|
Post by dwolen on Aug 3, 2011 19:50:50 GMT -5
My 23 yo dd is 3.75 weeks out of 5 weeks into "doing" Cogmed. She said she is a little behind due to technical/computer problems. At first, she said, it seemed easy, and she felt like it was a breeze to get through the 45 minutes. That was week one.
Since then, it has gotten harder. She said she has gone up 20 points that are supposedly what most accomplish in the first 5 weeks, so she is a little ahead. She said it is hard to not take breaks, so instead of 45 minutes, it takes her 2 hours.
Results so far: she said she can almost remember phone numbers. Before Cogmed she could remember 2-3 number strings. Now she can remember 6 numbers. This will help her with practical and work related tasks, I think.
|
|
|
Post by jackson72 on Aug 3, 2011 22:15:25 GMT -5
Thanks, dw. It will be interesting to know what sort of impact Cogmed has 6 months - 1 year after she's completed it. I always wonder if it helps in more areas, like in remember more steps in solving a problem or tasks that need to be done, and whether the therapy is lasting.
|
|
|
Post by Mayleng on Aug 4, 2011 6:45:48 GMT -5
Yup, pls let us know if it translate into long term results.
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 13, 2011 6:51:52 GMT -5
I typed this in last night and as it was posting, my internet service stopped working. This will be shorter, better. 23 yo dd finsihed Cogmed in August. She said it was hard and not particularly interesting, so hard to keep on task, but she slogged through it, and it helped to have the coach to check in with. Her coach said she'd start seeing changes 6 months later, but she has noticed memory improvement 6 weeks later. Here's what she says so far:
1. Sense of direction is much improved, which I can personally confirm. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she has learned the street names between the Harvard Sq T stop (public transit train), her campus, Mud Flats, and up to Palmer sq, and feels comfortable finding things on the T. In the past, she was pretty dependent on me or friends for specific directions, which she referred to often. This improvement has made life easier. 2. Able to follow a sequence of multi-step directions more easily. 3. She learned her campus mail box combination lock number after 2 tries. She says this is a near "miracle" because she had never been able to learn any combo lock number in the past. 4. Yesterday, she called me with great excitement because she found herself thinking in sentences in internalized speech. She has always thought in pictures and emotions previously, and never experienced internalized speech, nor could she keep two sentence worth of thougts in her head. It happened out of the blue, just yesterday. Thinking in pictures and emotions and not being able to keep thoughts in her head long has led to communication problems, such as blurting out, speaking impulsively due to feeling she would forget the picture thought, interrupting people, not talking for fear of not knowing what she would say and not knowing if what she said would be appropriate, etc. Since this happened yesterday, she has no idea if it will continue, but we can only hope so.
Dd is supposed to meet in person with the coach, who is a clinical psychologist with ADHD and is a provider of adult Cogmed, when she is here in Chicago for T-giving.
