facebook came across a copy. So I bought it from her.

This was actually our favourite book out of the three, so I’m glad I did not give up trying to get a copy.

What did you and your kiddos read in August?

This post does contain affiliate links. We appreciate it when you use them to purchase any of the books we suggest.

Years ago, we used Reading Eggs with my oldest son to help him learn how to read. So I was super excited to get the chance to review one of their many workbooks, 240 Essential Reading Skills for First Grade.

Reading Eggs gave my oldest a solid foundation in reading, phonics and spelling. We also used it for a while when Zakari was very little before our iPad broke. It really gave him a jump start on his early reading.

What Is Reading Eggs?

Reading Eggs is a subscription based, online program designed to teach children ages 2 to 13 to read. You can sign up for a free trial, and see if it is a match for your kiddo.

I really like that the placement test is very interactive and engaging for the student. So they are more likely to really try and you get the best results.

Reading Eggs is also available on ISO and android. Which is great for little ones like Z who have fine motor skill issues that make using a mouse difficult.

How Reading Eggs & Essential Reading Skills for First Grade Workbook Go Hand In Hand

240 Essential Reading Skills for First Grade covers lessons 61-120 of the Reading Eggs program. The workbook can be used alone, but is best to used along side the online program.

Using this proven program for just 15 mins a day, your student will learn phonics, vocabulary, writing and reading comprehension.

The company suggests that your child complete the online lesson first before working through the matching workbook pages. I also agree with this. It allows the online program to teach the lesson, and the workbook to be a way for the student to practice what they learned.

What Exactly Is In This Workbook

Sometimes I find it really hard to decide if a workbooks is for us by just the description and a few sample pages. Sometimes the samples look like the book is perfect for my son, but when I get it, its too hard or too easy.

So seeing as I can’t let you physically take a look through my book, I thought I’d give you a virtual flip through. Check out the video below to see what is all included in this Grade 1 Skills work book.

What Did We Think About: 240 Essential Reading Skills for First Grade Workbook

Overall I found the books aesthetically beautiful. They were colorful and engaging for students. The lessons complimented the online subscription very well.

For kiddos who might not a have a solid understanding of phonics and sight words, these workbook will help them get that foundation that is so important. A good friend of mine started using this program with her almost 7 year old son with autism, and it brought him from a non reader to reader in a very short time.

For us, we plan to use the workbook to continue to working on penmanship and reading comprehension.

What To Know What Other Homeschoolers Thought?

Click the banner below to find 25+ reviews from other homeschool families.

Any chance I get to review a book, I jump on it. Especially when I can read it aloud to one of my kids. This month we were blessed to be sent a digital copy of Britfield & the Lost Crown by C.R Stewart to review.

What Happens When Two Orphans Have Had Enough?

For as long as Tom can remember he has lived a hard life moving from orphanage to orphanage, until he landed up in Weatherly. A horrible child slave camp disguised as an orphanage. One day Tom finds out his family might still be alive. With the help of all the orphans, Tom and his best friend Sarah make a daring escape from Weatherly, with only the word “Britfield” to work with.

Soon Tom & Sarah find themselves in deeper trouble then they expected. With Scotland Yard, every police officer between Weatherly and London, not to mention the management of Weatherly’s henchmen after them, everywhere they turn someone is out to get them. Why are so many people so interested in two orphans?

Study Guide

The first thing I noticed when we started reading though Britfield & the Lost Crown was the educational value the fictional story provided the readers. The author took the main characters to real places with historical meaning, so the reader is “accidentally” learning history and geography.

The author is not afraid to used vocabulary that might require the reader to look up a few words in a dictionary. However he is careful that the use of new vocabulary is not discouraging to the reader. Homeschoolers can use the free 8 week study guide to go over vocabulary words used in each chapter.

Students also have the chance to work through comprehension questions. Afterwards there is a section called Going Deeper, where students are given more thought provoking questions to work thought. These in my opinion would be great question to talk about together as a family.

