Executive Function Deficits and IM

If you ask my son’s OT she would say my son does not have a motor problem. He hides it well. He scored in the 95% in gross motor skills and she just didn’t think that score would be possible in a child with motor issues. He scored low average in fine motor skills but I worked with him on that.

From what I understand my son’s motor issues are specifically related to his sequencing deficits. He has to perform the movements in a sequence. It is related to sensory integration issues. I get a lot of strange looks from people when I say my son has motor problems. He looks like a total jock, strong, lean, energetic.

He can do some things very well.

I saw the biggest change after IM was finished. We actually just did it again for 10 sessions because he could not get his timing down all the way down the first time. He still could not get his overall score down below 30. I plan on doing a few more sessions at the end of the summer.

My IM saga has meant 34 sessions and counting. I never thought I would have stuck with it for this many sessions but I definitely see that it addresses his core deficit areas. I am told that once his timing is down in the low 20s we won’t need to do it again. It sticks at that level.

planning ability
- time estimating/sense of time
- knowing where to start
- (math) problem analysis
- awareness of surroundings
- following directions/remembering directions
- remembering what day she has a test or a project due
- losing/forgetting clothing
- cleaning/organizing her room without a meltdown
- knowing what is appropriate/controlling impulses (not to a serious degree)
- drawing inferences/conclusions from what she hears/reads around her
- reading and listening comprehension (but she did well on the PG pretest)
- attention (not necessarily ADD — maybe CAPD).

It is very hard to separate the causes of improvements in all these things out. I did see a big change with my son with “planning” type issues but also could have been maturity. We did IM at the very end of third grade so had summer in between. I’d still say he is not “average”. But he can clean his room now without a meltdown. Before I’d have to stand over him, and tell him everything to do. He made it to the last week of school before losing his lunch box!!! I see him taking more responsibility for things. He has me write down what he is supposed to do—like the various aspects in cleaning the bathroom. He will cross off each one (shake out rug) as he does it. Now he says he can’t remember everything I tell him—so maybe that is no better—but I see him developing coping/compenstating mechanism which he didn’t seem capable of before.

I also see him planning better in terms of thinking ahead. He had a big project due at the end of May and we were going to be out of town the last weekend. I made up a schedule for him but he didn’t like it. He proposed an alternative one for himself and kept to it. He was done with the project three days before we left and a week before any one else in class.

I saw no effect on reading comprehension. We have done separate therapy/tutoring following IM with very good results. Same with math analysis—had difficulty in math at end of year.

There was a huge impact on written output. He had fine handwriting but couldn’t sustain it. This past year he took standardized tests for writing and passed with above average scores. He simply was incapable of producing before.

Big difference in attention (he has APD as well).

Bottom line is that his resource teacher told me three months into the last school year that she kept wondering when she was going to get the old Nathan back. He was just so much more together this past year. I observed him in class and you really couldn’t tell him apart from other kids. Now we followed up IM with more Neuronet so probably not all IM but IM allowed us to conquer sequencing and other difficulties much more efficiently.

Have you had a pretest done? That could give you some information. Some kids score “average” and IM doesn’t seem to be an appropriate therapy.

I would not have seen my child as having gross motor problems either, although fine motor was really weak. He really didn’t learn to tie a shoe well (tightly) until he did IM. Still, we saw effects on gross motor too—became star soccer player from nondescript, although not poor. That was a great ego booster for my son and I would have done it just for that.

IM is supposed to help auditory processing too. We saw the biggest difference in his ability to integrate visual and verbal information. We had been “stuck” in therapy before.

There are no guarantees with any of this therapy so that is a big disadvantage if $$ are tight. Most people have seen nice improvements but have read a few people who did not. We paid far less than $2000 though—about 1200, I think. So you might look around too.

We saw no results until therapy was finished, although we were told that about half way through we would.

Beth

OK, this going to sound crazy but here goes….

My 18 yr old ‘normal’ son just purchased a ‘Dance Dance Revolution” game and pad for his computer. I gather this is actually designed to go with Playstation but can be modified for a PC

As I watched him, and then my LD 11 yr old, I thought “wow-IM for under 100 bucks”

Now, I have not done IM but Im guessing there are similarities.

Youve seen the games in video arcades most likely. Although youve probably seen some expert teens on it and are thinking “no way”

It starts simple and slow. There are 4 arrows and they move up the screen into a catch area at the top. The participant is wearing earphones and hearing music with a beat that fits when the arrow hits the catch area. He must step on the appropriate arrow square as it enters the catch area(on the beat)

My son improved quite a bit in just one day and had a ball-I certainly didnt tell him it reminded me of a therapy Id heard about

Like I said, under 100 bucks, and the 18 yr old says its quite a workout for him-even has a setting that tells you how many calories you use. So, even if it doesnt accomplish big leaps, it has back up value :D

I have two boys. Both have ADHD/LD my youngest has CAPD and they participated in IM. Both did FFW prior to doing IM,which is reccomended for the auditory lags before IM.

What I noticed was a huge improvement in sustained attention,especially in doing homework,initiating tasks,before having to be reminded etc. The most startling thing to me was greater then a school year later there are still steady improvement. One of which was my youngest child’s handwriting. He had virtually illegible handwriting that suddenly became legible. IM was the very last remedial program used. Out of all the money we spent,IM by far, was the best value. My humble opinion

We just finished 3 months of IM last week…. I have to say that out of all of the interventions that we have tried this one by far was the BEST!!!!!!
Our insurance paid for it with a dx of ADHD and I have heard that medicaid is also paying for it….even with the ins paying it was sa 30.00 copay each time and we will be billed for close to 1000.00. Our little guy has aspergers and the most AMAZING thing that we have seen is that he is now showing imagination!!!!! We are SOOOOO thirlled at his progress. He also just learned to tie his shoes on Friday in about 30 minutes!! His coordination is ALOT better and he seems to be thinking ALOT clearer.
IF I had it all to do over again I think that I would have done it 1st and not last
Hope this helps

Wow, Danny’s mom. That is just great. I was talking to the mom of a school mate of my son’s about IM. Her son has DAMP—best way to explain it is ADHD and Developmental Coordination Disorder with some autistic characteristics thrown in. I didn’t know whether IM would help him or whether the neurological profile is too severe. I thought it was worth a try because the child is just devestated by his lack of coordination. I will tell her about your child.

Beth

Thanks to those who have replied — IM sounds very encouraging. It might be interesting to try out the “Dance Revolution” program first — maybe it would mean that IM could be completed in less sessions. And also, it might reduce the frustration of IM, which I imagine is more boring, if she builds some skills first in something she perceives as more of a game.

I was also curious about socks’ comment regarding doing FFW prior to IM. I have the FFW training kit so I can become a provider. I had assumed that since IM seems to hit lower level skills, that it should be done first, but if it’s more effective to do it the other way, I will. I was just anxious to get to some of the executive function benefits. :)

I also just got Earobics — should I do that before FFW? They are currently doing TLP. They are starting week 6 tomorrow.
Thanks,
dab-nj

In my prior post, I asked about the best order for Earobics, FFW, and IM. Then, after I submitted the post, I thought of another one — where does Audiblox fit into the picture?
thanks,
dab-nj

Danny’s mom,

That is just thrilling. What wonderful results! My only advice would be don’t stop there. Try something else. See my note to dab below.

Dab

We went back to audiblox right after our second round of IM. My son is really cooking. He could only do 11 blocks the first day after several tries. He made it to 17 blocks the second day. I can’t do 17 blocks.

He also is using some interesting techniques to help him remember. He says that he noticed a slight pattern that he used to aid his memory and wanted to know if that was cheating. I was thrilled. I told him that is how I remember most things by relating it to something else. I really saw that he was being quite logical.

I really think that in some strange way IM aides brain plasiticity although I have no proof. It just seems that way with my son.

There is a catch 22 with IM. If your child is like mine you may need more sessions. If you do something else first you might be able to avoid some of those sessions. I would work on balance before IM. That was my son’s biggest block.

The conventional wisdom is that if your child can do EArobics, he or she doesn’t need FFW. As a result, those who do FFW, do Earobics afterwards.

We did FFW before IM. It wasn’t deliberate. If you have done sound therapy, you might be just fine with IM. I actually am not sure how FFW would help you do IM. In my experience, one critical issue is tolerance for the sounds of IM, which sound therapy can help with. Some kids also require either more session of IM or other therapy first. My son scored so poorly in pretests that we did other therapy first (TLP and Neuronet—we had already done FFW).

I’d do Audioblox afterwards, if he still has issues. TLP and IM both help a child break new barriers with therapy, in my experience. I saw less effect for FFW—FFW, in my opinion, is best for receptive language issues. Of course, having normal receptive language helps many things, but the therapy itself didn’t seem to carry over to other things like TLP and IM.

Beth