|
|
|
Post by Mayleng on Oct 13, 2011 7:48:22 GMT -5
I am interested if the improvements are long term. So please let us know as time goes on if the improvements continue and long lasting. Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by healthy11 on Oct 13, 2011 9:27:47 GMT -5
Dwolen, at this past Monday's local Chadd meeting, the presenter was psychologist Dr. Alan Graham, and he spoke about Cogmed. Apparently he has license #7 in the U.S. for using Cogmed, and his partner, Dr. Bill Benninger, has the first license? Did your daughter see one of them? www.addvisor.com/I have to admit, I'm quite skeptical by nature, and what I've read up to this point about Cogmed shows mostly research that's done by people associated with Cogmed, who have a vested interest in the outcome for their own financial gain. Dr. Graham did mention more recent independent studies by other people, including Dr. Joni Holmes (of Notre Dame, I believe) are also showing similar positive results. I saw, in an online article, that some school districts in the U.S. have decided to begin Cogmed training, and it will be interesting to see what their results show: www.pearsoned.com/proven-working-memory-training-program-launches-for-u-s-schools/#.Tnd5-tRPEVQ/Dr. Graham talked about many different things at the Chadd meeting, but one of the points he made was that standard neuropsych tests only look at simple working memory, not complex working memory, so he feels rating scales give a more accurate picture of a person's working memory functioning. He uses the BRIEF in his practice, but other rating scales like the Connors, Vanderbilt, BASC, etc. may also be utilized. One of the questions I asked Dr. Graham at the Chadd meeting was if he automatically recommends that all of the ADHD patients who come to his office take Cogmed training....He said no, if their BRIEF T score for working memory is below 65, then it may not be as beneficial. (T = 65 represents 1.5 standard deviations above the mean.) He also said that kids who show strong oppositional tendencies will probably struggle to sit and go through the program, because it is challenging after the first week, and there's no point in spending $1,550 if it won't be utilized. Apparently there are three versions of Cogmed: JM for younger children (I think it has a circus theme); RM for children ages 7-16 (I think it has a robot theme) and QM for older individuals, which just uses standard shapes and colors. INTERESTINGLY, Dr. Graham did say that the principles of Cogmed are similar to the old game "Simon" or Nintendo's "Brain Age." He also mentioned "Brain Train." He even said, he wonders if playing those cheaper games would lead to improvements in working memory, but there are no studies showing results!! I appreciated his candor and straightforward answers, rather than a "hard sell" of the Cogmed program. He definitely believes Cogmed can help people, but some more than others. I'm glad it seems like it's helping your daughter.
|
|
|
Post by verona on Oct 13, 2011 20:07:05 GMT -5
Healthy, that is interesting. Could you elaborate on the difference between simple working memory and complex working memory?
My DS appears to have a functional working memory using the WISC - he is in the average/high average range. However, his problems with daily life (forgetting why he went upstairs, not able to follow multistep directions, forgetting what he was told to do in a matter of minutes) seem somehow related to not being able to hold information in his head. On the other hand, he doesn't have trouble holding numbers in his head long enough to do multistep arithmetic. I would love to find a way to help him improve his daily life "memory".
|
|
|
Post by healthy11 on Oct 13, 2011 20:23:35 GMT -5
Verona, the presenter, Dr. Graham, neglected to bring copies of the handouts of his presentation to the Chadd meeting, so I don't want to "misquote" him... He said he would email copies of it to those of us who wanted it, but I haven't received it yet. When I do, I will see how he distinguishes between simple and complex working memory. (Perhaps his website explains more? I haven't had a chance to look around it closely. www.addvisor.com/ )
|
|
|
Post by jisp on Oct 13, 2011 20:57:16 GMT -5
dwolen, I am happy for your daughter. Regardless of whether these changes are the result of cogmed or not, isn't it wonderful to know that your daughter is living successfully in Cambridge and making a life for herself. Hey I thought you were going to be in the area this weekend? Are you?
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 14, 2011 0:13:00 GMT -5
Yes, we are leaving at 6 am. How's the weather? If you still want an escape, didn't you mention a good Vietnamese place in Palmer Sq? I will pm my cell #. I still have yours.
Fir the rest of you: Ok, I will hold off any more news for 6-12 months. I gotta tell you, though, having lived with these problems and their consequences for so long, it is pretty amazing to me, too. Seems like small things, but small changes can make a very frustrating life more enjoyable.
|
|
|
Post by eoffg on Oct 14, 2011 3:57:53 GMT -5
Dwolen, I was very interested to read that DD never experienced internalized speech and has suddenly found herself being able to use it. As I've been researching this for about 6 years. From what I've read about Cogmed, it's focus is with developing Orthographic (visual-spatial) processing. Though just today I recieve a research article that has identified the role of orthographic processing in 'sub-lexical syllabic segmentation'. Where perhaps this is related to DD's sudden development of internalized speech? This new research, broadens the understanding of 'phonemic awareness', where it has identified a specific relationship between orthographic processing, and auditory processing in the brain's 'perisylvian fissures'.
