Mission and Research

The Doogri Institute conducts research and collaborates with an interdisciplinary team to make significant contributions to the sciences. Inquiries about co-authorship, grants, and proposal should be made via email on our contact page. Upcoming studies and calls for submission may be found on Facebook on this page.

Developmental Music Education

The Doogri Institute offers an evidence-based proprietary method for making music education, academics and communication accessible to all students.

  • Traditional classical music education curriculum is genius/apprentice model dating back to the 1500’s
  • If a student needs a specialized approach, they’re excluded from taking part in music
  • There are no other ways for a student who has a need for an alternative approach
  • There’s very little wiggle room in the classical learning style (teachers think they have to dismantle their entire tradition), avoid teaching notation, and introducing rote learning
  • This method combats the belief that teachers have to give up all hope of teaching actual musical skills

Accessible Communication

The Doogri Method® is a strength based approach to communication with developmental goals that are proprietary to the Institute. Myths related to teaching nonspeaking students:

  • “I will not be able to teach note-reading to a student who is visually impaired, dyslexic, intellectually disabled, etc.”
  • “Nonspeaking autistic students can’t access the educational opportunities as their same-aged peers.”
  • “This autistic boy could not have typed all that, because he’s non-verbal.”
  • “Facilitated spelling is pseudoscience.”

Wellbeing Markers

The Doogri Method® includes proprietary wellbeing markers to assure that every session also addresses self image, identity development, and self determination toward actualization.

CLICK FOR VIDEO I’m autistic and I love my brain!

Currently, autistic people are disadvantaged by high susceptibility to trauma. Given that the DSM-5 (2013) does not allow the PTSD testing to be administered to a nonspeaking person, or anyone with a developmental or intellectual disability, trauma remains undiagnosed. Myth: aggression, harm, and violent behavior is ‘severe autism’.

  • We know from our research that autistic people prefer to identify as autistic, and that person-first language is ascribed to medical diagnostics. Autistic people feel a cultural similarity with each other that cannot be described in terms pertaining to medical science, but rather social science.
  • Functional labels such as ‘severe’ or ‘high functioning’ are offensive to the autistic person, as it describes how well they are faking to be normal to the satisfaction of you (presumably a neurotypical), who is situated outside of autistic culture.
  • Autistic people are at a severe risk for suicidality in adulthood (86%), and PTSD has been linked to adverse childhood interventions such as Applied Behavior Analysis.

Current Research

Current research and media that has been initiated, published, and disseminated are on this list:

Recommended Reading

Current Studies

The Perfect Perch™ clinical trial is currently running through September 1st, 2021. The product won’t be available for purchase until the trial is completed by September 1st. The trial is testing the outcomes of the device’s use in conjunction with piano lessons (and subsequent use in typing).  

If you know someone who would like to participate in this study, and would benefit from the trial in conjunction with our proprietary piano lessons, please contact us. Please note that a diagnosis is required for participation in this study:

  • dyspraxia
  • autism
  • motor planning issues
  • cerebral palsy
  • stroke
  • ehlers-danlos syndrome.

Doogri Mission Statement

The Doogri Institute conducts research, provides professional training, and directs services through creative and expressive arts to individuals who are disadvantaged both by disability and inequity. Our research and advocacy team consists of scholars and leading experts in their field. All research, professional training, and direct services are augmented by lived experiences. The program creates a bridge for previously oppressed individuals in their quest to immerse themselves in mainstream culture and higher education. This systemic empowerment may lead to self actualization. The Doogri Method includes proprietary wellbeing markers to assure that our work also addresses self image, identity development, and self determination toward actualization, with a specialized focus on Auxiliary aid or service necessary to ensure effective communication.

We generate job opportunities and provide professional experience that we want our team members to provide for others. We call this our “karma Clause” in our mission statement. Our peer mentorship model is tested and re-tested to validate our core foundation of gainful AND meaningful opportunities within our board meetings. We provide them the experience that we want them to provide for others “karma clause”  Our ethical hiring policy for the opportunities we generate include the teachers we train, the musicians we license, and the autistic adults who are trained to teach our students. 

updated August 2021