Interactive Metronome pre-test data

My son scored overall 217 ms off—and this was after a year of Neuronet therapy. Before the Neuronet therapy he scored 350 ms off!!! Afterwards his average was 18 ms off.

Some of your son’s scores are normal for a person who has not gone through IM which I think is about 70 ms off. Others are higher.

Beth

He seems to have a little trouble with his feet. My son had a similar problem.
You should do some balance exercises as a warm up.

My son scored 250 overall initially (all scores averaged) I don’t remember the breakdown.
He scored an overall 42 at the end. His feet and bilateral exercises were still pretty high at the end.

How necessary is the test?

I posted here a few week’s back and got replies from both of you, Linda and Beth, and decided to go ahead with IM for my LD son who still has issues with processing speed & coordination (feet mostly - for soccer etc.). When it came to charging the $4000 Cdn. to my VISA, though, I figured, well, maybe we should do the pretest before purchasing, just to be sure. I booked with our Toronto audiologist & checked out train schedules but am now spooked about SARS. (The risk is low, but irrationality among mothers is not unheard of. Our audiologist is located in a medical building.) We were to go Monday but I am going to call to cancel/postpone.

Would I be completely foolish to order without doing the pretest? A friend of mine wonders how unbiassed the test is. Yet I know of no other test out there that would measure the same things. Could an IM-less OT do a similar evaluation?

I want us to finish this program before the summer holidays if it’s warranted .

If scores are close to normal I would be wondering about the necessity for the program and its cost.LindaF wrote:
>
> He seems to have a little trouble with his feet. My son had a
> similar problem.
> You should do some balance exercises as a warm up.
>
> My son scored 250 overall initially (all scores averaged) I
> don’t remember the breakdown.
> He scored an overall 42 at the end. His feet and bilateral
> exercises were still pretty high at the end.

The pretest is basically a short version of the exercises. It gives you a baseline to which you can compare your results. I actually made arrangements to do IM before doing the pretest, although I didn’t pay for it until the day of the pretest. We had done the pretest a year earlier and he had scored in the absolutly worse category possible so I had no thought that he wouldn’t be bad enough to benefit from IM. I was more concerned that he would be too bad!!!

You need the IM equipment to do the pretest so an OT without it could not do it.

Beth

I think you need the pretest to gain an understanding of his current timing. They also do a test in the middle to moniter progress.

I was surprised my son’s timing was as bad as it was. He isn’t a terrible athlete, just inconsistant.
It really showed me he truely needed it. I plan to do it again this summer.

Thanks, sounds like I should get the pretest done before I purchase the program, just to be sure it’s needed, but I think I’ll hold off a few weeks until the SARS scare blows over a bit,

Thanks.

Jan

Jan,

I have a feeling is that most people are going to get scores that show that they would benefit from IM; it is just a matter of degree. I also think you need a set of scores either before you start or at the first session to messure progress against.

Helen

It may take longer than the 15 sessions you are counting on . Few of the children represented on this board completed the program in 15. Just FYI.

Thanks. About how long might it take for an LD child?

My son required 28 sessions (his pre-score was around 200ms but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything…) He’s got motor planning issues and the movements were difficult to master, especially the feet. He never got the feet down into the range we’d like.

I think other families here also did around 25 sessions. If you search for old posts on IM, you may find it.

We did 24 sessions. We saw huge improvements in attention and sequencing.

We will do 10-12 more sessions this summer. I believe that will be all my son needs. We won’t have to do it again.

My LD son did it in 15 sessions and got an average ending score of 18 (from pretest score of 215). He had done Neuronet therapy for a year which focuses on the vestibuar system. I have no doubt that is why he did so well.
His therapist was surprised that he didn’t hit a brick wall at about 30 ms.

Bottom line is that for a child with signficant motor issues—my son had scored 350 one year earlier which is when we sought other therapy—either do what we did and do other therapy first or expect additional sessions. IM is boring and difficult (although effective) and I am glad we did other therapy first.