Verona, you asked about the difference between simple and complex working memory? We have 3 distinct types of working memory, visual, spacial and auditory. Each of which go through their own developmental and skills acquisition process. So in isolation, they could be termed as 'simple working memory'. Where 'complex working memory', is the further developmental process of integration of these 3, into a network. This whole development of this network, takes around 8 years. Where it can then be further refined, throughout life.
|
|
|
Post by jisp on Oct 14, 2011 5:48:10 GMT -5
weather is awful...but it is supposed to get better.
Interesting stuff eoffg. My son's working memory was extremely poor. I am not sure how his poor working memory broke down. I know auditory memory was and still is very poor, which is why prelearning is so important for him. He needs to take things in slowly because he is also a slow processor. He has recently become very self-aware of his learning style and told us how in some classes the pace is so fast he can not take in new material while the class is going on. I am glad he is at a small school because I think he goes to the office hours all the time for this one very difficult class and basically gets a private lesson each week. That is definitely not something he could do at a bigger college.
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 16, 2011 7:04:09 GMT -5
Yes, thanks for the information, eoffg. The internal verbalization does continue. We went to the art museum yesterday with dd, and she said she as she read the curator's notes at each piece, she heard it as internalized speech. That's nice for many reasons, but also because the MFA (Boston) has very informative annotations. While I love the Art Institute of Chicago, the museum does not tell one much about the art unless there is a pecial exhibit. At the MFA, I learned that Monet was not only fascinated with painting gardens, but also mothers and children. And the Grecian urns and 10,000 Persian year old pottery were pretty cool, all nicely annoted.
|
|
|
Post by eoffg on Oct 17, 2011 3:36:13 GMT -5
Dwolen, that's great to her that her internal verbalisation has continued. You wrote that she 'heard it' while reading the curator's notes. But I would be interested to know how she is now able to use it when 'thinking'? When reading, we use the external visual image of the words, to retrieve the sound of the word memory. But with thinking, no external image is used. It is directly sourced from memory. Where we can visualize an image, as a way to retrieve the sound of the word. But many words don't have any image, other than as a written word. Such as: perhaps, might, could, should, if, ... . Where we can only think of those sort of words, by using internal speech. So that I would be very interested to know how these sort of words have changed for her, when thinking?
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 17, 2011 6:57:06 GMT -5
Eoffg, I will ask about your questions when I get a chance. Thanks for your comments and interest.
|
|
|
Post by zippity on Oct 24, 2011 17:24:18 GMT -5
Hi, I haven't weighed in for a long time, been actually working and trying to regain the lost years spent fighting the school district. One of our buckets of due process moneys (that's how everyone liked to discuss it in negotiations) was designated toward whatever an auditory doctor recommended. She found my daughter's auditory issues were fine by the time we had her tested but that something like CogMed would be beneficial so we put the money into a session.
Since it's been a few years since we finished the program all I can say is my daughter's ability to create tools to keep herself organized has remained is the most recognizable benefit to date. In the past she not only wasn't able but she wasn't even into it due to how much work it was and tiring to stay on task no matter how many ways one gave her, she could not follow through.
Her short term memory is still weak. I would like to have the opportunity for COGmed tuneups but the office that administered the materials seems to have lost their practitioner. Instead we're focusing on her desire to look towards college and the fears/anxiety that brings up for her.
With the added issues of puberty, at 16, my daughter is back on ADD meds after a 4 or 5 year absence. She made us aware of the difficulty she was having in attending to what she needed to and what was not occurring, even in tasks she liked. She has the added issue of her anxiety coming back and creating problems for her memory issues and thought processing. That too is just getting back to a regime of medication to control it and we'll see if that helps some of her attending and memory issues. It won't stop them but her anxiety can affect her memory and difficulty with school work. Around the house, she's on top of what she needs to. Outside activities, clubs, also on top of them but the schoolwork and memorizing her theater lines, tough. She's doing very well in school but it's a pacing thing because she becomes catastrophic in her thinking and we (her family and the school when they know) try to remind her to break down her life and schoolwork in chunks. Can't see the trees for the forest until we lend an ear before making suggestions. Sometimes she's just hormonal and she fixes what she needs to on her own. Her ability to think through and problem solve was greatly improved and stuck since Cogmed but was it worth it?? I think the money best spent overall has been her private tutor.
