IM Scores

My son was lowest on the tasks that required bilateral coordination—coordinating both sides of his body. The first time we did the long form he was so late in responding that he was more on the next beat than the beat he was supposed to be on!!! (This is why we did other therapy first!)

I don’t know what pattern indicates processing issues. The child who is late is not responding quick enough which, to me, suggests slow processing. The child who is early is trying to guess or anticipate which could be impulsive or could be a child who is trying to compenstate. Maybe that is what your tester sees.

I know feet are generally higher than hands, although the pattern was just the opposite in my son in the pretesting. That, I was told, was because we had done so much work on the vestibular system prior to IM. Feet are more closely aligned with the vestibular system than hands. But, like most kids, my son’s hands scores were lower than feet in the hand.

Beth

My son’s feet were also his difficult area. This was related to balance which I think as Beth said has to do with the vestibular system. I know my son does have vestibular issues from his OT evals.

I did not get a breakdown of the sub scores analyzed as you did. I did see the subscores. I don’t remember if he was early or late.

My son had trouble with the extra sounds. He found them distracting at first and we even had to have them turned down. That is odd, I never thought he was typically APD.

This doctor sounds like he knows what he is doing.

I am toying with trying IM for my ds and love to read this stuff

wouldnt early response also indicate impulsiveness and possible ADHD? I think this is one of the measures on the TOVA for ADHD dx

Would be an interesting question to ask if you havent already been that route

impossible. Even when my son’s hands were routinely in the 30’s and 20’s his heels were still way up there. This past weekend we took him skiing for the first time, and he could ski, but he couldn’t for the life of him snap his heels into the ski. Couldn’t see what to do. Made us laugh a little.

I agree, your doctor sounds like he knows what he is doing. You got much better feedback than I ever did.

Let us know how it goes…

Having been a ski instructor for 10 years, the act of putting on your bindings (clicking down the heels) is a complicated process for many children and some adults. I often would be bending down, centering the boot and snapping it into the binding—if this is the only area he had trouble in, you are lucky!!! I would say I did this for 80% of first day learners, no matter what the age. With practice, he will probably get better at it, though he may need help just keeping the ski still, so he can do it.
good luck—my dad taught for 50 years, including many people with physcial and other difficulties and it can be enjoyed on many levels. I am an expert, but can still find fun skiing on the bunny hill—unlike some other sports. it is also a lifetime sport—unlike many things taught in PE class. My dad has friends in their 90’s who still ski and we know a significant number of people in their 80’s who ski (including my father-in-law).

That’s an interesting interpretation. I never thought to ask about the possible connection with impulsiveness and a much higher percentage of early responses. That would seem to make sense although my son is not typically impulsive. I’d characterize him as the opposite- very “slow” to react.

So, when I think about it, this test result is kind of surprising. Perhaps I can contact the folks at IM and see if they have more information about what these subtests might indicate.

This doctor (a developmental optomotrist) was absolutely wonderful! I WISH he was nearby!!!! He specializes in helping children with learning disabilities, and researches and uses many of the therapeutic and cognitive programs we discuss on this board. He has been doing this type of work for a long time (he was one of the first to start using IM). Apparently, he had some vision and processing problems when he was growing up so this kind of work is something he’s passionate about.

Also, he was very honest with me and told me he didn’t think my son needed IM. He recommended that we do vision therapy with the optomotrist in my neighborhood (who he knows of and believes is good) for two months and if he’s not making some progress then reconsider adding IM. He believes most of my son’s problems could be remedied with visual therapy and felt the doctor should use a metronome with all of the exercises (to help with processing speed). The example he gave me was with near/far exercises (like alternate letter reading from a chalk board to a flash card - this helps with focusing), should be done to a metronome. Also, calling out letters, or reading while jumping on a trampoline (for vestibular) should be done to a metronome. He felt this would help my son visually process much quicker.

I’m really glad I had this testing. I feel I’ve learned a lot from it.

Hi Linda,
I don’t think of my son as typically APD either. But I’ve questioned this since he has an expressive language difficulty (although I think Language Wise and visualizing is helping with this).

His receptive langauge is very good, but I wonder how much of that might be due to environment. I’ve always unconscioulsy worked on language and vocabularly with him because I sensed a difficulty.

Maybe the higher score with sounds could be indicative of some processing difficulty. Although I do have to wonder, wouldn’t any child (or adult) have greater difficulty with the addition of competeing sound? Just how much of a descrepency would indicate the possiblity of an auditory processing problem? Also, I know ADHD and APD can often appear very similar.

Laura- where did you find such a doctor?

My son’s IM therapist thought his biggest problem was with attention.

Hi Ewa,
I happened to get lucky and find one locally (from another parent at my son’s school). And the other doctor, who is an hour away, was listed as an IM provider. You can look on the Interactive Metronome website. There may also be a website that lists developmental optomotrists. Most IM providers IM are OTs.

Hi. I’m new to this bulletin board thing. My son is five and has Expressive Language Disorder. The school doesn’t really do anything for that. He has Speech Delay also. He is receiving speech services from the school. I’m wondering what else I can do for the Expressive Language Disorder. I have him enrolled at Elmhurst College’s Speech and Language Clinic. They do good work, but it’s not enough. He’s probably going to be held back this year in Kindergarten after two years in Early Childhood before that. I want to help and I don’t know how. Can you give me any info? What do you do?

I really thank you for any info you can give. He didn’t even start speech until he was three and that was because I listened to my Doctor instead of my heart. Now I had him in a program that wasn’t so good for two years and finally wised up. I made them put him into Kindergarten, but he’s struggling. And, although his progress has been great….I’m wondering if I can do anymore.

Thanks,
TracyLaura wrote:
>
> Hi Linda,
> I don’t think of my son as typically APD either. But I’ve
> questioned this since he has an expressive language
> difficulty (although I think Language Wise and visualizing is
> helping with this).
>
> His receptive langauge is very good, but I wonder how much of
> that might be due to environment. I’ve always unconscioulsy
> worked on language and vocabularly with him because I sensed
> a difficulty.
>
> Maybe the higher score with sounds could be indicative of
> some processing difficulty. Although I do have to wonder,
> wouldn’t any child (or adult) have greater difficulty with
> the addition of competeing sound? Just how much of a
> descrepency would indicate the possiblity of an auditory
> processing problem? Also, I know ADHD and APD can often
> appear very similar.