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Post by freelancer on Oct 31, 2011 14:43:49 GMT -5
My NVLD son begins Cogmed tomorrow. He had his first social cognitive interactive therapy group last Friday. I've been doing some research and came across Interactive Metronome. I am considering having my son roll into this immediately after completing Cogmed. Has anyone here used Interactive Metronome? If so, can you tell me if there were any improvements, and if so in what areas? www.interactivemetronome.com/IMPublic/Home.aspx
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Post by healthy11 on Oct 31, 2011 17:45:17 GMT -5
I know mamak, tkmom, and mykids have mentioned interactive metronome in some of their previous posts. I hope they'll see your question, and respond soon. (Unfortunately, not all Millermom members log in to the forum regularly... )
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Post by beth on Oct 31, 2011 20:49:40 GMT -5
I did interactive metronome with both my sons. My oldest was way off beat (like 200). He came down to the 20 ms that IM hopes to see. A few years later he was informally tested and was "normal" (70 ). In other words, the therapy lasted.
I saw him become much more engaged with people after doing IM. His handwriting also became functional. It is still horrid but before IM he could not write a paragraph without wearing out.
IM also allowed us to return to Neuronet and make great progress with word retrieval.
His attention also improved, although in high school (he did IM at age 10 maybe) we ended up putting him on Adderall because he was having so much trouble in math. But he would have been on medication much sooner without IM.
My second son scored normal on the pretest but the provider thought it still would help him. He brought his scores down like his brother and we saw similar nice results. But they did not last. His scores moved back to normal but unlike his brother "normal" did not provide improvements.
My two cents would be that it is risky to do IM with a kid like my second one who do not seem to have motor issues even if their symptoms (ADHD like) are similar to kids who benefit. With my first son, the results have been long lasting. He is 18 now.
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Post by freelancer on Nov 1, 2011 10:26:28 GMT -5
Thank you, Beth, for the information. That is great to know.
My son is 10 and his writing is so atrocious the teacher and I have him typing his written assignments. Dragon Dictate was recommended, but he does not yet speak clearly enough for the program.
Now what is NeuroNet, how does it work, can it be done from home, and is it beneficial?
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Post by mykids on Nov 1, 2011 10:34:06 GMT -5
The areas that IM most helped in were, motor, such as with being able to put shoes and socks on and off, tying shoes, riding a bike, those types of areas. And attention. Handwriting also improved, however it is still a problem area, and it seems as if the writing may be going back in the direction we started and fine motor is still a concern. It's been about 5 months since he did the IM program. And he did it twice.
It's good to keep in mind that what may work for one person may not work for another. I don't think it's a cure all, but if your child is willing to try (it's very boring and tedious) and you have the $$, It can't hurt.
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Post by beth on Nov 1, 2011 12:22:52 GMT -5
My son's handwriting still looks bad but prior to IM, he would just wear out. The therapist had him do a pretest and posttest with writing and I couldn't believe the difference in volume.
I think mykids is right about it being difficult to generalize from one kid to another. Clearly attention issues have more than one cause. My younger child did not have the same kid of motor issues my older son has, even though his ADHD is actually more severe.
Neither of my kids minded doing IM very much which probably reflects the skill of the therapist (two different therapists though).
Neuronet is a program based on timing that has been developed by Nancy Rowe. She lives in Ft. Lauderdale and I live in the suburbs so we could go to appts. It is mostly done at home though--like 15 minutes a day. We haven't done it in years but I think she has standardized it in ways that may not require visits. It is broader than IM but not as precise. I think they work together well.
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Post by kewpie on Nov 3, 2011 14:51:16 GMT -5
My sons both took IM. The biggest boost was in gross motor coordination. They could finally both ride scooters with ease, play basketball etc which made them far more likely to join with their peers. It really helped boost the sociability and lower the anxiety factors.
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