PACE vs. Audiblox

Brainbuilders from PACE has a major auditory processing component to it. Audioblox, as I recall does not. They both address visual issues. I know DEA whose daughter whose major deficit is in auditory processing did not find Audioblox to be very helpful. Others have had great results. Depends what your child’s profile is. I don’t know if I have seen posts of people who have done Brainbuilders. Lots of people have done PACE, many with good results. We didn’t have great results from it, but then I think we still had too many underlying sensory issues. With all these programs, it is the match between your child’s difficulties and the program that is key. And sometimes, you only know that in retrospect. I only realized the extent of unresolved sensory problems when we hit brick walls doing PACE.

Beth

Thanks for clearing that up. Would you say then it would be beneficial to have a sensory eval done and address those issues, if any, before doing PACE?

What kind of SI issues would you think (in your experience) got in the way of progress with PACE; if you don’t mind sharing her SI difficulties?

I certainly don’t think all kids have sensory issues. My son has sensory integration issues, diagnosed by a OT. I knew this when I went into the program but thought, as did a therapist we worked with, that he would be OK. What happened instead was that we found out new problems by the things he just couldn’t master.

One approach would to try the program. If you max out early, then suspect that something is holding him back. We kept working on it and just burned ourselves out, for minimal gains. For example, I couldn’t get him through all the levels of the auditory processing exercises no matter what I did (and that included lots of coaching from PACE headquarters). I later did The Listening Program (sound therapy). He flew through several levels immed. but honestly we had burned ourselves out too much doing the program to have the stomach to finish it.
Beth

What is the listening program and how does it work?

It is sound therapy, the mildest of what is out there. Other programs are Somonas, Tomatis, AIT. You listen to two tracks a day -once in the morning and once in evening for 8 weeks. It is about 15 minutes a time. We saw improvements in auditory processing and fine motor.

Beth

I thought PACE was too expensive but more than that I thought it would be too intensive for my daughter. We are just finishing up two years of Audiblox. Hooray!!! Audiblox is user friendly compared to what I found out about PACE. I think PACE is a wonderful idea and it probably helps a lot of kids, I just thought it was too intense.

The bottom line: After doing Audiblox for 4 months Everyone at her school noticed how well she was doing. Even her principal stopped me and told me (He never talked to me before). She was doing grade level work and it was very much noticed. She was in 5th grade then. She was identified LD in 2nd grade because of not being able to read (I taught her with PG-don’t let the schools do what you can probably do better) She has a languaged based LD and she currently only has an IEP in place that addresses language issues, i.e. comprehension (a biggie!) After 5th grade she no longer qualified as LD in anything else. She was in middle school this past year and it was HARD because of all of the homework, but she made the honor roll second semester. Is she cured??? No, but it has helped her a lot in terms of remembering and understanding concepts. She is getting older and is learning what works for her.

I’m really lucky. Her IEP manager is the SLP at her middle school and she is going to be teaching a reading class for her students who have trouble with comprehension, main idea, etc. Just think, she will have 50 minutes of speech therapy every day!! Wow!!

In closing, I recommend Audiblox, but I can’t guarantee it. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I kept at it and we only have 4 more sessions to go. We’re both excited!!

Good Luck with whatever you choose!

Hi,

I was wondering what areas you thought audiblox addressed best. My son’s number one problem is visual perception but a close second is sequencing. He can never remember which month comes after which. He gets any vocabulary that includes before and after mixed up. He says yesterday when he means tomorrow etc. I am looking for something to go after the sequencing issue but I really want something that addresses this specific area.

I have been taking the take one deficit at a time approach with some success.

PS. Agree on the pg thing.

Linda F

Linda, I don’t know how old your child is, but my child had no clue about before or after either, nor did he understand between. When he was six and a half, I did the following—taken from Saxon Math. Put a knife, a spoon, and a fork on the table. Say: “The spoon is between the knife and the fork” as you point to the spoon. Rearrange then say: “The fork is between the spoon and the knife.” Then ask him to place the spoon between the knife and the fork. And so on. You do this for about five minutes twice a day until he gets it. I did this for about three days, after which my child could easily give an answer to “Name a number bewteen 20 and 30”—something he couldn’t respond to at all before doing the exercises. We also followed on with: “The spoon is before the knife and the fork. The fork is after the spoon and the knife. Place the knife before the spoon and the fork.” This tip alone made made my entire investment in Saxon worthwhile.

Did this transfer to other things like months and days of the week? etc

Gee, I am a believer that sometimes there really are simple answers to our remediation questions. I will try this.
Thanks
PS he is 8

when I first read this tip I thought it was something rather basic that my son would do easily.

We just did it and he was getting it wrong when he tried to do it quickly.

My non ld 3.5 year old did it with ease.

We will continue to work on this. Thanks once again.

Linda F.,
I didn’t expect my son to have a problem with it either. But it was the Saxon teacher’s manual suggested for getting the between thing, so I tried it and was amazed how readily it translated into getting the math question. The knife, spoon, and fork thing helped a lot with math generally—the between question, naming a number less than 20, more than 20, as well as allowing him to get down the concepts of before and after concepts. It also seemed to resolve the yesterday, today, tomorrow issue. He learned the days of the week through a song (tune of “Oh My Darling Clementine”). I know he did not know the months at age 8, but I think he could manage his way through them now. (He’s 12.) It’s not an area I’ve thought to be concerned about…on dear, another thing to ruminate on.

Hi Linda,

From what you say about your son, I think Audiblox would be a great fit. It would address the visual processing and sequencing along with memory. I was really amazed by the results. I was hoping it would work, but I wasn’t sure.

If you go to their website at audiblox2000.com there is some place there you can address your questions to the people who developed Audiblox. If you decide to go this route, they will also map out a program for you to do at home. Not all children would be doing the same exercises. You would need to tell the folks at Audiblox about your son’s strengths and weaknesses and what you would like to have him accomplish.

Good Luck!!

nt