Glenn’s Ladder: The Road To Walking
Preparation For Walking:
Creeping: The best preparation for walking is creeping. We would not consider beginning the road to walking unless the child is a very fine creeper. This means that the child easily and rapidly creeps around the house independently without any encouragement. This means that the child creeps in a good cross pattern. If the child “bunny hops” we would get the child creeping in a cross pattern before we would attempt walking.
Finally, the child needs to have the physical and respiratory stamina to creep hundreds of meters a day. The child needs to be able to creep quickly. As a result, breathe deeply and quickly.
2. Pulling Up to Stand on Furniture: This is an activity that all well babies undertake. It is very important for brain-injured children to also have this ability. To facilitate this, there needs to be furniture at just the right height for the child to be able to grab onto it and pull with his arms and push with his legs towards a standing position. Like with crawling and creeping the child needs to be barefoot. If he is barefoot he will get the best traction on the floor. And he will have the best chance to feel the surface of the floor on the bottom of his feet.
To be able to pull up on furniture, the child needs to have the manual ability to grasp the cushion or arm to be able to pull himself up to the standing position. Couches, chairs, and very stable tables are the kinds of furniture that you need to have in order to give the child an opportunity to pull up. If the furniture is too high or too low it will be difficult for the child. Usually, upholstered couches or chairs are best. When you observe when your child is interested in doing this you can assist them. Helping them to position their arms and giving them a gentle boost on the behind to help them to push up with their legs.
For the most part, we are careful about assisting the children. First and foremost we want them to succeed and be enthusiastic about any new activity. We always want to provide the minimum support that is needed by the child. We need to feel how much effort that the child is using and only provide a little help for the child to successfully accomplish the activity. The danger is that if we help too much the child will think, “Mommy is always going to help me, and I really don’t have to do this by myself.” By giving the minimum help the child thinks, Mommy is not really helping me very much, it would be easier if I just did it myself. Once you start assisting gradually reduce your help so the child becomes more and more independent. Ideally, in some weeks’ time, the child should become completely independent at standing up with the furniture by themselves. Throughout the process of course you want to continue telling the child how great he is and how appreciative you are for his great effort and success. Gradually you want to build the child up to 10, 20, 30 times a day that the child pulls up and stands with the furniture.
3. Cruising: This is also a natural progression with well children to prepare for walking. They stand up on furniture and then begin to move to the left or the right “walking” using the furniture for support. At first, children will take one step to the left or to the right. Cheer them every step of the way. Encourage them by giving them objects they like such as an action figure or a ball. Put this object a few inches away from them so they need to take one step more to get to it. Provide the opportunity for cruising throughout the day. The child’s feet should always be bare. Again, gradually build the child up to 10, 20, and 30 cruising sessions a day. One step will turn to 2, 3, 4, 5 steps, or more.
Create a cruising environment. Move the couch and place it next to an armchair and then next to that, an upholstered chair. Each piece of furniture is only perhaps one step apart. The child will learn that he can cruise from one piece of furniture to the next. Some children will become such good cruisers that they will cruise hundreds of yards (meters) a day.
There is one very important caveat regarding cruising. It is essential that when a child takes a step that they bend their knee as they move to the left or the right. When they plant their foot forward, ever so briefly, their knees should straighten and momentarily “lock”. Then they will move their opposite leg to meet the forward leg. And again they will lock the other knee as it moves forward a step. This is exactly the way the well-baby cruises.
However, children who are labeled “cerebral palsy” are in fact, injured in the midbrain. The midbrain is responsible for the control of the elbows and knees. The children may have problems controlling their knees and or they may have tight knees. Sometimes they may have tight hips and ankles and will be on their tip-toes due to the rigidity in their ankles. As a symptom of their brain-injury, some of these children will not be able to lock their knees. It is good if these children learn to stand and even cruise a little bit. But beyond this happening for a few moments during the day these children should not cruise. It is for these children that my father, Glenn Doman, agonized over getting them walking. Back in the early 1960s, he got hundreds of children cruising around the house. They cruised hundreds of yards (meters) a day. Like well children they then began to take independent steps and eventually began to walk independently. This didn’t happen for the children with tight knees. As a result, eventually, Glenn developed The Overhead Ladder, which we now call Glenn’s Ladder. More on this incredibly important breakthrough below.
