handwriting help & IM

There are lots of posts on IM. My son’s handwriting speed improved after IM such that he is able to keep up with a regular class. Last year he had tired out after only a few sentences. I had taught him to keyboard last summer, but it proved unnecessary after IM.

We did a pretest at early stages of IM in which he had to copy a paragraph. He collasped after writing about half of it, whining that he was too tired. This was pretty typical for him. Afterwards, he copied the entire paragraph, folded it up like a letter, and addressed it to “mommy”. This was a major change for him!! Now he still didn’t capitalize at the beginning of sentences so it was no miracle!!!

We did PACE before IM too and got many more changes with IM than PACE.

Beth

My son has done IM but I think his handwritting was remediated fairly well before IM.
My son’s biggest problem with handwriting was visual spacing. He would start to write at the bottom or middle of the page. He would have no spacing or big spacing between words.
His was in OT at school for about 1 year. The program that she used with him was very similar to an inexpensive program you can buy off the web. It is called callirobics. (I forget if it was one L or two so might need to try both.)

It involves form drawing to music.

This is very encouraging news for me. How long did your child do IM? Was it just IM or combined with other therapies?

My son keyboards now at school using a QuickPad. He is faster typing than handwriting, but it is still painfully slow.

Why do you think IM helped handwriting speed? Does it just help kids to regulate their coordination at a more steady pace? or what?

Thank you SO MUCH for responding. I really appreciate it.

Rosie

THANK YOU so much for your advice. Spacing is a struggle for my son to. I’ll search for callirobics on line. Thanks again.

Rosie

We thought my son was dysgraphic last year, today the teacher told me he didn’t think he was. (He is dyslexic and inattentive though) Interesting. DS did IM over the summer, hasn’t done OT since he was in kindergarten (he’s in 3rd now)

His spelling is still lousy, and his handwriting isn’t perfect, but I guess compared to the other 8 year old boys in his class it looks OK, and the speed and spacing are OK too.

PS he find cursive easier. A special ed teacher told me all her dyslexic students do better with cursive because they can’t make the same reversals.

Thanks for your response. I found the program Callirobics on line and ordered it. It was only $25. I’m also considering IM now. How long did your child do IM and did they do any other OT therapies at the same time? I’m also trying to get a ballpark idea of what the therapy would cost me if you are willing to share that info, and if you think it was worth it.

Thanks again.

Rosie

I have read with interest this post on handwriting. My son also has problems in this area of schooling. They labeled him with a written expression disability. After further investigation on my part he was also evaluated by the OT. The classroom teacher at the time said the OT evaluation was exactly what defined my son’s problem. The district thought putting him a special ed one size fits all class would help him. (You can see that I am still venting) He has been through OT and vision thearpy. What is IM? What is PACE? Where do you get the materials or tutoring services for these programs? Is my 12 year old beyond changes being made?

I think IM helped my son’s endurance. He just wore out—it was too much work. IM works on motor planning and that is why I think we saw the handwriting results.

We did the standard 15 sessions and got great results but we had done Neuronet therapy first. A year and 1/2 earlier we had pretested for IM and the therapist had recommended other therapy first because my son scored so poorly on the pretest (350ms off–the most severe category—he was closer to the next beat than the one he was supposed to be on). I know others who have done it here haven’t had as rapid of results and I totally attribute that to the therapy we did first. So it depends on your kid and how severe his problems are. My son was very severe but then we did other therapy first.

I think I paid $1100 for the standard 15 sessions, including pretesting. It would have been $70 a session beyond that. This is pretty standard for this metro area, although one person I contacted was several hundreds less. I went with an audiologist since my son has APD problems and I thought she understood him. I would do it again in a heart beat—IM really works to neurologically reorganize your child.

Beth

Absolutely not! My son was also put in a one size fits all sped class. I took him out after he made some big gains with IM.
My son had a mixed bag of motor issues that were improved with OT and IM. I had to really fight for him to get the OT which he still receives even though he was taken out of the sped class.

I too would like Rosie to respond to some questions about PACE. It is on my list of things to try next. I am thinking we can find the time next summer.

