Other folks doing PACE right now

there’s a Roxanne in PA over on the http://www.vegsource.com bb’s whose son started PACE recently. I think you would find her on the Unschooling bb, or Reading and Math.

Most families see something significant around the end of the 6th week. That’s when we were sure we were seeing gains.

PACE will likely help your son’s processing, but I would caution against expecting too much. From what I have researched, retrieval problems are very resistant to therapy. Your best bet for that is auditory and body work (NeuroNet type therapy, and perhaps FastForWord) and, if significant improvements are made with that, follow up with more cognitive training later. On the plus side, PACE works on so many cognitive areas simultaneously, the opportunity for significant gains is high.

PACE is a good program and my estimate would be something like 98% of the children who go through it (putting in homework hours at least equal to the number of tutoring hours) make significant gains. Any additional hours of homework you can work in are helpful. Even with significant gains, however, most LD children will also need other support in terms of other therapies and specific academic remediation programs. It’s just that PACE tends to make all of those easier and faster.

Mary

Hi Rosie,

I’m doing PACE with my son right now, along with Neuronet (which we’ve been doing since Jan). The combination is a bit much at times but, as you know, another fall looms ahead.

We are in week 6 right now. One big change I have seen is in my son’s ability to do Knex. Now this may not be what you are looking for but he couldn’t read the pictures and assemble the models before. I attribute this to the reasoning cards which work on visual-spatial skills. He scored as a five year old on nonverbal reasoning in the pretest (he is 8).

I have seen big gains in memory, directionality, and visual spatial skills both which build on his gains from Neuronet’s gains. We are having a harder time with some of the processing exercises, both visual and auditory. These are tougher areas to remediate, I think, and my son has problems in both.

I’d be glad to correspond with you.

Beth

Hi Rosie,

My son just began PACE as well. He just completed his 8th session, so we are very new to this. I feel like you do about getting anything available in order to help my son. Mine is a 10 year old, who should be going into 5th grade. 4th grade was very difficult for him (as the previous grades). We have tried many things, this being the latest and will probably go on to Master the Code.

My greatest wish if for him to read at a comfortable level.

gk

How did you find a Neuronet provider or is it an “at home” program?

I was so thrilled to see so many responses to my post. It really helps me to feel good about my choice to try PACE. I am not expecting miracles. In fact, I am planning to continue Academic Language Therapy and start OT with our son after PACE is finished in Sept. But, wouldn’t it be great if life and school really get easier for him? I’d love to be one of those parents writing in with the life changing success story.

Sounds like I need to start looking into NeuroNet next. My son was one of the first kids in our area to do FastForward. We’ve also done StepForward. Both programs were helpful with my son’s expresssive and receptive language skills and reading. But, he NEVER even improved a bit on the auditory memory component of the programs. Even after thousands of trials on the computer, he couldn’t reach even the second level for the memory game. I’ve also briefly researched Interactive Metronome (no provider in my area) and Vision Therapy. Those are the next items on my “to do” list.

The memory card game in PACE has been frustrating for our son. But, we are just at the beginning of PACE. He really likes the activities where we use the mini-tramp. I try to start all of my sessions with that activity. I am FLOORED by how quickly and easily he has learned the presidents. We didn’t even practice them over the weekend, and he could do them backwards on Monday with his tutor. I think the visual mnemonics are a very successful strategy for him. (Jokingly) Can I get the entire 4th grade curriculum in cartoon mnemonic form?

I ordered Math the Fun Way to help him with multiplication. My son loves cartoons and after seeing his success with the presidents, I really think it will be a better approach for him. I told him if he can learn his times tables by Sept. we can dump Kumon till Christmas (maybe forever, but I’m not promising that.) Even though I like the mastery approach used in Kumon, I hate being the Kumon nag. Quitting Kumon may be the strongest incentive my son has ever had for learning math facts. Math facts and memory are a big problem for him. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I like the way I see him concentrate when we are working with the metronome. That has got to be good practice for him. This is getting a bit long. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I’ll let you know how Week 2 is going.

Rosie

My son won’t even try KNex. Too intimidiating I guess. That’s interesting that your child is now working with them.

How many weeks of PACE have you done?

What gains have you seen with memory?

Also, how do you like NeuroNet? How does it compare to OT?

Thanks for your response. I’m pulling for your child to make great gains. Sounds like you are really on the ball. Take care.

Rosie

Your quote: “Greatest hope is for him to read at a comfortable level.”

ME TOO! And for my son to not feel so stressed about having to learn new words or vocabulary. My son turned 10 this summer and is entering the 4th grade. He is also in his 2nd week of PACE (4 sessions with tutor). We can cheer each other on.

My son was not so crazy about spending an hour/day on intense work at first. He was acting irritated some at the beginning of our sessions. But, we are starting to get in a groove.

Rosie,

Your son obviously has a real ability to learn visually. That should help make up for other deficits. I would think he would like Math FACT s the fun way for that reason. My son, at week 7 in PACE, can’t do what yours can, although I have been amazed that he can recite the presidents at all.

I would look into Neuronet. My son made progress on auditory memory exercises in FFW. He made no progress after that until we did Neuronet. I think this is because of sensory based problems. My son had a decoding deficit (CAPD) and that correction helped his auditory memory. NN has corrected his vestibular problems which our audiologist says is the foundation for auditory memory.

Beth

Isn’t it weird how the vestibular system can be linked to auditory memory? I haven’t researched NeuroNet much. But, I’ve heard a lot of endorsements from parents about it. Are the activities physical things that your child enjoys? or is it hard work like tutoring?

Thanks for responding.

Rosie

My son likes Neuronet better than anything else we’ve done and we’ve done a lot (FFW, Vision therapy, PG intensive, and now PACE). It is broken down into smaller pieces than PACE so I think he feels more successful. It is also less demanding than PACE. I think it is because it is working on the sensory-motor level and simple repetition helps repair developmental delays. For example, he did turns on a rotational board as part of vestibular therapy. Over time, he became very proficient at it. In contrast, he has been in tears many times with PACE. (We did FFW so I am used to tears). Only the fast naming exercises with NN have caused us much grief and that is just the first few days.

Frankly, NN is much easier on a family than PACE but NN doesn’t have the visual processing element to it and my son’s reading was clearly being affected by visual issues, even after vision therapy. I think this may be because he also has auditory processing problems and so nothing is automatic. He was testing fine by the OD but the problems with tracking in reading (work sheets were fine) continued even after vision therapy. I do notice a marked improvement now with his tracking with 5-6 weeks of PACE.