P.A.C.E

I took the PACE training in December and delivered the program to my son. We continued with Master the Code, which is the reading a spelling program developed by the PACE people. MY son is 11 years old and has auditory processing,visual processing, memory and processing speed difficulties. He’s also really bright. He saw really big gains after doing PACE. His reading has become smooth, and he basically reads a year above grade level (as opposed to a year behind grade level before PACE.) His spelling has improved, although that has a ways to go. His writing fluency is much improved—he’s on par with his peers. We weren’t necessarily looking for improvements in handwriting, but that has improved dramatically. All in all, it has been very positive, and I am a strong advocate. We found it to definitely be worth the time and money.

My dd got dramatic improvements with PACE. She has severe congenital astigmatism and, at age 8, had just finished vision therapy to correct severe developmental vision delays. She had major problems with reading fluency when she went into PACE — undoubtedly because of the developmental vision delays. PACE did a good job of developing her visual processing skills, and also of developing her phonological processing skills (another major area of deficit for her — scored K on the LAC at age 8). When she started PACE at age 9 she was reading at a 2nd grade level but 1.8 STD’s below the norm in rate and fluency. By the end of PACE she was reading at a fluent 4th grade level. (We followed up with a Phono-Graphix intensive to provide her with advanced decoding and word analysis skills.)

Experiences with PACE differ because children go into the program with widely differing abilities and problems. In general, it’s a very good idea to make sure there are no major unaddressed sensory/motor level develomental problems. Depending on the child, this may mean an evaluation by a developmental optometrist, a CAPD eval by an audiologist trained in this area, and/or an eval by an OT trained in sensory integration. Major unaddressed sensory/motor issues will limit the gains possible from PACE training.

Mary

Greetings Nancy,

I am trained as a PACE/MTC provider but have only worked with one client -
my now 14yo daughter. We are nearly completed with MTC as we are working on lesson 20 (of 23). My dd was tested as reading at the 3rd grade level two years ago when she completed 6th grade. She just completed 8th grade and was recently tested at the local public school. According to the WoodcockReading Mastery Tests-R, Form H, her total reading cluster is now at a 11th grade/15.8 age equivalent …WOW!!! Her weakest areas, but still grade equivalent, were in word identification (vocab) and passage comprehension - neither of which MTC addresses. Her strongest area was in word attack, testing at the 18-19 age equivalent. This does not mean all her reading problems are solved but it does mean she FINALLY has a big push in the right direction. It will take additional real-life reading practice to make her
new skills more automatic in addition to direct instruction in vocabulary and passage comprehension.

Once we complete MTC, we will go back and continue working with PACE on her weakest areas - primarily visual and auditory memory. From discussions with a PACE developer, memory is one of the most difficult cognitive skills to impact and my daughter has not been able to progress with the PACE activities that improve those areas. My daughter has previously been
diagnosed with both auditory and visual processing disorders and dysnomia
(word retrieval disorder). The recent testing my daughter underwent also
shows she has learning disabilites in Listening Comprehension (auditory
processing), Written Expression (associated with dysnomia) and Math
Calculation (due to poor memory). Both PACE and Fast ForWord have greatly improved my dd’s auditory processing problems but unfortunately, not to the “average” range.

So, is PACE/MTC worth the $$? The answer is YES! But it is important to
note that it may not be “the last piece of the LD puzzle” that we hoped it
would be. Nonetheless, my dd’s cognitive and reading skills have greatly improved thus improving her quality of life. From my reading, children with both
visual and auditory processing problems like my daughter have the biggest
hurdles to overcome (aside from mental retardation or physical brain
defect).

Blessings, momo

PS/ I should also indicate that within those 2yrs between test series, my dd
also completed Fast ForWord 1&2 for auditory processing issues and
Interactive Metronome for attention/focus/rhythm/timing issues. I’m not
sure how far my dd would have come with the PACE auditory processing
activites had she not completed FFW first.

I have been off-line for a while and just read this thread about P.A.C.E. and Fast For Word. Where can I get information about these programs? Wben I did a search on LD-Online, for example, I got info about reading “pace” and “pacing” yourself. Is this a home based program which parents can administer, after training, or is it a programs certain schools have adopted? Thanks for your help.

Check the Parenting bb (and maybe Homeschooling bb) for some recent posts about PACE, FFW, etc. If you go to the individual bb, use the search option to just find posts on that bb. This eliminates the more generalized information you got from the LD website, from articles.

