Research into the Doman-Delacato Method: Implications for Special Educators

Abstract

In the last 20 years there has been considerable attention given to what has become known as the Doman-Delacato technique for the treatment of learning-disabled children (Delacato, 1959, 1963, 1966; and Doman, Spitz, Sucman, Delacato, and Doman, 1960). The treatment technique is based upon a theory of neurological organization that argues that each child's ontological neurological development is the same as phylogenic development of man as a species. It is argued that after conception the neurological development of man proceeds through successive resemblances to the fish, amphibian, animal, mammal, and finally becomes that of homo sapiens. This series of resemblances is considered to be a reflection of the development of the central nervous system from the spinal cord, through the old brain to the cerebral cortex and finally to the emergence of the dominance of one cerebral hemisphere.