By Robert Toporek | President/Founder
Read on if you want to make a difference in the future of children..
Read on if you want to help transform the achievement gap in our region, across the state and throughout our nation.
Read on if you want to see high quality 21st century early childhood education become available to every child.
In 1982 I met a man named Glenn Doman who proposed that he had a method of teaching babies to read. Preposterous I initially thought until I saw the demonstrations. Not only was he able to teach babies how to read he was teaching them math, music, encyclopedic knowledge, and amazing neurological development.
But even more important he was giving that knowledge to any parent that wanted to do that with their babies and children.
A few years later I met my son's mother and she too took the course how to give your baby encyclopedic knowledge. . Every where we went we took our bits of information.
The process is based on some simple facts
The brain (which modern scientist and now early childhood experts agree) is growing at a faster rate from conception to six years old than it will in any other period of life.
The brain is like a computer
What you put in is what you get out
It has to go in as distinct pieces of information
It has to be done with frequency and consistency (5-10 min three times a day)
It has to be fun
So when our son was born we began first with stimulating his senses
Sight light off lights on the visual pathway
Smell different aromas every day
Taste we let him taste different foods (do he did not eat them)
Touch we gave him massages every day; we exposed him to different textures wool, cotton silk
Touch we gave him massages every day; we exposed him to different textures wool, cotton silk
Movement/neurological development
Massage/Rolfing he had his first Rolfing session on day one and a massage virtually every day from his mother or me for the first three years of his life. The last time I worked on his body was the day he was married.
By the time he was one he could count to 100 in English and Spanish and read 1000 words and identify hundreds of bits of information.
By the time he was two and a half he knew all of his letters could identify them on a keyboard and play educational programs on his computer. We continued to move up to higher and higher level programs.
By the time he was 17 he graduated 2nd in his class from high school, was accepted early admittance to Georgetown. Today he is an amazingly successful sports editor and writer for major sports publications
Over the years I have empowered hundreds of other parents to do the same with their children.
But all except one was white and either middle or upper class.
A few years ago I was able to convince the Institutes to allow me to send a principal and two teachers to the program. I then coached the teachers and we began implementing it in a preschool classroom.
The results were amazing 3, 4, and 5 year old low income children were learning to read hundreds of words, math, and gain encyclopedic knowledge. They were being taught about polygons and president, composers and dinosaurs and every thing in between.
The next year it expanded to 11 classrooms and the following year to 30 classrooms.
Then due to technical/political interference the program got interrupted. It is an uphill battle but I am still committed to breathing new life into the program.
In some preliminary and I mean preliminary research the results have been long lasting and impressive. Many of the original students are now some of the best kids in their class. Their parents loved the program and the results and many of the teachers are still passionate about it.
Then along came Brian,
My friend/video producer Brian is an African that came here from Kenya 7 years ago with the dream of using video, and film to make a difference. He had never shot a video camera. He attended the Art Intitute and worked his butt off to stay in school.
He worked part time at TeamChildren editing video's. Then one day he took off for Atlanta and has been missing in action for the past year or more. One day recently he appeared in my office to tell me that he is now married, back in the area and that he and his wife just had a baby.
While he worked for me I gave him many Rolfing sessions, and sponsored him through the Landmark Forum and advanced course.
He has watched And edited many video's of me Rolfing babies and edited lots of video's where the parents attended the Landmark Forum and have taken the course at The Institutes for the Achievement for Human Potential. He also has watched the evolution of our work in the Pequenos Pasos preschool.
So I said look Brain, you have neither a car nor any money even though I have not talked to the folks at the Institutes in over three years I encouraged him to just show up at 8:30 on Monday morning, do what ever it would take to find transportation, and talk himself into the class.
And he did. I was in town on Monday morning and decided to go check on him and make sure things were ok. I bumped into Janet Doman and we began a dialogue that I am committed to will help us bring this amazing work into the mainstream of our culture.
In Philadelphia, in Chester and other pockets of poverty the majority of kids in the 3rd grade are unable to read, write, or do math proficiently. Most programs fail to understand or deal with the impact of poverty on the brain or endorse the Doman method. As a matter of fact the tide is going in just the opposite direction.
This is where you come in.
With your financial support we will be able to hire Brian full time for a sustained period of time and together we will produce amazing mini documentaries on the possibility of all kids reading by two.
www.Brillkids.com has donated over $750,000 worth of early learning software we have installed ion over 1,500 computers. With your financial support we will be able to hire a full time staff to do research on the people that have received computers from us. We will be able to manage a team of tesns for the summer and teach them how to refurbish computers, how to clean a bathroom, how to answer the hpone, stuff envelopme and make a difference for children less fortunate.
With your financial support we can begin creating workshops to teach people how to use the software successfully
With your financial support we will be able to greatly expand our efforts.
With your financial support we can begin to turn the tide on the achievement gap in our region, around the state, and across the country.
With your financial support his African American baby will become one of the brightest,well rounded women in the world.
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