Not all children who will benefit from IM are like my son, Linda’s, or Karen’s. All three of our children have been in OT type activities because of motor issues—and in at least my son and Linda’s were classified at one point on the basis of motor issues. In other words, I suspect they are at the weaker end of the spectrum of kids who would benefit. In other words, I don’t think it is LD that makes a difference but the particular constellation of weaknesses.

Beth

Beth,

Was the 350ms. an average of all of the pre-test scores of one particular test?
If it were the average of all the tests then the 2302 for the very last test would push the average way up.

Helen

Helen,

350 ms was my son’s average the first time we pretested for IM. Your last score doesn’t make sense to me. What is it of? Was he doing the right procedure? I know my son was so off on some of the exercise he was closer to the next beat than the beat he was supposed to be on. Still, that seems excessive.

Beth

Beth,

the sheet I have has written at the top “Pre &Post IM training Long Form Test Battery Scores”. It has 14 tests listed with numbers in the average column in the format xx.xx. On the 14th test both hands with sound it has the number 23027 with no decimal point; this could be 230.27. Below that it has IM long form Test Batery Calculations. The calulations were not done in this section but I calulated them myself just a minute ago. If I take the 14 test as being a 230.27 then the average for hands is 94 and for feet it is 139. Does this seem to match the pre-test results format you were given?

Helen

Yes. My son was higher on hands than feet the second time he pretested (don’t remember much from first except how bad he was at coordinating the two sides of his body) Feet are more connected to the vestibular system and he had lots of vestibularly based therapy. Your results are more typical with feet higher than hands.

Those scores are certainly high enough to suggest he would benefit from IM. What is the one that is 230? (I think that 230 is the only possible interpretation)

Beth

The 230 would be for Both hands with sound. This test required responding to the cow bell but not to the other sounds.

Helen

Boy, the presence of sound sent his scores skyrocketing!! Does he have CAPD? Seems to be a focus issue rather than coordination since without sounds his score was in the 40s.

Beth

Beth from FL wrote:
>
> Boy, the presence of sound sent his scores skyrocketing!!
> Does he have CAPD? Seems to be a focus issue rather than
> coordination since without sounds his score was in the 40s.
>
I hadn’t thought he had CAPD but maybe I’ve missed something. It will be interesting to see if that score improves after the 15 sessions. One of the problems he has is attention to detail. He likes to work at a fast pace and then makes mistakes. If IM were to help him to focus on the details that would be great.

Helen

Hi Helen,
My son scores were: Both hands 61.1; Rt hand 38.2; Lt hand 36.4; Both toes 107.0; Rt toe 51.5; Lt toe 61.1; Both heels 116.2; Rt heel 41.8; Lt heel 48.3; Rt hand/L toe 61.3; Lt hand/r toe 98.7; Bal R foot 51.5; Bal L foot 83.2; both hands w/sounds 105.7

These scores surprised me because my son has a history of motor planning difficulties (propreoceptive difficulties, SID, tactile defensiveness, etc…). I was told with these scores my son didn’t “need” IM (although I’m sure it might be beneficial).

I have to guess my son did so well on these tests because he had early intervention (beginning at 12 months!) and years of therapy and therapeutic experiences.

Although we haven’t done IM, I’m still considering doing it with him this summer. The doctor who offers it combines IM with other therapies (like PACE and VT) so I think it could be very beneficial. Please share with us how your son’s IM goes and whatever gains he appears to make. Good luck!

Both my boys with diffeent LD’s took between 24-30 sessions.

Also remember that at different ages different scores are considered within norms.

I sent an email to IM provider asking about the score and it is 230.27.
Nice to clear that up.

Helen

> Although we haven’t done IM, I’m still considering doing it
> with him this summer. The doctor who offers it combines IM
> with other therapies (like PACE and VT) so I think it could
> be very beneficial. Please share with us how your son’s IM
> goes and whatever gains he appears to make. Good luck!

I think I’m going to need to find a checklist or make one up and score my son pre-post so I can document any real world changes. I’ll take a look at Mel Levine’s books. The provider had a survey but it don’t really address my son’t areas.

Helen