4. Balance Development: Brain injured children become excellent creepers. Like average children, they are ready to learn to walk. However, because of their brain injury, they may lack the balance they need to stand in the vertical position and then move in the vertical position. We discovered back in the 1960s that we needed to supply these children with an intensive program to develop their balance. The whys and hows of the initial stages of this balance development program are taught in our books Fit Baby, Smart Baby, Your Baby, and How Smart Is Your Baby? There are dozens of activities that can be done quite easily. Universally the children adore these activities and consider them fun, not effort. Once the child is a fine creeper we will begin these balance development activities.
Among the most helpful of these balance activities are The Four Rolls. These consist of log rolls, quad rolls, forward rolls, and backward rolls. In the beginning, they are passive. This means the child is passive and parents are helping the child to do each roll. They are always done on good quality gymnastics mats. It is well worth the investment of getting good quality mats because they can be useful for many parts of the program. Real gymnastic mats are firm. This firmness is very important. When one falls onto such mats the foam absorbs the pressure and prevents injury. Soft mats do not provide this protection. Good quality gymnastic mats often velcro together. For example, you may buy a mat that is 1 yard (meter) wide and 2 yards (meters) long. Such a mat can be velcroed onto a single mat then creating a mat 1 yard (meter) wide and 4 yards (meters) long. This length of mat is desirable because it permits the child to do more rolls non-stop.
As explained above the philosophy regarding assisting your child is to encourage your child to be more and more independent. Praise them and congratulate them on their effort and ability. Typically we may do the passive rolls over a three month period gradually reducing assistance with the objective with the child being able to do some log rolls, quad rolls, forward rolls independently. Backward rolls may be a little more difficult and may require more time to achieve total independence. We start with high frequency and short duration. For example, 5 sessions of one forward roll, five sessions of one quad roll, 5 sessions of one forward roll, 5 sessions of one backward roll spread throughout the day. This way the child’s brain is feeling how it feels to roll many times throughout the day.
Gradually then we will increase to 6 sessions each of 6 log rolls, 6 quad rolls, 6 forward rolls, and six backward rolls. This totals 24 sessions of six rolls each or a total of 144 rolls. At this point, we will gradually decrease the frequency and increase duration. For example, we will do 3 sessions of 12 rolls each. This total 12 sessions a day, each roll done 12 times a session, still totaling 144. Gradually over weeks or months, we will continue to decrease the frequency until the child is doing 36 log rolls non-stop, 36 quad rolls non-stop, 36 forward rolls non-stop, and 36 backward rolls non-stop. During these weeks or months gradually transition the child from having less and less help to be more and more independent. The ideal goal is to do all 144 rolls 100% independently.
Glenn’s Ladder:
All of the above is to best prepare the child for success in walking. For brain-injured children and adults who come to us not being able to walk it is often their biggest problem in life. For the physical staff of Doman International for more than sixty years the objective has been to create the best pathway that leads to success and walking. We have provided you with that pathway: it consists of independent, self-determined cross pattern creeping, being able to stand up on furniture many times a day with little effort, cruising around the house happily, and a solid foundation of balance.
In the 1960s a very fine family brought us their “cerebral palsy child” who we diagnosed as being injured in the midbrain. He was very tight in his lower body. As is the case with many midbrain injured children, he was very bright. He also was an identical twin and about my age. In those days there was a very popular cowboy TV show, called Maverick. It was about identical twins one of whom was a Maverick in character and his lifestyle. The twins were called Bart and Brett. The brain-injured child who came to us was named Bart and his well brother, Brett. Their father was an MD. The parents were very bright and hard-working. We succeeded in making Bart way above average intellectually and although we got him creeping well, despite our best efforts and the preparatory programs we have taught you above, we failed to get him walking.
The reason we failed was that his knees, hips, and ankles were very tight. Even though he had done a lot of cruising his feet were not flat on the floor and his knees were not locked due to tightness. For such children they have no problem with their hips, knees, or ankles, there is nothing wrong with their muscles, the problem is in their brains. The injured brain cannot properly balance the muscles. Some muscles may be too tight some others may be too loose, some may be too strong and others too weak. Now more than 50 years later we have developed respiratory, sensory, and nutritional programs that help to give the brain the control it needs to properly balance the muscles. Thus the hips knees and ankles become looser and the child’s range of motion improves. Such programs didn’t exist for Bart. By 1968 Bart had become a teenager. Although he couldn’t walk intellectually he was well prepared to compete successfully with his peers.
My father agonized over the fact that Bart could be winning in school intellectually even though my father had failed to get him walking. Bart haunted my father. Many other children haunted him in the same way and this drove him to make discoveries and create breakthroughs. As was the case with Bart, the breakthrough meant success for Bart and thousands of other midbrain injured children just like him.
When Bart cruised he did so with his knees bent and his heels off the ground. This meant that his bones weren’t doing the heavy-duty work for walking. All of us who are fine quality independent walkers take a step forward and momentarily put the majority of our weight on one foot and then ever so briefly “lock” our knee. At this point, the bodyweight is all transferred to the bones. Then we step forward and repeat the process on our other foot. This makes walking easy for us. The traffic policeman who stands at the intersection directing traffic for hours at a time locks his knees so the bones hold up his body not the muscles.
If you want to convince yourself of the importance of locking one's knee, decide you are going to walk around for five minutes with your knees bent. The more bent your knees are the more difficult it is to do this. You may not make it to five minutes because your thighs may be screaming at the effort of carrying all of your body weight. In any case after a few minutes, your thighs will tell you this is not a fun way to walk.
We don’t let children like Bart cruise because the brain is feeling how it feels to walk with bent knees and heels off the ground. The more the children do this, the more the brain is being programmed with incorrect sensory information that will eventually make walking more and more difficult. This was the case for Bart. He had failed to walk after doing the cruising environment. In desperation, my father thought Bart should have his chance to go to school even though my father had failed him. He said goodbye to Bart and his parents but a millstone remained around his neck. Sadly over the years, many adolescents have come to us in wheelchairs. When they were young with light and little bodies they were able to walk independently. But when puberty hit they grew substantially, their weight grew significantly, and they lost the battle with gravity. Gravity continues to pull their bodies down making their knees more and more bent. If you are capable of doing it try walking with your knees bent at a 45-degree angle. You may make it for a couple of steps but it hurts a great deal.
In the 1960s my father was very blessed by the fact that the world-famous physical anthropologist, Raymond Dart, joined his staff. Dart made the most important anthropological discovery of the 20th century. Only a brilliant, out of the box thinking MD like Dart could have made such a fabulous discovery. The discovery in 1924 proved that the “Authorities” in anthropology were completely wrong about the origins of human beings. In those days the power and establishment of anthropology were the Royal Society in Great Britain. How dare a young Australian MD in South Africa to propose that academia and all the greats of anthropology were completely wrong! In those days it was impossible for anyone to be an authority in South Africa. For 25 years Dart was castigated and shunned by his colleagues. He never backed down and eventually, the world caught up to him. It was a classic example of power and money managing to hold humanity and the world back.
Dart came to join my father's staff to share his brilliance about human physical development. My father was a keen observer of well babies and their walking. My father wondered why babies, when they began to walk, have their hands over their heads as seen in the picture above. He knew their arms were there to help balance themselves. But why bent? Performers in circuses walk the high wire but with their arms straight at a 90-degree angle to their torsos. This permits them to “fine-tune” their balance.
When asked, Dart smiled and said the tiny children learning to walk are reaching for “the branch”. My father asked, what does that mean? Dart explained, that our ancestors as they learn to stand would grab hold of a branch of a tree. This would permit them to see further away and find those animals that they could hunt to eat. Or in some cases look to see if there are animals who were hunting them. Dart's answer stuck in my father's mind as he continued to ruminate over Bart and his problem.
One day my father was sitting in his office. It has beautiful glass walls looking out at the view of the gardens on the property. On that day the maintenance men of my father’s institute were carrying a ladder and came to a tight space. It was a stone archway and was too narrow for the two men to get through with the ladder. They raised the ladder over their heads and then walked through the arch space that way. At that point, the idea clicked in my father's mind. Instead of Bart being at the mercy of gravity, which constantly pulled him down onto the ground, why not provide security above Bart’s head? By holding onto a correctly positioned ladder parallel to the ground Bart’s body could be completely straight. His brain would feel how it feels to balance itself in the vertical position. The ladder could be gradually raised so that Bart’s knees became straighter and straighter. Eventually, he may even be able to lock his knees. In which case he would be ready to walk just like all other children.
My father immediately called the maintenance men into his office and instructed them exactly how he wanted the overhead ladder to be made. He told them to drop everything they were doing and go out and buy all the materials for the ladder. In addition, he told them to construct it in a small office immediately adjacent to his own office. Then he picked up the telephone and asked Bart’s parents if they would like to come to a visit and try a new idea my father had for Bart.
During his years on the program, Bart had become my friend, we were close to the same age. When he was waiting in the waiting room I would go play with him between appointments. I remember hearing my father talking to my mother and fellow staff members about Bart. He was among the first identical twins that my father had ever seen. The adults were very empathetic for Bart. They said, imagine being brain injured and waking up every morning and in the bed, next to yours there is another person, just like you, with no problems. Bart’s brother Brett was perfectly well. I couldn’t figure out the adults' problem. My friend Brett felt exactly as I felt about my brother. My brother was okay, but he wasn’t in the same league as me. Although Bart couldn’t walk and Brett could hop, skip, and jump just like all the other kids, this didn’t phase Bart. He knew he was better than his brother.
My father let me know when Bart and his parents would be coming so I could see my friend. My father said he had something very, very important for Bart and that I should be there. At this point, Bart was in school. If his parents and he agreed to this new idea he would have to come out of school and go back onto our full neurodevelopmental program.
When Bart’s family arrived my father immediately began to explain his idea as he showed them the ladder. I could smell the newness of the wood. Finally, my father raised the ladder to the correct height to see if Bart could stand straight holding on to the dowel above his head all by himself. He did that and could stand easily. But his knees were quite bent and his heels were off the floor. Now my father with great enthusiasm and fanfare proposed that Bart let go with one of his hands and move that hand to the next dowel ahead. Bart did this well and then my father had him move his opposite foot forward. He had taken one step forward underneath the ladder. Then my father asked him to do the same with the opposite arm and leg. This he could do quite well. Within a few minutes, Bart was able to walk independently the entire length of the ladder which was at least 4 yards long (3.658 meters). This was a huge success everyone in the room was thrilled, most especially Bart.
Bart sat down to rest. At this point my father said, should you choose to accept, go home and make a ladder identical to this one and gradually build up to walking under it all day long. Walk under the ladder, sit down, read a book, and then start walking again. My father explained to Bart’s dad to gradually raise the ladder by a tiny amount not more than one inch. When this happened it would be slightly more difficult for Bart, because Bart would have to stretch more and his knees would have to straighten. This had to be done gradually so that Bart could easily adapt to the new height. Then my father said something that greatly surprised me. He said gradually build up to a thousand single trips a day of walking under the ladder.
A thousand trips a day! This shocked Bart, his parents, and me. However, the family was used to my father’s revolutionary, huge ideas. Bart would have to decide to leave school and return to the program full time. I remember thinking, wow my dad is a pretty demanding guy. I also knew history was being made. Bart’s parents being the wonderful parents they were, did exactly what my father said and Bart decided to give it a go. He became such an expert at walking under the ladder that he invented a new game. When his brother and friends in the neighborhood came home from school Bart would have the ladder raised so that his feet were off the ground. He was then able to travel down the entire length of the ladder. This is called brachiation. From the Latin word brachia, meaning arms. Many of the primates are able to brachiate from tree to tree as a means of transportation. Little did Bart know that he was laying the seeds for another new program.
As the height of the ladder became higher and higher and Bart’s body became straighter and straighter he never made it to one thousand trips. As he got into more than nine hundred trips he began to take independent steps away from the ladder. His independent walking became more and more. He returned to school being able to walk. School led to college. College led to law school. Eventually, Bart became a “Philadelphia lawyer”. Philadelphia lawyers have a reputation for being first-class, top-notch, and highly paid.
Standing Underneath Glenn’s Ladder:
Providing that all the proper preparation for walking has been completed well, the next step is standing underneath Glenn’s Ladder. Always the child will have bare feet, the child should wear short pants so you can observe the child’s knees. Ideally, the child will lock both knees and the legs will be straight, with the feet flat on the floor. Often, however, as the symptom of the child’s brain injury, their knees may be bent and their heels may be off the ground.
To begin the height should be the easiest height possible for the child to hold on to the dowel. You want to position the hands directly above the feet. Ideally, the child’s body should be as straight as possible. The child should not be leaning forward or backward. At first, explain to your child what you would like him to do. You are going to help him stand all by himself underneath the ladder. You are going to cheer him wildly. You are going to be right there and make sure he does not fall. When all is ready, position your child’s hands on a dowel of the ladder. Help your child to wrap his hands and thumbs around the dowel. (See picture below) Hold your child so he cannot fall. Make sure the feet are directly underneath the dowel the child is holding. Encourage the child to stand 100% independently, not being touched by you. If your child can stand without anyone touching him for 2 to 3 seconds, that's fabulous. Cheer him with great enthusiasm and cover him with hugs and kisses.