The Perfect Read Aloud

While at nearly 400 pages, Britfield & the Lost Crown is quite a bit longer then most books Zakari and I read aloud together. As he is only 7, I usually prefer books we can read in 2-3 reading sessions. We generally read 45 mins to 2 hours a session. But this books sucked us in. So it was well worth the extra reading sessions. Zakari stayed engaged, and did not seem to get lost, even though it took us nearly 2 weeks to finish up.

Britfield & the Lost Crown is well written. The author wrote with such style and skill. Honestly I put it in the same class as the Harry Potter series. But don’t worry if you are a family that prefers to not do any type of magic, wizards or witches, this book does not contain any of that. It is one that I will continue to recommend to other families.

The only frustrating thing is the sequel will not be out till Fall 2020!!

Curious To Know What Other Homeschool Families Thought?

Don’t just take my word for it! Click the banner below to be directed to a post with a linky at the bottom. This linky will help you find 70+ homeschool family book reviews on Britfield & the Lost Crown!

Fine Motor Skills

Some times kids diagnosed with Autism have issues with either fine gross motor skills. Some kids have issues with both.

While Zakari has very strong gross motor skills, sometimes his delayed fine motor skills could be crippling. So early on I knew we had to practice hard to catch him up.

Over the years I have found a few toys and household items that have helped his a lot in the area of fine motor skills. As a homeschool parent, I had to make sure I was helping him develop his fine motor skills if I ever wanted him to write independently.

Here are my TOP 7 Fine Motor Skill Tools and Toys:

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on Dec 3, 2018 at 12:48pm PST

1 ) Bubble Wrap: Whenever a package comes in the mail, Zakari doesn’t really care what is in it, but he does want is the bubble wrap. I’m more then happy to hand it over because it is a fun way for Zakari to work on his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.

Besides, what kid doesn’t love popping bubble wrap.

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on May 27, 2019 at 11:43am PDT

2) Stickers: Stickers at first were very difficult for Zakari. At the beginning I had to take the sticker off the page for him. At that time it took a lot of effort for him just to put the sticker on a blank page.

Once he got better at that I started only partially removing the sticker from the sheet. That gave him a little start and helped him learn to remove the sticker without ripping it.

Eventually with practice, Zakari learned to not only remove the sticker by himself, but place in in the correct spot in a sticker book. It was neat to watch his fine motor skills develop before my eyes.

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on Dec 26, 2018 at 10:57am PST

3) Wood Puzzles Set Puzzles are a great way to work on fine motor skills and logic at the same time.

We started with easy Melissa & Doug Chunky Puzzle, then My First Match It Self-Correcting Matching Puzzles, finally working our way up to puzzles with more pieces.

One word of caution, make sure the puzzles you give your child to work with are good quality. Cheaply made puzzles are very frustrating for a child and they will get frustrated and give up. But don’t think you have to buy your early puzzles new. Check out garages sales, thrift stores and buy and sell groups. Just make sure to count that all the pieces are there.

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on May 6, 2019 at 6:42pm PDT

4) Learning Resources Peg Friends Around the Town & Stacking Peg Board Set: Stacking Pegs can be used in many ways to improve fine motor skills and work on simple math skills.

We started with a simple color set, and then found extra pieces at the thrift store. We used them to make patterns, stack, count and sort. I found they were used for many programs when both my boys were involved with occupational therapy and ABA.

Then for Zakari’s birthday he received the Peg Friends. This set allowed him to stack and build different community helpers and place them all over town.

5) Kid O A to Z Magnatab: I was very impressed when Zakari received his Magnatab for his birthday. It is a fun and clean way for him to practice writing his letters.

Many kids find practicing printing letters over and over again in workbooks boring. However the Magnatab is never a chore for Zakari. He is happy to use the stylus to make the little metal balls rise to form letters. Then take his fingers to push the balls back down. Creating a multi sensory learning experience.

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on Jan 26, 2017 at 7:48pm PST

6) Fat Brain Toys Squigz: A few years ago Zakari’s occupational therapist bought Squigz for him to play with during therapy. He loved them. Actually I’m not sure who had more fun with them, him or his ABA tutors.