PACE stands for Processing and Cognitive Enhancement. Website is http://www.learninginfo.com It is a cognitive training program that requires 3 hours of tutoring per week plus 3 hours of homework per week. Cost where we are, to go through an outside provider, is about $2,000. The company gives discounts to parents who want to train to provide to their own children.

FFW stands for FastForWord. This is an auditory training program that is particularly helpful for kids diagnosed with “auditory decoding deficit” (from a CAPD evaluation). A parent can purchase CrossTrain for $100, which provides all the materials needed to self-train to become a certified provider. Once you are a certified provider you can purchase the software program, FFW. Cost of FFW is normally $850, but the company usually discounts it to $650 during the last quarter of the calendar year. Website is http://www.scilearn.com (note: login to website as an educator, not a parent, to see information about CrossTrain).

A few schools offer FFW (sometimes only if a parent requests it), but most parents pay for FFW out of their own pockets. PACE is not done in any schools that I know of. Again, parents pay for this themselves.

Mary

I meant to say, go to the individual bb and then look at your options listed above the posts. One of those options is “search”. This search engine locates only posts on the bb. The search you used looks through articles on the “LD in Depth” section of the website.

Mary

Greetings Susan,

Because I wanted to be able to work with my daughter longer than the protocol -12wks PACE and 5-10wks MTC - if necessary, I elected to become trained to provide the program. I flew to Colorado Springs (from MO) to receive the training. I believe there are now training centers in Florida and possibly Texas. My hope is to eventually work with other clients to help recoup my costs (plus there were no other PACE providers within a 5hr radius of our home). Because it has taken more time than protocol, my being trained has definitely been more cost effective.

I also provided Fast ForWord 1&2 for my child at home. It is very easy to administer.

Blessings, momo

Hi Mary!

Did you see my question to you under Teaching Math?

Blessings, momo

Momo,

was just curious how you would describe your dd’s dysnomia? I’ve never really seen that term before. My dd has what I would call dysnomia and word retrieval, but I think what she has is different than most kids. My son has some word retrieval issues - uses lots of uhms alot. My dd has difficulty with names of things - she just can’t remember names (her school, her teachers, her classmates, towns, cities, things etc.) I just can’t imagine what kind of ‘fun’ we’re going to have when she starts geography, history etc.! She knows what the words mean, but can’t remember them.

My dd’s primary deficits lie in auditory memory and visual memory as well (visual being stronger than auditory). Her auditory memory was like a cement wall. I have found sound therapy to help during cognitive exercises. She would plateau and immediately after sound therapy, she would jump a notch, another round of sound and she’d jump again.

I’ve finally decided that we are going to do PACE this fall. I’m also going to have her do Tomatis again prior to starting PACE.

Just something to consider - I know sound therapy is hard to justify.

Greetings Dea,

This is the definition of dysnomia I found here at LDonline:
Dysnomia
Difficulty in remembering names or recalling appropriate words to use in a given context.

My daughter’s dysnomia symptoms are similar to what you describe with your children. She used to say alot of uhms but I saw this more as delayed processing and FFW helped with this. During her recent testing, I was told by the examiner that she would say things like, “I know what that word means but I can’t think of it.” She also had trouble supplying the correct word when shown a picture. Academically speaking, she is able to correctly answer T/F and multiple choice questions (if she reads the questions correctly!) but has difficulty retrieving statistical info (names, dates, math facts, etc.). PACE has definitely helped with conversational oral word retrieval but I haven’t seen any improvement with written expression word retrieval and fluency (unlike Connie’s son).

I have been looking at TLP as the next step. I believe you may have given me some info about that before but I’ll need to track down my notes.

Blessings, momo

Hi Momo,

Would you e-mail me at my e-mail address ([email protected]) to tell me about your experiences with interactive metronome? I also share with you how my son has done with the Precision Tutoring he has received at the local univerity.

Oat

Dor you do all of your daughters testing for reading levels yourself. If you do how did you learn to do them and where did you buy them? I am tryiing to get more information on this since it is hard to get the information from the school

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I don’t know about PACE, but you can find out about FastForWord by going to www.scientificlearning.com. I am currently coaching FF at school.

Marilyn

I am interested in interactive metronome. Can you tell me your experiences with this program? My e-mail is [email protected]. Thanks

I am not Momo but I thought I would put my two cents in.