Rosie,

Did you see an improvement in attention after pace?
Did you see your child become more independent with regards to homework?
What other types of changes did you see?
Thanks so much for any input you can give me.

My son tested at 250 ms which is pretty high. He needed more than the 15 recommended sessions. He did 24 to get down to 40 ms. It cost $100 a session and this was after a discount of sorts.
We will do another 10 to 12 sessions at some point. I really saw big changes in quite a few areas. It helped with sequencing, attention and motor planning.
He is not completely remediated but he is far from where he was. I think I saw bigger changes than the average because his score was initially so high.
Interesting part of this is that the changes keep coming even after IM is finished. It makes other types of remediation like vision therapy move faster in my opinion. It is a good thing to do first.

We paid $120 per session for 28 sessions. Unfortunatley the only provider in my area at the time was a speech therapist, and my insurance won’t cover speech. If we do more it will be with an OT, because I stand a better chance of getting some reimbursement. I don’t think it was worth what I spent, but even that’s hard to say because who knows if we’d be seeing the small gains we are seeing in reading and the decrease in anxiety with out it.

Both of my boys did Interactive Metronome last year.
One of them did IM specificly for handwriting issues. He is or was severely dysgraphic. His handwriting was illegible. What I have found is endurance.
I agree with Beth I think they seem to be able to sustain attention for a much longer period of time.I have also found that the longer they are out of the IM program,the more they seem to improve. Both have made incredible strides emotionally as well as educationally. They worry about getting their homework done,starting it and continuing on until it is finnished. My youngest even helps a neighbor with math:-) Truely a miracleous change. These are kids who would go off task as soon as something caught their eye. They didn’t even seem to care whether they did their homework or not. Whinning the whole time and causing me to sit right by them through the whole process. They have their moments,both are entering teenage years( god help me) 12 and 13 respectfully.
My youngest,just seemed to decide one day that he wanted to write legibly.I am sure his motor issues improved,actually I know they did. But to talk to him about it he will say, “I just write slower and neater”. If this was all it took,he would have done it a long time ago. He thinks it is.. I will let him think that….

The one big common denominator for us is,both had attention span problems. Meds helped,but it was still a huge issue,preventing progress. Now, they have their moments,but it isn’t an issue anymore,and progress just keeps coming.

IM is definitely a program I would suggest for any kid who has troubles with sustained attention,and trouble planning motor steps.

My two cents….

Hi everyone,

I have been out of circulation a while with our move to Tokyo.

My 10 year old did IM this summer and we saw great gains in many areas. His handwriting was coming along before IM and he was keeping up w/his 4th grade class. In 5th grade now, his handwriting is pretty good and, more importantly, he has speeded up. In fact, he is doing a report now and wants to handwrite rather than use the computer (he is a pretty competent typist).

His swimming is improving, his body awareness, he can now do cartwheels and stand on his head, his awareness of time has improved and he is even a bit more organized…..remembering to bring things into school, etc.

IM is NOT a cure. He is still LD. He is still slower at getting things done, but not to the extent he was before IM. We tried to go back to PACE this autumn and the few times we did it, I saw big improvements over last year’s try. Unfortunately, there is just not enough time in the day to get the program done. My husband insists on one hour of exercise per day and with that and homework….there is just no time.

Anyway, I highly recommend IM and may, in fact, have him do another week next summer to wotk on his feet–where the gains in timing weren’t as great. It was the single most effective intervention we have tried, but not a magic cure.

Well, that’s our experience.
Ciao,
MargoS

THANK YOU so much to EVERYONE who has responded to this thread. I always learn so much when I get on these boards.

A couple of you asked about PACE and other programs we have tried.

First off to Sara, I don’t think you are too late at age 12 to try any of these programs. We haven’t tried Interactive Metronome (IM) or NeuroNet (an OT like therapy which has potential to help with CAPD - central auditory processing disorder). But, we did try PACE (Performance and Cognitive Enhancement) therapy.

I learned about ALL of these programs on-line on these bulletin boards by cooresponding with other parents.