I immediately jumped on Amazon and ordered our family a set. Afterwards Zakari received another set for his birthday. We soon found out that the only thing better then a set of Squigz… is two sets a Squigz.

Zakari and I play games where I stick them to the floor or walls and he has to pull them off. By doing so he is building strength in his hands. We also focus on sticking the Squigz together which takes fine motor skills and coordination.

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A post shared by Monique Dupuis (@early_learning_mom) on Oct 29, 2016 at 6:04pm PDT

7) Brachiation: Finally one of the best ways to work on fine motor skills is by hanging and swinging on a brachiation ladder.

According to Glenn Doman, brachiation helps organize the brain in a way that makes writing and other fine motor skill activities much easier.

What tools do you use to help develop your child’s fine motor skills?

Check out some other awesome homeschool blogs in this years Not Back To School Homeschool Blog Hop!

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop 
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager
Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling
Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom
Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together –  A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager
Yvonne @ The Life We Build – 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling
Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny – Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom
Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together –  A Peek into Our Homeschool

Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe – Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU
Kristen Heider @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach –Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year
Patti Pierce – Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy – My Favorite Homeschooling Things 
Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane – 5 Days of Nature Study
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning – Homeschooling my final 4 

Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities – Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child

Sally M – Tell the Next Generation – Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners 

This post contains affiliate links. We appreciate when you used them if you decide to get items mentioned in this blog for your family.

Why reading aloud is important even when they don’t seem to be listening…

Yesterday I shared about the importance of teaching your child with autism to read. Be sure to check it out HERE. But something equally as important is making sure to schedule in time to read aloud to your children. Especially kiddos with autism.

Benefits of Reading Aloud

• A lot of children diagnosed with Autism have issues with speech and language. Even though we include our children in our daily life and chat with them, nothing exposes them to rich vocabulary like reading aloud to them.

• A great story includes conversation and dialog between character, modeling conversation a child with autism might not hear anywhere else. This helps a child learn how to have a conversation with another person.

• New words that are not used in the home regularly can be introduced. This helps expand a child’s vocabulary.

• Characters can share their feelings, which can help teach empathy. This can often provide parents a great segue to talk about how the characters might be feeling like the child is. Sometimes empathy and emotions are tricky for kiddos with autism, and any chance to talk about it can be helpful.

• Bonding time between parent and child. Honestly read aloud time is something I cherish with my kiddos. Since including bedtime reading into our schedule, bedtime has become my favourite time a day.

• Reading can become comforting. When we have a rough day, I can usually calm everything down by just sitting by my son and reading. He cannot help being pulled into the story.

What Should You Read?

What you should read is such a personal choice. But I highly recommend that you find something that both you can your child like. Read aloud time should be as enjoyable for you as it is for them. Pulling out books you enjoyed reading as a kid can sometimes be a great place to start.

Often I’m so involved in the story that when my son falls asleep just before the last chapter it kills me to wait till the next day to finish. I never cheat and read ahead, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to.

A few series we have loved that you might want to try are:

• The Boxcar Children

• Dragon Masters

• The Puppy Place

• Magic Tree House

• Cul-de-Sac Kids

What Does Read Aloud Time Looks Like For Us?

Read Aloud time primarily happens two times during the day.

• We read aloud right before bed. It has become part of our routine. First we use the bathroom, take our vitamins, and brush our teeth. Then Zakari climbs into bed and I read to him till he falls asleep or I think it is late enough. No more fighting to go to bed.

• I always bring a book where ever we go. That way any down time can become read aloud time. Waiting in the car is no longer an issue, because we just dive right back into our book. If hubby is driving, I often will use that as a chance to read aloud. Often Travis will take the long way home because everyone in the van wants to hear what will happen next.

For us read aloud time is not a chore, it is a special and enjoyable time of the day to share.

Check out the Not Back To School Hop!

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop 
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling.
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling