PACE - Needing opinions fro anyone who has done this program

Hi,

I have been trained in PACE and I have done it with several kids. Your daughter doesn’t sound like she just has Auditory processing issues, some of the things you have stated

“(mainly difficulty finding the correct words to express herself and sentences not making sense, difficulty organizing thoughts, memorizing multiplication facts, staying focused, short term working memory problems)”

are seen in kids with ADD as well. My daughter has a hearing loss and has been diagnosed with CAPD but it wasn’t just the CAPD it was ADD too. Once we addressed the ADD besides just addressing the CAPD she really took off. I did PACE with her but she hated it, especially the metronome as it just exasperated her weak auditory processing and the metronome interferred with the signal she wanted to hear, my voice… My daughter has excellent auditory memory now but a lot of that has to do with an assistive listening device, a hearing aid and the fact that she has been on MEDS for 4 years now. The MEDS helped her, we still have problems with vocabulary because of the hearing loss but now that she is tuned in and focused she is picking up a lot more every day.

I am trained in PACE and have put a number of children through the program. You are describing a complex set of problems. I would not advise PACE unless you have fully explored relevant sensory level diagnoses and therapies first.

It sounds as if you have had an APD evaluation done by a speech pathologist, and that expressive language is a problem. I would want an evaluation by an audiologist who specializes in APD, as this would give some indication of whether sound therapies (such as TLP and FastForWord) are likely to be helpful. If FFW is indicated, that should definitely be done before PACE. Alternatively, if you do not have access to an APD audiologist, I would consider doing TLP and FFW without further evaluation.

With problems such as you describe, sensory integration is often a problem. You don’t mention whether your daughter has had an occupational therapy eval.

PACE is a great program, but it has a specific place in the hierarchy of remediation — namely, after sensory level deficits have been reduced as much as possible. I suspect from your post that this may not be the case.

Nancy

Sorry for being so vague in my first post. At age 8 my daughter was tested by an audiologist who specializes in CAPD. Who found her to have several deficits. We then tried a sound system to amplify the teachers voice in her classroom - didn’t help (her capd was so bad she would continually fall asleep in class because of auditory overload ). We then had her go through the Tomatis program which made a TREMENDOUS improvement. She now can understsand what is being said instead of hearing a buch of garbely goop. But, we later found out that she also has ADD issues going on as well not just CAPD’s. She has also done FFW which helped a little. And Earobics which helped as well. She has also done a year of LMB Lips. This helped while she was doing it but now that she has stopped she has reverted back to her own way of spelling, although not a horrible speller just not great. She can read fairly well. She also did VV which helped a little but certainly didn’t cure her. The reason I’m inquiring about PACE is because of an ad I read in our local newspaper which read:

“Is it problems of… Memory, attention, concentraion, dyslexia/adhd? 85% of these problems are symptoms of a processing deficit. Re-training neural pathways guarantees results in 12-18 weeks.”

This sounds alot like my daughter, but the program is $3,000 and the testing is $658. They do this testing to confirm whether the progrm is right for her. So, I wanted to know of others who have tried this program and what their opinions of it are. Thanks to all who have and will reply in the future !

Denise

and you will see a tremendous improvement. CAPD/ADD overlap considerably, I have a child with both CAPD/ADD and SI issues. Once we treated the ADD we took off. But I wouldn’t put all your hope into PACE. It wouldn’t solve the tuning out she does in the classroom which is where you want her to be alert and attentive so she can pick up the vocabulary and instruction.

Most PACE providers do not charge for the PACE pre-tests. I’m not sure what other types of testing these people are doing to determine whether PACE is appropriate or not.

You might want to email the company to find out if there are other PACE providers in your area. Website is http://www.processingskills.com

I agree with pattim that medication is helpful for certain types of ADD. The problem is always getting a specialist who can make a really good diagnosis.

The upshot is that some children with attention problems respond optimally to PACE, some respond optimally to medication, and some respond optimally only to both. There are different ways to approach the difficulty. People who are dead-set against medication except as a last resort may want to try PACE first. Others who find the cost of PACE very difficult to handle may want to try medication first and/or a less expensive cognitive training program such as Audiblox. For the most part, everything is a best-judgment call on the part of the parents.

Nancy