PACE is a 15 week daily intense program which combines a variety of exercises that strengthen auditory & visual processing, input & output skills, and discrimination skills. Many of the exercises used a metronome to give the activity a tempo and intensity that really added an important element to the exercise. A student would work to increase the speed, accuracy, and complexity at which he/she could complete specific tasks. I’m not describing it too well. The website used to be www.paceinfo.com or you can try www.learninginfo.com. PACE is relatively expensive to do the full-blown program with a trained provider. Roughly $2500 as I recall. It is hard work for the student and parent and perhaps best done in the summer. We did 6 weeks in summer and the rest once school started. It was tough. But, I really learned how to work with my son. I had to be very strict about keeping on-task in the beginning.

As for the results, after about 3 weeks of PACE, my son just seemed different. More mature and able to initiate chores and activities with about reminders. My theory is that PACE forced my son to reach and maintain a level of concentration and attention that he had not experienced before. It taught him what it “feels like” when you are really blocking out the distractors while concentrating on a mundane task. He got lots of practice being in that “attentive state” and was able to use it to his advantage at home and school. He started completing his work at school, not procrastinating or day dreaming during homework, and has not been on ADD medication since we took him off of it before PACE began 2 summers ago.

Another thing, and this is BIG. My son is able to remember and recall things he has learned without so much repetition. In the past, I was basically home-schooling my child everything he was supposed to be learning at school. I would pre-teach and re-teach and re-teach again. I don’t have to do that anymore. We can just quiz facts the night before a test, and MOST of it he will already know or can learn with just a normal amount of repetition. It has changed my life as well as his. No more stressing out that we have to relearn all 20 vocabulary words that we studied just 2 days before. Before, it was heartbreaking to see him struggle to try to remember things he knew he has already worked hard to learn. Now, he can access and retrience more of what he’s learned.

From PACE, I learned a lot of interesting techniques for coaching my son. It has been one of the best therapies that we have chosen over the years. It’s not a fancy package or a miracle cure. But, it was effective for our son. It helped him to make some real leaps in his performance.

He is in 5th grade now, and his teachers don’t even complain about attention as a problem for him. That is truly a miracle to me. It was all his teachers talked about from pre-school until the first semester of 4th grade.

Our PACE provider told us that we would see “gains” and benefits even months after PACE was completed. I didn’t really believe it. But, my son made amazing gains in his abilities last year after we completed PACE.

He is a slow worker still, but not a day dreamer. The demands of writing information off the board and copying lots of math problems from a textbook are hard for him. So, he uses a keyboard for some of his writing assignments. I had 2 page carbonless notebook paper made so his class buddy with “neat handwriting” can give him a copy of her notes. He still takes his own, but at least now we have a neat copy with all the info. He gets extra time to complete some assignments. But, he is on track with the rest of his class and made almost all A’s for the first time in his life! Math and Art were his only B’s.

Now PACE is not the only therapy or intervention we’ve tried , so I can’t attribute all the positive things that have happend to PACE. But, I am very glad that we did it. I first considered doing a less comphrensive package called BrainSkills put out by the same company. I’m glad we went for the full program. Our provider was very skilled and helpful in many other ways. She had students who were in high school and even college who were benefiting from the program.

16 months ago, I could have never predicted that our biggest concerns in 5th grade would be handwriting speed and some organizational issues with writing. This is a child who at age 4 1/2 did not understand the difference between the words “yes” and “no” or speak in more than 2 word phrases. He was in special ed. at age 3 and attended a private school for kids with language disorders until 1st grade. He was considered to have both a severe language disorder and fine-motor coordination delays. He attended speech therapy and OT 2x/week from age 4 until the start of 2nd grade. At first grade, we took a leap of faith and enrolled him in a small Catholic school with a loving heart, a calm structured environment, and a non-competitive atmosphere. He was one of the first kids in our city to go through Fast Forward ( a computer-based language therapy program to help with auditory processing). A year later he went through the next program called StepForward back then. We dropped OT and opted for gymnastics, soccer, and guitar lessons to help him with motor skills. In 3rd grade he started working with an Academic Language Therapist using a programed called Alphabetic Phonics. It is used widely by the Scottish Rite Hospitals as a program for dsylexia. His therapist jumped around in the program to customize it for his needs and worked on other writing and fluency skills. I also worked very closely with his teachers to coach him with his class assignments. He struggled academically with language arts and learning his math facts, but with lots of extra tutoring and prayers he has become a strong reader and successful student. This past summer, we went wild for books on tape. Our son made a HUGE leap in his reading fluency, speed, and overall comphrehesion as a result. At the end of the summer, he read that 700 page Harry Potter book in 4 days. I can cry just thinking about it I was so happy for him. A year earlier, he had almost stopped wanting to read books. I took the pressure off for a while, started reading to him, and using the tapes. We read more “grown-up” boy novels like Holes and The Cay. He likes reading again!!