To date I mainly see issues with her short term memory continue and her dyslexia gets in the way of her difficulty with language. She is improving slowly as she continues to make up the loss of her vocabulary skills from her time in public school and their years of denial anything was wrong.
She might even need to revisit her vision therapy because her eyes are causing her problems when reading. She is actually in an AP English class. Who knew the advanced class would be easier? It's because the teacher goes more into depth in regards to the literature and the books so my daughter says she understands SOOO much more than regular English classes. I was concerned it was going to be a problem but she has an A so far. She has found moving to the lower math class was a mistake but it was hers. Next time we'll encourage her to stick it out past the first few weeks of trouble and seek help longer. Overall there is a tremendous amount of clarity in her ability to create her own agenda and decide what has to get done, sort of like her own RSP. She goes to the teaching staff for help on her own but because it's a private school they do not always deliver to her in the manner she needs so she falls back on her tutor. She has created a system to help her stay organized in her daily life. She reminds her dad and myself of this or that we need to attend to regarding her school, papers to sign or events to drive her to. We can't afford to have her drive yet but that would be a way to test her alertness from the CogMed.
The greatest boon of all that we have invested in for our daughter has been the ongoing private tutor working on her writing and language skills since 6th grade. Her writing has improved tenfold but she still has farther to go and may never reach her full potential and that's the way things have turned out. She may always have great difficulty generating her thoughts to actually write as her non-LD peers. She continues to improve in the content of what she writes but it's way slower than her peers.
The tutor is the best thing overall for her continued success because with her they engage in dialogue that helps my daughter think about her work in a more indepth manner than before. There is less haste in putting down "any old thing" and effort in trying to create a better work product than she did in years past and the public school teachers praised her for. Now she can see the difference in the work product and what she is supposed to do even if she can't produce it fully on her own. She is hell bent on getting good grades and she gets the grades she deserves. She works harder when she fails and she fails a lot less often due to her own diligence and seeking what she needs.
I have read girls with ADD playing Tetris was beneficial. They tend to internalize their issues with ADD so the SNAPIV forms the insurance gives us is a joke. The forms are not appropriate for adolescent girls. I think when we did CogMed they also gave us those kinds of forms. Worthless so we focused more on the little things like my daughter actually remembering and calling someone by their name instead of "you know that guy" "that teacher" "him, or her" was quite noticeable. That change has not stuck. It was progress at the time though. In the long run.
I say put the money into a tutor who will work steadily and over a long period of time to truly changed a student's work habits and gain their trust. The ongoing assistance is better at making the changes a student with ADD needs when it comes to their ability to get things accomplished, daily living and school work. We were fortunate to try it when we did. It might be very helpful for young kids or older very cognizant persons who will be mindful of what they are trying to change. For us the effects were small and expensive if no tuneups are offered.
|
|
|
Post by zippity on Oct 24, 2011 17:27:41 GMT -5
P.S. I should add the best piece of AT equipment has been her phone since this process. It becomes her additional memory and she uses it constantly, from taking pictures of things she wants to remember, keeping the contact information she can't, setting her reminder alarms, etc. It is a texting not a full data phone. She prefers to keep her own hand written paper calendar agenda that she keeps with her in her purse even though she has a computer.
|
|
|
Post by healthy11 on Oct 24, 2011 19:35:59 GMT -5
Zippity, I'm not sure how often your daughter sees her tutor, or what the "going rate" for tutoring is in your area, but where I'm at, $50+ per hour is "cheap." I'm not saying CogMed is more worthwhile, but if it costs $1550, as Dr. Graham announced at our recent Chadd meeting, then that equates to 31 tutoring sessions, or a little over 1/2 a year, if a person sees a tutor weekly. (It's a shame that most children don't work as well with their parents, as with a stranger acting in the role of "tutor," because that certainly would be less expensive.)