If your child succeeds for just 2 to 3 seconds, then we can gradually increase the number of sessions per day. To 10 times, 20 times, for children over four, 30 times a day. Every time award your child with great affection and enthusiasm. The goal is to increase the non-stop standing time from 3 seconds to 6, then 10, 20, all the way to 1 minute non-stop. It may take weeks or months to build up to 1 minute standing independently under the ladder with bare feet. Children five years and older the objective is to get to 1 minute, many times a day. Once the child has achieved this ability he or she is ready to start to learn to walk underneath the ladder.
Two to four-year-olds, when they can stand for 30 seconds non-stop may be ready to start to learn how to walk under the ladder. Whether your child is three, or six, or older, you are going to teach them how to move their hands and take steps. The great majority of children will be thrilled when they are given the opportunity to start to walk. In the first week or two, you may need a second person to help you. Encourage your child to let go of the dowel and move their hand to the next rung. If the child chose the right hand, then encourage the child to take one small step forward with the left foot. If the child has done this successfully, he has taken one step forward independently, under the overhead ladder. Then repeat the process by having the child move the left hand forward. The left hand must pass the right hand and go to the next rung after the one where the right hand is. Then the child steps with the right foot and “passes” the left foot. At the end of the step, it should be directly underneath the dowel where the left hand is. The child has now taken two steps in a cross pattern. This is fantastic and the most difficult work is now behind you and your child. Now, it’s a matter of taking the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, and one-hundredth step.
Help your child to move their hands from one dowel to the next. Gradually decrease your help as you encourage your child to be more independent. Once your child knows how to walk a single trip 100% independently, without your help then the child is ready to be completely independent underneath Glenn’s Ladder.
Always start with short easy successful sessions. For example, the child walks one trip under the ladder completely independently. Then you continue with the rest of the program. Five minutes later you return to the ladder and do one more single trip. Gradually build up to 10, 20 30 sessions a day of walking 1 single trip under the ladder. A single trip is 1 trip down the ladder. A round trip is when the child goes down to the end of the ladder and then turns around and walks back to where he originally started. We begin with single trips, not round trips.
If your child succeeds for just 2 to 3 seconds, then we can gradually increase the number of sessions per day. To 10 times, 20 times, for children over four, 30 times a day. Every time award your child with great affection and enthusiasm. The goal is to increase the non-stop standing time from 3 seconds to 6, then 10, 20, all the way to 1 minute non-stop. It may take weeks or months to build up to 1 minute standing independently under the ladder with bare feet. Children five years and older the objective is to get to 1 minute, many times a day. Once the child has achieved this ability he or she is ready to start to learn to walk underneath the ladder.
Two to four-year-olds, when they can stand for 30 seconds non-stop may be ready to start to learn how to walk under the ladder. Whether your child is three, or six, or older, you are going to teach them how to move their hands and take steps. The great majority of children will be thrilled when they are given the opportunity to start to walk. In the first week or two, you may need a second person to help you. Encourage your child to let go of the dowel and move their hand to the next rung. If the child chose the right hand, then encourage the child to take one small step forward with the left foot. If the child has done this successfully, he has taken one step forward independently, under the overhead ladder. Then repeat the process by having the child move the left hand forward. The left hand must pass the right hand and go to the next rung after the one where the right hand is. Then the child steps with the right foot and “passes” the left foot. At the end of the step, it should be directly underneath the dowel where the left hand is. The child has now taken two steps in a cross pattern. This is fantastic and the most difficult work is now behind you and your child. Now, it’s a matter of taking the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, and one-hundredth step.
Help your child to move their hands from one dowel to the next. Gradually decrease your help as you encourage your child to be more independent. Once your child knows how to walk a single trip 100% independently, without your help then the child is ready to be completely independent underneath Glenn’s Ladder.
Always start with short easy successful sessions. For example, the child walks one trip under the ladder completely independently. Then you continue with the rest of the program. Five minutes later you return to the ladder and do one more single trip. Gradually build up to 10, 20 30 sessions a day of walking 1 single trip under the ladder. A single trip is 1 trip down the ladder. A round trip is when the child goes down to the end of the ladder and then turns around and walks back to where he originally started. We begin with single trips, not round trips.