He has a lot of positive experiences at school now because he is well-behaved in class and friendly with the other kids. His teachers are not specially trained, but they are kind to him and make allowances for him to take extra time on assignments. He might be making better strides academically in a public school with all the resources that they have for LD. His private school teachers can tend to be easy on him. But, overall he is happy at school and making good progress. Our public school is very competitive social and academic environment. It just doesn’t seem right for us.

Our son knows that his handwriting is not as neat, or that he works slower than some other kids, but he accepts it just like the fact that other kids can’t run as fast. There are other kids in his class who have poor handwriting too, so he is not the only one. He still works with an Academic Language Therapist twice a week on reading and writing skills during school. He goes in late 2 mornings a week. It’s not a big deal. He’s under the impression that it is something special he “gets” to do. He likes the one-on-one time with his tutor.

6th grade is a concern for us. Our school does have block scheduling so that he won’t have to switch classes quite so much each day. But, staying organized and taking notes will be a challenge. Also, the teachers in middle school are not as nuturing as the primary grades. I’m looking into ways to have him take one or two subjects in the summer that can transfer as credit to our private school so that his schedule could be reduced.

I am seriously considering IM now that I have read so many encouraging comments about it. After our experience with the metronome activities in PACE, I really believe that “timing” and attention can be enhanced with metronome activities. I also believe that after several years of taking a break from OT, it is time to get back to focusing on motor skills.

I hope some of this information is helpful to you. Thanks again to everyone who has offered comments here.

Rosie

Thanks. Great to hear another person say that IM helped with handwriting speed. That is what I am looking for.

Take care.
Rosie

We are very close to pulling our 3rd grader out of the mainstream for next year. Its a very tough and emotional decision, but your story proves that intervention works. I suspect that if we do this he’ll be able to go back to the mainstream - still LD, but able to keep up. Thanks for sharing.

More about IM, I do think it has removed some obstacles for my son, and if we could fit OT back into his schedule to actually teach him to write better it would be effective. He’s been doing well with cursive this year. That’s the thing about some of these therapies (IM, PACE) - I think they make the brain more receptive to being taught new skills.

We are going to do a 4 week intensive Lindamood Bell treatment, which I’m interested in for the reading instruction, but also because I think it will open up some neural pathways.

Rosie, Thanks for all the information. I am going to look into PACE and IM. Your message gives me hope. Sara

To add another view, my 11yo 6th grader has struggled forever with handwriting, never learned cursive and we let it drop. Well this year his printing is legible, everyone in middle school prints and the teachers insist on it, and he can take notes that he can read. I think it is maturation, and he’s made his own accomodations…I don’t think it’s worth several hundred or thousand dollars of intervention. In middle school there is a HUGE range of handwriting with the girls at the top and the boys at the bottom. A typing course would be a good investment. We were told by an outside psychologist that handwriting and spelling are the most difficult to remediate, and sometimes remain almost unchanged.

And if I may say so, handwriting and spelling are the 2 things I am the least interested in fixing. (OK, spelling as it relates to learning to read may be important, but beyond that.. who cares?) My 3rd grader has many boys in his class with poor handwriting (worse than him!) and it seems like its an awkward age. In 4th grade they introduce keyboarding, and eventually most work is done on a kayboard. And then of course that makes spellcheck a real option.

Glad to hear your sons are doing so well. It takes a great mom!