I became an IM provider so that I could provide this program to my than, 10 year old son. I also trained my 8 year old son, with no developmental problems and my 5 year old dd who has some delays in speech. I think the the biggest changes I saw in my own kids and others I have worked on is that they learn what “focus” means. Then, after learning it, they practice. It then becomes a tool for them to use outside of doing IM.

With my oldest son, his ability to perform timed math tests improved. It helped him to process this information quicker and it became more automatic. It, however did not solve all of his processing problems. We have also done PACE which also has helped but now are checking into more vision therapy to see if that helps. IM has also helped in sports. He even said that it helped with hitting the base ball and since has become a pitcher for his team.

My second son said saw less gains because he had less problems to begin with. He, however, said that it helped with sports, also.

My daughters articulation improved. Her speach became definently clearer. She also improved her motor control although is too young to participate in sports. (I would not recommend doing IM with anyone under the age of 6 or 7.)

Hope this helps you. There is lots more info on interactivemetronome.com if you are interested.

Donna

If you go to the “LD in Depth” section of this website and click on “assessments” you will find some good information on different tests for reading.

We did reading tests in a variety of ways. The one I mentioned in my post (2nd grade level but 1.8 STD’s below norm in rate and accuracy) was done by a speech and language pathologist. She used a variety of tests, but I think that particular score came from the Gray. (She did CELF-3, LAC and CTOPP also.)

The PACE training I got included a Woodcock Johnson package with instructions for use, but I haven’t relied on it heavily for dd’s reading.

I’m not sure about reading tests a parent can do at home to assess reading level. It’s an interesting question, and I hope someone else will see the header and respond.

Mostly I have relied on observation of dd’s reading of actual books — at different stages of her development, seeing how easy it was for her to read Pokemon books, chapter books (many have the reading level on the back cover, e.g., RL 3.5), Harry Potter books, etc. My observations have been pretty much confirmed by testing, such as the IOWA tests administered at her school this year.

Mary

I want to make one more point. As a parent I am stating all that IM has done for my three children. But as a provider I should state what has been demonstrated through research.

IM has completed a study on their product and this research was published in the American Occupational Therapy Journal earlier this year. In the study they found that “the ability to plan and sequence motor actions can favorably influence important learning, cognitive, and social skills”. They found “an important relationship between attention and aspects of motor regulation, including inhibition, speed, rhythm and corrdination”

So for example, if someone came to me and said that their child had problems doing timed tests and they wanted to do IM to improve that, I would say that IM hasn’t shown through research to improve someone’s ability to performed timed tests. (however, it did help my son) However, if they wanted to help improve their child’s ability to attend to task, then yes! IM has shown, through research, to help.

Just thought that I would clarify things a bit.

Donna

Thanks for the information, Donna. I live in Reno, which has no provider. I take it IM trains parents. I sent them an e-mail but never heard back. Is it pricey to become a parent-trainer? Thanks for any information. Pat

Thanks for the info on the research. I am definitely interested and e-mailed IM but never heard back. If you have a telephone number, could you e-mail directly and let me know at [email protected]. Also could you give me some idea of the cost of becoming a parent-provider? Thanks, Pat

For those of you following this thread, this is the response I emailed PatC:

Hi Pat!

Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner but I was away from the house most of yesterday and today. I’ve also been meaning to email you about PACE but was going to wait until we were completely done with MTC.

This is the response I sent someone upon completion of IM last summer (June 2000):

Morgan completed 16-1hr sessions of IM last summer. As you know, this program is designed to address problems with rhythm, timing, focus and
concentration. Prior to IM, Morgan was kind of a klutzy kid, always falling down the stairs, barking a shin, knocking a knee, twisting an ankle, stubbing a toe, banging into a doorframe. I thought this was an issue of inattention because she has good muscle tone and didn’t have any trouble learning to ride a bike, rollerblade, pump a swing, skip rope, etc. Actually, she was quite advanced in learning those skills. But since completing IM, she no longer does any of this (other than the normal amount for most people). Also, she was forever spilling food all over herself or on the table. She almost never made it through a meal without staining her clothes. Since completing IM, she no longer does this at all! She was able to learn a line dance for the first time, she can now clap her hands accurately to the beat, she sings the words and the correct tune and rhythm to popular music, she catches items I toss to her and she can even do “The Monkeys” walk for the very first time. She’s even starting drum lessons.

