Our audiologist recommended PACE for my son, after FFWD, which we have completed with some positive results. We are taking time off for 6-7 mos.—apart from academic tutoring starting at the end of Aug. I am looking into training for PACE/Brainskills, which I need to do this summer. Our audiologist thinks that with my background as a spec. ed. teacher the minimum BrainSkills training would be adequate, which I guess would be the videotapes; however, you can’t purchase these separately from the program. She is recommending PACE, not BrainSkills, so this advice doesn’t make a lot of sense if I have to then go out and purchase the PACE program. The company says PACE is for more severe deficits (3 yrs. +), and my son’s are not that severe, but I guess that PACE gets her vote because of the number of areas of deficit (visual, auditory, memory, phonemic, phonological, processing speed). She has looked at Audiblox (cheaper) but feels PACE will do more to address auditory memory deficits, which FFWD did not fully remediate. (For ex. on the expanding memory test he now gets to 5 items as opposed to 4, which is low for age 9.) She figures I can do PACE, I guess, with BrainSkills training via audiotape, but if the cost of purchasing 2 programs plus tapes equals the cost of a flight to Boulder to do PACE training, it seems to me I’d be ahead doing the latter. I could get the BrainSkills price from the website ($497) but couldn’t get the PACE price. Can anyone give me a ballpark on this and comment on the PACE vs. Brainskills conundrum. (Incidentally, if I do PACE, I guess she would be the provider, so even though I’d be delivering the pgm. I assume I’d have to pay her something on top of other costs. With FFWD I rejected this arrangement and got trained as a provider myself. She’s one busy woman so I’m having trouble getting specifics promptly on this. Any help sorting this out would be appreciated.)
Re: Need advice: PACE/Brainskills training
Actually, the PACE trainer sees the child three times per week and the parent does the homework with the child an additional three hours (or more) a week. The think the cost to be trained in PACE is somewhere under $2000. I don’t think you can buy it without getting trained. I agree with Robin that no particular background is needed, but the program does require the trainer to know how to make changes and modifications to fit each child so there is continued and rapid success.
Re: Need advice: PACE/Brainskills training
If you are trained in PACE, you are the provider and would not be paying the audiologist anything. If you become certified in PACE, you could provide the program to others and recoup your investment that way. I know two mothers who have done exactly that. You can get details about the cost of PACE training by emailing the company for information; they will email you back all of the information you need.
If at all possible, I would do PACE instead of BrainSkills. Aside from the fact that PACE addresses more of the issues you list (and has three times as many different exercises), you would also be qualified to do MTC if necessary.
If you can’t afford to get certified in PACE, then I would recommend doing Audiblox and supplementing with Phono-Graphix. Because of the history of auditory processing disorder, I’d also take a look at Balametrics (http://www.balametrics.com) and NeuroNet (http://www.neuroacoustics.com), and possibly supplement with Balametrics at home.
I’m certified in FFW, PACE and Phono-Graphix. I haven’t used Audiblox, but have one of their kits. I haven’t seen BrainSkills but have a rough idea of what is in that program. I haven’t been to the PACE website lately, but I believe the videotapes you mention go with BrainSkills.
If you decide in favor of BrainSkills, you would be better off buying the kit from a local provider. I don’t think the company requires it, but they strongly encourage providers to provide one-day training workshops for parents who buy the BrainSkills kit. The price for this arrangement is the same as just buying the kit yourself at full price from the website. I’m not familiar with the videotapes you mention, unless they come with the BrainSkills kit.
Mary
I have looked into pace and the parents end up getting involved anyway. No special background required. The provider sees the child once a week, gives assignments to the parent for the week and you continue this for 12 weeks. Could you work that out with your audiologist?