I keep thinking about Dr. Graham's other statement at our Chadd meeting (as I mentioned in reply #5 above) that the principles of Cogmed are similar to the old game "Simon" or Nintendo's "Brain Age." He also mentioned "Brain Train," and he wonders if playing those cheaper games would also lead to improvements in working memory... at this point in time, there are no studies showing results, but for the price, it might be worth trying with your kids!
|
|
|
Post by zippity on Oct 25, 2011 0:56:39 GMT -5
I still get emails asking me what I thought of the training. There was only one major study in the past 3 years before we did the training. We took the gamble because the money was part of a remedy and it was use it or lose it. We had already done LMB. it helped immensely but not the short term memory. I see there are now ongoing studies for Cogmed than when we signed on. I would suggest a family even try to be part of one as a way to try it for free. www.cogmed.com/ongoing-presented-researchWe paid over $2000-2500 by the time we concluded the CogMed program. If a parent has the ability to seek out games that OT's and often ed and speech therapists use and then can be vigilant about the time it takes to make sure the kid plays them consistently and daily then one might be able to make some gains in improvement and what CogMed lays claim to achieve for far less $. Sort of like a family game time every night. There was another program/company that the Auditory doctor recommended to improve the short term memory issues. It cost even more because the work was done one one one with an educational therapist. The packet they provided had a list of the games and what areas of the brain skill it improved and they used in their therapy. Games like Simon, Tap Defense, other memory games, games that require a building of sequential memory skills, etc. I wish I knew where this list was or I'd publish it. iTunes has several apps of these classic games on their website. We were losing our tutor due to finances this year. She comes once a week for an hour but sometimes stays longer. She sees my daughter late so I have dinner ready for her. We are indebted to her services and kindness. As she put it, she went through the mess we had with our district so she has a vested interest in helping my daughter until she graduates. She cut her fees in half when we did not rehire her to $25. The's worth 10x that. I cried when she made us the offer. I had already sought out alternatives, such as free online tutors through libraries. In the past we used a public learning resource center that received federal grants for education. They charged $10 an hour for college student tutors. Not perfect but it was something. I also used teaching universities who are training ed therapists and teachers and was willing to make the drive again. I would have returned to them as they have reduced fees. Although, not as convenient as the tutor but anything would have been better than nothing. Just a few ideas other parents might try if they are short on funds. The fees you quoted for Cogmed are much lower and might make it a more attractive program than what we paid. It is a unique program. It reminded me of the legacy video games from the 80's. There were several games within the program that had to be played daily for several weeks. I still feel the follow up was pointless and anticlimatic. We filled out the same forms that we did in the beginning to assess progress. That was their way of "showing improvement" to compare the answers and difference but there was little change. The conclusive evidence of change was very subjective. I have had to look at how my daughter has improved over the long run. It would be best practice to have some sort of MRI to show actual change but that's not cost effective . . . yet.
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 25, 2011 6:05:58 GMT -5
Speaking of money, I think MRI's are $3-6,000 per MRI, and you'd need a pre-intervention and post-intervention MRI, assuming there was data showing that Cogmed demonstrateds measurable change on MRI's. A clinical trial would be needed.
In 2007, when my dd was first dx with dyslexia and other LD's at age 18, I wasted $6,000 of the saved up college on totally useless dyslexia interventions,knowing that there was no research basis for the intervention. I wasted the money and my dd's time, confidence and spirit because I believed the neuropsychologist who recommended the intervention (Davis). During that time, I scoured the internet, looking for evidence and studies on Davis, and only learned that many, many types of vendors of products for LD students are quite willing to take thousands of dollars from anxious parents. My parents, both factory workers, contributed to the college savings fund in their retirement, with US savings bonds as birthday gifts.
