IM helps with reading skills
One of the things that many of the parents of the children whom I have worked with have told me while we were doing IM sessions was that they noticed some type of improvement with reading. Some of these children had difficulty with reading and letter recognition from the start, and others did not, but improvement was still observed by parents or teachers.
Teenage autism and social Isolation
Hanging out with friends after school is a big part of a teenager’s life and is crucial for developing people and communication skills. For those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), social activity is very rare, especially after school and out of the family circle. This is something that has kept Professor Paul Shattuck of Washington University in St. Louis busy for many years; he says that limited or absent peer relationships can negatively influence health and mental health, especially during this difficult age.
Holiday season, fun and games for some and overstimulation for others…
The holiday season is here and is packed with a frenzy of a million things to do like: gift-wrappings, relatives coming to town, meal preparations, and chaotic shopping. If you feel overwhelmed from this then imagine the potential effects on your child. Many parents of children with ADHD or Autism may be somewhat used to dealing with the effects of overstimulation. Under the right circumstances any child can be over stimulated. Here at Interactive Metronome ® we want to wish you the best holiday season ever, and in order to facilitate that we have gathered some tips that could help you deal with overstimulation.
Check out these cool fonts!
ABC News recently posted an article by Carrie Gann, that talks about how some fonts could help people with dyslexia and other learning disabilities like APD and NVLD, better intake printed information. Christian Boer, the Dutch graphic artist who designed the font is dyslexic himself and fully understands the struggle that people go through when reading. Read the full article.
Erin had a diagnosis of PDD/Autism. She was verbal, but unable to have a purposeful conversation. Her voice was very high pitched, and other children turned away from her when she would go up to them and start reciting lines from various Disney movies or Barney episodes on TV. She had been attending traditional OT/PT and Speech therapy visits for 7 out of her 8 years of life and the family was reaching burn out status, as her progress seemed to be very slow.
Prior to her discharge, we decided to give one more thing a try. Interactive Metronome. Mom had been reading about progress in attention and focus with children who performed the IM exercises. She wasn’t sure how Erin would do, but since it was summertime and their schedule wasn’t as busy it would be worth the time needed to give IM a try.
IM is not only for those with a disorder. Did you know that among other sports teams we have worked with Notre Dame? IM works on timing and precision speed which are critical for an athlete. Check out this media clip.
There are so many children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD these days. Some kids are struggling to pay attention in class or are labeled as the class clowns or troublemakers at school or other organized events. Whether it be a hyperactivity or an inattention to task, could there be a common thread that was missing when we evaluated these children? We utilized standardized tools such as the Bruininks, VMI ,WOLD and Jebsen. They all tended to score below their same aged peers on these tests, handwriting was poor and sometimes it just didn’t seem like they heard what you were telling them.
An Amputee crosses the Disney Marathon Finish Line: She said IM was the reason and “saved her life”
Brenda was born with a deformity of her right foot and never walked the way she would have liked to. So when she was 35, she decided to have a below-the-knee-amputation. Brenda did not expect that the recovery was going to be as hard as it was and went into a deep depression. She had lost all hope to walk now and thought she made the biggest mistake of her life. But Interactive Metronome put her back on her feet! After IM, Brenda completed the Disney Marathon. Brenda attributes her success to IM saying, “Interactive Metronome saved my life”.
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Check out this artcle published in "The Dispatch" on September 17, 2011
Written by: Jan Swoope- jswoope@cdispatch.com
The eyes have it: Some find life-altering results in vision therapy
On Wednesday, 10-year-old Matt Morel of Caledonia came home from school with a social studies assignment and 10 or so questions to answer about Christopher Columbus. The everyday task might seem ho-hum in most households, but that the fifth-grader could tackle it on his own is cause for joy as far as his parents, Melanie and Keith, are concerned. A year ago, he couldn't have.
"Before Matt had vision therapy, there was no way he could read that and do it," declared his dedicated mom, who used to spend hour after frustrating hour trying to help her son slog through homework. "Even if he had an open book for an exercise in class, it was useless."
The routine school assignment illustrates as well as anything the life-changing triumphs the Morel family has witnessed since the fall of 2010.
At age 14, Kayla Williamson of Starkville had been on ADD medications since second grade and, in spite of varied curriculums, testing, specialists and speech therapy, struggled with learning.
Here’s a tip to practice brain fitness in the car!