I waver on this point. At first it made sense. Then I thought about how motor issues seem to be attached to so many other issues such as attention and wonder if you omit therapy to improve this area are you neglecting help in another. Also, there is the sports thing which is related and I guess more important to some than to others. Despite all of that, it is an individual decision and if the child isn’t bothered I don’t see the point in being concerned.
My son was the worst speller and then seemingly over night he started to just get it. He wrote a letter to his brother at school and every word was spelled correct except couldent. I attribute it to an improvement in symbol imagery but I think even that went well because of IM.
It just seems that before IM I would try interventions and they would work but it was such a long haul. Now it seems I will try to work on a particular area and it just comes.

He also got diet pepsi in his lunch box. He swears it helps but it could just be that he loves diet pepsi and wants to keep it. He also noted that every teacher in his school drinks diet pepsi.

Thanks for your comment. You are right. I don’t need to spend a truck load of money to just improve handwriting. My son uses a keyboard now.

I had been looking at IM last year to help with attention, although that is not as big of an issue now. From everything I’ve been reading about IM, I suspect there might be multiple benefits for my son that could make it worthwhile. But, cost is always something that has to be considered in the equation too.

My son is particularily awkward at sports and dislikes them as a result, so there are potential benefits for him there as well. But, again, I wouldn’t likely do IM just for that.

Do the kids LIKe or HATE the IM therapy? My son has worked very hard and I’d think twice before I would put him through something with the intensity of PACE right now. I’m not gung-ho to start something new, but I do feel the challenges of middle school looming too.

Thanks,
Rosie

Hi Rosie,

The IM Program is incredibly intense. There may be emotional breakdowns. My son almost cried twice during the sessions. We had an OT that pushed really hard. My son hated it, it was physically and emotionally exhausting. But, he knew he had to do it–we set up a temporary home for the summer just so he could do the program. We went to alot of trouble and expense.

The good thing is that the program doesn’t last nearly as long as PACE. It is supposed to take 15 session, but, if you have a child with significant motor planning issues, you can be sure more sessions will be required. We needed 28—he went daily in the summer. It was not cheap…but to us, worth every penny.

As for age, I actually think 11 is a very good age for this therapy. My son was 10 and really got why he was doing it. A few times we went on our own without the OT and Joe had to be completely in charge. I think that is what really brought it home. The OT was always telling him speed up, slow down, etc. But, when he did it w/out that verbal feedback (that is his way of learning—verbally), he had to figure it out himself.

Anyway, we saw improvements in many places, not just handwriting. In fact, our main reason for doing it was to help speed him up and improve motor planning. He is quicker with his math facts (but by no means fast), more aware of time, better coordinated (but not an athlete), MUCH better at the dinner table… In fact, I cannot remember the last time he spilled something.

As I said, the program was intense, but I think that is one of the reasons it was effective. My husband said, “if it was easy, it probably wouldn’t work.”

Still, you should know that some people haven’t seen as much improvement as others. But, on the whole, I think, most children have come away from IM with significant benefits.

Well, that’s it for now.
Ciao,
Margo

Thanks Linda,only another great mom would know.

My PC has been sick with virus and NOW I”M BACK!!!

..

It was very intense. My son was exhausted after each session. For some reason he loved doing it. He loved going and loved his therapist. I don’t understand why he liked it so much. It seemed completely boring to me.

My son is pretty intense so that might be one of the reasons. I do think that he is a good candidate for PACE because of his intensity.

My son didn’t like IM very much at first. It exhausted him. But as he got better, he started to like it. I think success is everything. He abs. hated PACE—told me it was the worst thing he ever had to do–that it was worse than Fast Forward even. But he was successful at Fast Forward and PACE just didn’t do much for us. I think his sensory issues were still too severe.

You need a provider who works well with your child—because the therapy is def. boring.

Beth

It is amazing what you and he have overcome!!

Beth

I think maturation does help handwriting. My daughter who is now 12 and always has had difficulties with handwriting, but not severe enough for classification, started improving at about 10. Now she types everything. But honestly, like Karen N, I was not very interested in handwriting. In fact, I taught my son to keyboard at the same time as we were doing IM.

But I think motor planning is related to many other things. We have seen all around improvement post IM—more organized, more together, better attention, improved athletic ability, and better able to learn in school and vis a vis other therapy.

Beth