So, I got used to spending money, I suppose. The amount of research on Cogmed convinced me to spend $2,000. The price has risen. Then, I had to convince dd, who had her hopes so raised and then dashed by Davis method. Dd's mantra is, "Show me the research!" Dd told me she was in a recently bad social situation in Provincetown, late at night, and needed to get to the bus station before the last bus left for Boston. She had to call for a taxi phone #, and had to remember the number from one taxi company to the next. She was really happy she remembered the phone #, something she said she could never do pre-Cogmed. Previously, she could remember 4 numbers, not 10 required for phone #'s. Is remembering phone #'s worth $2K? Yes, because nothing else helped with that, even the educationally intense year at Landmark College. I am working the next 3 weekends, in addition to my full time job. I'd rather do that than have my dd not be able to support herself when I am gone. That might still happen, but we are trying to prevent it. I wish I had saved up for a trust fund. Although I so much wanted to have more children, given dd's needs, I suppose I am "lucky" now that I only have one child.
Zippity, you are so fortunate that you have found a fantastic tutor for your dd. It is not easy thing to find a wonderful tutor that knows how to teach to your student. Lots of untrained tutors simply go over the material that one needs to learn. The last time I paid for tutoring, when dd was in high school in 2005, the tutor was recommended by the Northwestern University psychololgist, who also missed dd's LD's. The tutor charged $100/hour. He was the nicest fellow, and a PHD student of educational psychology. He was learning how to test students for LD's in his PHD program. He now does testing in private schools. I paid him at least $2K ($100/hour x 20 weeks.) He did not pick up my dd's learning disabilities/ADHD, never mentioned a word. Dd finally rebelled and refused to return to him, because "it isn't helping."
|
|
|
Post by bros on Oct 25, 2011 11:18:06 GMT -5
Depends on the kind of MRI
MRIs with contrast usually run around $3500
Cardiac MRIs run around $7000
|
|
|
Post by zippity on Oct 27, 2011 4:30:14 GMT -5
I am really out of touch with this area, I think I meant an EEG? MRI's are so prohibitively expensive. Dwolen, I love your child asking for the research. If anything, we have taught them to be wary, but in a good way when they ask for the research. My son use to do the same. His godparents paid for the Biofeedback. Godmother was a practitioner in another state. Waste of money for him, nothing changed, actually produced headaches. Nothing changed for either of my kids in the way of their short term memories. My son is lucky he does not have Dyslexia like his sister. LMB is the one therapy that was hands down helpful for her. Of course we did Vision Therapy (at a university - out of pocket), Speech (through insurance), Psychological (insurance and out of pocket), various not helpful tutoring places (out of pocket), and OT (paid through the DP) as was the tutor until this year. It's a boatload of $ but I always bartered as I could. Eventually I was able to get reimbursed for a sizable portion but not all of it through the DP. I would have just preferred to know my kid was Dyslexic and do the LMB or Orton Gillingham method with her starting about 7 years earlier than we did. It is my hope that your daughter is old enough to put her training to use if she can experience positive changes from the CogMed. My daughter was able to remember things but has not retained the gains as significantly as when doing the CogMed. I would ask what could be done post CogMEd to continue the changes. Good luck!!
|
|
|
Post by bros on Oct 27, 2011 6:45:20 GMT -5
EEGs are when they test the electrical activity in the brain.
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Oct 27, 2011 6:51:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the very kind response, Zip. Your story is a testimony to what an informed parent will do for the well being of one's children. Now, there are a series of 100 lessons, 15 minutes each, to do post Cogmed. Included in the package, no more charges. And after those, thre are 300 more lessons, plus you can re-do the program as a refesher. The psychologist who is the vendor and coach for dd said she re-does the Cogmed periodically, as she thinks she functions better and is worried about her aging ADHD brain. An anecdote: since breaking it off with a long term bf to attend Landmark over a year ago, my dd is very secretive about her social relationships. She did tell me a cogmed releated story, though. She apparently just broke up with "a person", and wiped all e mails, all texts, all phone numbers and other methods of contact with the "person" from her electronic devices. But she can't get this person's phone number out of her head. It is only since Cogmed training that she remembers phone #'s. In 4 years with the ex-bf, she could never learn his phone #. She is both mad and happy about this.