The End Of The Beginning:
When the child is doing 30 separate sessions spread throughout the day of 1 single trip then we will begin to expand to round trips. At first, she may be able to do only 1 and 1/2 trips consistently day in and day out. She will improve to 30 sessions of one round trip. Our advice is to build a ladder of at least four yards (3.6576 meters) or twelve rungs. Each dowel is separated by twelve inches (30 centimeters) from the center of one dowel to the center of the next dowel. When the child has reached 30 round trips a day this is the equivalent to 720 feet (240 meters). At this point, we gradually continue to increase the distance of non-stop walking broken into 30 sessions spread throughout the day.
When the child is learning how to do a round trip she also needs to learn how to turn at the opposite end of the ladder. This is best done when the child reaches the end of the ladder. Instead of grasping the final dowel with the hand pointing forward, she reverses her grip so the palm of her hand is now facing her face. Then she steps forward. She reverses her grip with her other hand, as her body turns around 180 degrees. Now she is ready to go back to the opposite end of the ladder. At first, help your child to switch her hand grip. Gradually withdraw the help as she becomes more independent.
You started with the height that was easiest for your child. Your child is walking under the ladder completely independently, many times a day. Now, the key is to gradually increase the height of the ladder. Initially, your child’s elbows may be bent. You are going to raise the ladder at night when your child is asleep. You are going to raise it the minimum amount possible. Let’s say the height between adjustments of the height of the ladder is 2 inches (5 centimeters). Only raise one end of the ladder by 2 inches (5 centimeters). The average increase for a single trip will be 1 inch (2.5 centimeters). If we raise the height too much it will be difficult for your child and unpleasant. This will demotivate your child, so let's not do it. The height between adjustments must be many and the minimum height possible. If your child builds up to 720 feet (240 meters) a day, when you raise the ladder your child will be slowed down and perhaps can only do 500 feet (166 meters) in a day. In the next week or so build your child back up to 720 feet (240 meters) a day.
Your objective to continue to gradually raise the height of the ladder as the child continues to increase their distance of walking underneath the ladder. Eventually, the child’s arms will become completely straight, then the child’s knees will start to straighten. In most cases, once the knees are straight or almost straight the heels will start to come down as well. By far the most important objective is to get the child locking both knees under the ladder. Some children will do this right from the very beginning. The tighter the child’s hips, knees, and ankles are the longer it will take to straighten the knees. If the child is little and light, this is an advantage. The closer the child is to puberty, it may take considerably longer. Some children require specialized respiratory programs and nutritional programs designed by the Doman International Staff, to become loose enough to lock both knees.
The Beginning Of The End:
Throughout the entire process, you are going to be awarding your child with great enthusiasm and affection. Walking should be divided into easy successful sessions. Gradually the non-stop walking distance should increase for each session. This is very important to increase your child’s endurance of walking. This is very important to increase your child’s endurance of respiration while your child is walking. Once the child is consistently walking with both their left and right knee locking briefly as they step forward, it is only a matter of time before your child begins to walk completely independently. Build from 720 feet (240 meters) to 1000 feet (330 meters), then to 1500 feet a day (500 meters) until your child begins to show signs of taking independent steps. The full distance that Bart never achieved because he walked sooner was 12,000 feet (4000 meters) a day. He walked before he got to that distance.
Some children will walk at 500 feet (166 meters) or 1000 feet (330 meters) or 6000 feet (2000 meters). It all depends on their brain-injury. The good news is that the great majority of children will walk a lot sooner than Bart did. We have never seen a child walk the ladder in a good cross pattern with their knees locked that has not taken independent steps!
Independent Steps:
At this point, our parents encourage their child to take steps like all well babies, and their mother helps the child to stand in front of her. Dad is one or two steps away from Mom and facing her. Mom helps the child to find his balance. Dad enthusiastically encourages the child to take a step or two forward. When the child does this Dad makes sure that he does not fall and goes wild with enthusiasm. Then, Dad turns the child around, helps him to find his balance again, and he takes independent steps back to Mom, who then covers him with kisses. This is done 10, 20, 30 times a day. Gradually the child goes from two steps per-session to three, four, and beyond.
Now we are ready for an independent walking program. There are few joys greater in life than seeing a brain-injured child walking 100% independently. In many cases, parents were told the child would remain completely immobile throughout his life. We have had this joy thousands of times with children from dozens of countries and six continents.