Pat, just last month (May 2001), I had Morgan complete another 8-1hr sessions of IM. The reason for this is that since Morgan continues to make progress with PACE & MTC, it had become more apparent that she was struggling with the symptoms of ADD - primarily distractibility and impulsiveness. My IM provider spoke with the developers about her symptoms. They believed that she would benefit from additional therapy in order to get down to the 20ms range. She accomplished this last week and I’ve been watching for signs of improvement. Now this just may be a mom’s hopeful thinking, but I noticed the last two days during MTC’s difficult drill work, she appeared to be keeping better focus. Previously during drill work, Morgan was holding her hands to the sides of her eyes like horse-blinders in order to shield out any visual stimuli. She has not done this the past two days despite it being a very difficult lesson for her. Also, she had developed the tendency to let her eyes wander off the target word but she hasn’t done that the last two days either. It’s too soon to tell if this is a fluke or a real benefit from her latest IM sessions. Unfortunately, I believe we are still going to have to treat Morgan’s ADD symptoms with supplements or prescription meds. IM is not designed to improve impulsiveness and that seems to be one of her biggest problems right now.

My son Garrett has always been athletically inclined and a sport fanatic, participating in baseball, basketball and football and performing in the above average range. Because IM is also touted as being good for improving athletic prowess, we had Garrett do IM therapy last summer also. We were shocked to learn that Garrett’s initial scores were WORSE than Morgan’s even though he appeared to have better motor skills than her (other than also being a poor dancer but he was only 10 and a male…ha-ha)! Anyway, Garrett successfully completed IM in 18 sessions…and can now dance to the beat! His basketball coach this past winter said he’s never seen a player with as much “natural” ability as my son. How much this has to do with IM is hard to tell.

I also completed IM last summer. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed my mind wandering more often during church sermons and even during conversations so I wanted to improve my focus. IM really helped me to focus and an unforseen benefit was that it made me calmer. When I’m in a stressful situation, I can tap into my focus center and calm down. It’s really amazing! Plus, I now make “2pts” everytime I aim for the trashcan!

Blessings, momo

Gee, your daughter’s dysnomia sounds very similar to my own weird LD. For years I couldn’t recognize faces at all. I also had a heck of a time remembering names in general (of course, when you can’t remember the face, it’s even harder to tie the name to anything.) So I would meet people who would expect me to know them, and I didn’t have a clue who they were. If they started talking, sometimes then I would clue in and we would get along fine.

For some weird reason, this started to get a little better in my thirties; I’ve hit fifty and actually remember some people’s names, learn my students’ names in a few weeks most of the time (couldn’t learn them for months in my twenties) and even recognize faces often. Don’t ask me how or why.

The things I did different when my memory started improving were to have a child, to start private tutoring and have close teaching relationships, and to return to university for a second degree in theoretical math and take two more languages (German and Spanish) for personal interest, along with the French I already knew.

I often have trouble finding words in speech, most often nouns. (The name problem again). I used to stutter somewhat, not too seriously, but managed to control it in my teens. I have an excellent vocabulary and can sometimes get in a synonym for the word I’ve lost, and I use circumlocutions. Most people don’t notice most of the time, but my daughter can catch me and she teases me about it.

For your daughter: read lots and lots and lots and develop vocabulary. It can’t hurt, and it gives you a resource to replace missing words.

Study foreign languages; if possible, take Latin. The more you know about language, the more connections you’ll make. Latin roots are useful in many ways. Try to take a full four or five years of a language and really learn it; the first two years are the drufdgery, and many people quit just when they should be reaping the rewards.

For history and geography, the only way the names will make sense is if they are tied into a web of meaning. She probably remembers her teacher’s and best friend’s names, at least after the first couple of weeks of school, because these are people she deals with all the time and has a numebnr of memories tied to. Don’t just try to memorize “King John signed the Magna Carta” or “George II was King of England”; these are verbal formulas that will slide off the brain like water off a duck’s back. Instead, go to the library and find a story about King John and the Magna Carta, one that brings the characters to life, and read it over, discuss it, and write essays about it. Not only will this hold facts in the memory, it’s a real education as opposed to a wasteful pile of trivia.

Another way to improve memory is to use poetry and song; the rhythms and repetition are good patterning methods for memory. Local choirs and church choirs provide a real educational boost along with the pleasure of singing and the companionship; try to find one she can sign up for.

You can also memorize poetry as part of your educational program. This is a top traditional technique which unfortunately has been forgotten. A short poem per week is a good plan. When memorizing for foereign languages, and math tables, one of the most effective techniques is to chant in rhythm.

Write me for more ideas.

Victoria