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Nov 5, 2011 17:25:00 GMT -5
Here's another accomplishment my dd attributes to Cogmed: she cleaned her dorm room without out any threats of eviction or inspection. She talked to her Cogmed coach, who planted the idea that Cogmed can help improve keeping things in order and cleaning one's room. So she decided to give it a try and called me with a report, since she says I am the only one who would understand what a big deal it is (long, long history of struggle between us regarding her unbelievable ability to live in squalor.) Instead of sweeping everything under the bed or into the closet, she sorted the laundry, put away the clean clothes, picked up the garbage and money and hair conditioner bottles and cosmetics, etc. Then, she swept the floor, which was pretty easy to do since there was nothing on the floor to get in the way. Is this due to Cogmed? Improved working memory inmproving dd's executive functions of room cleaning and keeping things in order? Or the suggestion of the Cogmed coach (a smart woman, I should send her a bonus...don't you think?)?
|
|
|
Post by jisp on Nov 5, 2011 21:40:54 GMT -5
dwolen, Does it matter what caused the change? This is fabulous news!!!! I also wonder if your daughter's brain is not maturing.
So happy to hear about the room. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't do Cog-med. I am a piler and could certainly use some help in the organization department.
As for phone #'s. I didn't think anyone knew anyone's phone number anymore. I used to be somebody that stored phone numbers in my head. But not anymore because I never dial any one's number anymore.
|
|
|
Post by shragae on Nov 9, 2011 10:55:17 GMT -5
I had purchased Brainware Safari from the homeschooling website for around $50. It is a lot less expensive than Cogmed. Brainware Safari is a bit cheesy looking (like a 1980s video game) and DS soon lost interest. It may have been a bit "young" for him as it seems aimed at younger kids than DS who is 12. Cogmed is expensive -- so I looked for another alternative and found an online internet based offering called Lumosity. The good thing about Lumosity is that you can try it for 30 days free. They ask for a credit card, but if you start signing up but "opt out" before giving them your credit card they may send you an email offering you the free trial any way (I did this). My son has a traumatic brain injury (TBI) which causes all kinds of learning disabilities including executive function, working memory, processing, visual spatial -- etc. Lumosity has a TBI iteration which i think is very cool! I actually have not started DS on this yet because his school has been testing him for a possible IEP and I did not want to skew the results for good or ill -- but testing is over so I am going to get him back to it and I'll report back. It really looks very cool. Here is some info I found online about them. today, over 14 million people in 180 countries either subscribe to Lumosity’s website or have downloaded one of its iPhone apps. And revenues have grown 25% every quarter since its launch. Other companies, like CogniFit and Posit Science, also compete in this space, though none has received as large a round of funding as Lumosity. Sharp Brains, a market research firm tracking the brain fitness space, estimates that the size of the market for digital products was just under $300 million in 2009 and will grow to at least $2 billion by 2015. Lumosity’s website offers 40 games designed to sharpen a wide range of cognitive skills. The signup process walks you through a series of questions to figure out whether you want, for example, to improve your ability to remember names, get better at problem solving, or develop better concentration at work or while driving. It then designs a series of “courses” tailored to your particular interests. Here is a link: www.lumosity.com/personal-training-plan BTW, my dad signed up (he is 89 this month) and we got a discount when we signed up DS!
|
|
|
Post by dwolen on Nov 12, 2011 7:43:25 GMT -5
Four more new skills reproted by dd which she attributes to Cogmed training:
1. She is starting to recognize more often when she has msspelled a word.
2. She ccan access more parts of her memory. For example, she has always read a lot of books, but could not remember "anything" about the books she read. It was like a present tense moment, and she enjoyed the novels she read but it was all in the present. Now, she can remember information, facts and story lines from many of the books she read in the past two years. She said she was so surprised that she actually has memories of the books she read and can access those memories. It seems like there is a new connection in her brain to access the information stored there. She was in a group discussing watanabe sauce, and suddenly she knew lots of facts about it from a book she read a year ago about the history of sushi.
3. She is able to study with other people. Previously, she stayed away from this because she spaced out, could not say what page they were on, did not understand the discussions, etc. Now, she can pay attention and says she often takes the lead in study groups.
4. She is keeping a diary, and can read what she wrote because her handwriting is easier to read and she can write in straight lines on the unlined pages of blank journal books. She never consistantly kept a diary because she always lost it, but now that writing is easier, she wants to keep it, wants to reflect on her experiences and has not lost the diary. I know keeping a diary is not an activity of most people and probably has no link to academic/life success, but for my dd, keeping a diary shows a less laborious process of writing by hand and self reflection can be useful.
Often, when telling me about thiese new skills, dd says, "I know this is ridiculous, this is what other people do naturally! Do you think I am being rediculous?" I reply that she needs to compare herself to herself, not to other people. So, in reading my remarks, I think that you, dear readers, need to realize that you can probably expect working memory to increase if your child "does" Cogmed, since the 7 studies show WM increases in 80% of the participants in measurable and persistant ways. However, how that improvement in WM manifests itself may be to be very individualized as it is in my dd's case. So, in my dd, it is the improvements she is seeing are in her areas of both weakness, strength and interests. But another person, say, with an interest in engineering, might find the skills needed for engineering more accessible. Well, I am only basing this on my dd's explanation of her experience, and these opinions are just my hunches. I realize that Cogmed is expensive! I wish, esp given the positive things my dd has gained so far, that it cost much, much less. I have done the Posit Science programs, and read the newsletter, and have read that it has been studied for use with veterans with traumatic brain injury with good results. I gently suggest that folks stick to evidence based (ie, studied for effectiveness) products, and avoid testimonials about how much a particular product helped. A person who is paid will read from the script s/he is paid to read from.
|
|
|
Post by jisp on Nov 12, 2011 8:27:40 GMT -5
Dwolen, I am so happy for your daughter. This is very exciting. I wonder if Cogmed would work for a child with borderline IQ. Your daughter is very bright and so I can see how this might work. What do you think?
Also I wonder if Cogmed is effective because your daughter had all the prep work last year at Landmark, is motivated, and also is at an age when she can self-reflect. Do you think it would be working as well if those things were not in place?
I am just asking because I have some clients who are looking for something like this for their children, but I am not sure if it is appropriate or not.
|
|
|
Post by healthy11 on Nov 12, 2011 10:37:34 GMT -5
A few days ago, I attended the International Dyslexia Association Conference, (as did hsmom and lstarr) and one of the featured speakers was Dr. Milton Dehn, who presented in-depth sessions on Short Term/Working Memory and Long Term Memory. His books include " Helping Students Remember: Exercises and Strategies to Strengthen Memory," which is described as “A practical workbook designed to assist students whose academic learning is suffering due to a memory deficit or ineffective utilization…” His other titles can be found at www.psychprocesses.com/recommended-reading/ or www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=milton+dehn&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=3686881185&ref=pd_sl_4papv5ynas_bAnyway, although his all-day presentation was sponsored by CogMed, he acknowledged that he has only recently begun using it in his practice, but it seems to result in memory improvements in some patients. In general, he said memory training can boost ST/WM capacity by up to 15%, and a person needs adequate WM to make connections and encode in order to be able to create Long Term Memory. Dwolen, it sounds like that may help to explain what's happening with your daughter. Unfortunately, the "formal handouts" of Dr. Dean's presentation have not yet been posted online for those of us who attended his day-long session, but when they are made available, I'll try to elaborate on what he said. In the meantime, I found a site that is sponsoring an 4-session webinar by Dr. Dehn for only $25. Although the first segment was already held, I think it could still be worthwhile to hear the rest, and you can find out more at www.sped.esc2.net/documents/WorkingMemorywithMiltonDehn.pdf
|
|