I am new here. This is a request for urgent feedback or advice! I was recommended to post this question here as I might get more respoonses here.
If anyone on this list has done Interactive Metronome with a provider, can they email me privately (or publicly if there is broader interest in this subject) as soon as possible? Can you comment on any of the following?
1. I have contacted an Occupational Therapist who provides Interactive Metronome therapy.
I like the fact that she has OT expertise. Does this make her a better IM provider? (We are choosing IM first over Listening Therapy Tomatis CDS provided by our current OT since IM provides measured progress.)
2. Her charges are $150 per 50-minute session, and she says that in the most motivated focused students, the minimum number of sessions is 15 plus 3 testing sessions - a pre-test, a mid-test, and a post-test session. Most clients end up with at least 20 sessions … which means $3,000 generally and at least $2,700 in total.
This is an expensive therapy option, but we can see how this MIGHT help our son who is not as time-rhythmic and has very low Woodcock-Johnson scores in FLUENCY (math, reading, academic in general) while scoring sky high in achievement scores for the same areas. We also noticed he is just a tad off beat when marching along with his dad in a marching band. He also found music lessons stressful because of this slightly-off beat and non-synchronization. If this helps with his timing and sequencing, we are willing to give it a try.
3. This IM provider does IM three times a week, and modifies the lessons depending on how the client is doing with each prescribed exercises. Sounds very much like VT but it is liked timed/synchronized sequenced exercises for legs and arms … ugh up to 200 repetitions but you are supposed to eventually get into that “zone” feeling when the movements and brain-body coordination gets in sync. The goal is to be able to do all the movements in as in-sync with the 54second per beat metronome, with and without sound interference through the headphones. She says that she has clients get as good as 17 seconds within sync (Dan Marina apparently is very corrdinated and has 20-second within sync). The short pretest shows my son at 54 seconds without interference and 64 seconds with interference … and so the goal would be for 20 or less seconds within sync.
3. She does not allow parents to stay in the room except for the last five minutes .. she says this is better for the child and their rapport. She does allow parents to be there for the testing sessions. Does this sound right about the normal sessions? I have always been encouraged to observe what OTs do in the sessions for SI and dysgraphic .. and I always stay in the background but within listening range.
4. My question is: Are her prices much higher than those you have encountered? She has had 18 months experience in IM and OT for 12 years. She was recommended by my new OT who is handling my son’s dysgraphia.
This is not only a question of relative costs of one provider over another and yes, I would like to know how much more I am paying for her services (she says we will have to trust her that she is good and she is a strong personality but apparently a good motivator).
I would also like to ask people to describe what changes they see in their children after IM training (from their and their child’s perspective) … and how long the changes stayed.
Thanks in advance for any advice and feedback .. I have to decide on taking the available time slot for her within a few days because of her full schedule!
Cheers,
KF
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
We did IM with a local provider this past spring. She is an audiologist and provided a package of 15 sessions plus pretesting for what I think worked out to about $80/hour. Additional sessions were $70/hour. She was the more expensive of the two therapists I spoke to. I chose her because my son has auditory processing problems and I felt she understood him. She had done IM for about a year.
We live in an urban area were OT averages about $70/hour. So I would expect that IM and OT would be similarly priced. $150/hour seems excessive to me but you would have to compare that to the price of other therapies in your area.
We have seen really nice results from IM. My son has scored the first goals of his short soccer career (he is nine). He is producing written output almost on par with other fourth graders. Last year he fell apart after writing two or three sentences. This fall has gone so well that I have delayed giving him medication for the ADD diagnosed by the neurologist this summer.
Beth
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
We did IM over the summer. My son has motor planning issues, and scored 215ms to start. He did a total of 28 sessions not counting the pre-test. The provider had to add sessions, essentially slowing down the tempo while he learned the body movements. His total score by the end , actually I’m not sure. His hands were in the 20’s and his feet still in the 70’s-80’s. We did it for motor planning and attentional issues with mixed results. I see some subtle improvements in these areas, but not the kind of change some people have seen, and its hard to say if IM is really even responsible for the changes we’ve seen. Ideally, the provider would like him to come back and do 12 more sessions of advanced training.
I live in New York city. I haven’t seen or heard of a price for services (speech, OT , tutor) higher than what I am accustomed to paying – until now! Our provider was a speech therapist and charged $120/session. I suppose its possible an OT might charge $120-150 but it sounds high unless you also live in a very expensive city. On the other hand, you may get your insurance company to cover some of it, depending on your coverage. ( In the past I’ve had luck getting OT paid for, but not speech). Personally, I like the idea of it being provided by an OT, I think its more like OT than speech, but that’s just me.
I stayed in the room - this is an intensive therapy. The therapist/child relationship does build up over time as it might with a therapist you see for a year. My kid needed me there.
just made two calls myself yesterday
still have not decided_i guess I am convinced there will be short term effects but not seeing much evidence that this will be lasting
First provider charged 70/hr-she is experienced and ADHD herself
Second provider is an expereinced OT but in training for IM. She said he would be her 2nd case but she would charge her regular OT rate of 100/hr for testing and the first group of lessons,IF he needed these, there could be up to ten. the it would be 50/hr for the regular 15 sessions he definitely would need. Didnt seem like much of a bargain for a trainee to me
I would go with #1 if I decided to do it-although it will be a drive and #2 is in town
I live in the midwest
Re: just made two calls myself yesterday
My IM provider initally provided therapy practically at cost—it would have been $450 for 15 sessions. We didn’t do it at that time because he tested so poorly and the IM folks recommended other therapy first. I would never pay full rates for someone who had not done the program for at least a year.
Beth
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
Karen,
The feet, I understand, are more connected to the vestibular system than the hands. My son’s pretest scores were actually considerably lower for his feet than his hands. That I understand is because the therapy he had done before was vestibularly based. I would suspect that your son might have vestibular integration issues. I know mine did.
Beth
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
That price is very high! I live in a very expensive part of the country and i pay $90 per hour. The OT also set up a listening therapy calender for us to do at home. If you look at the website I think they suggest charging 50-90$ per hour.
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
What is her cost for regular OT? $150 is high, private therapy here in Cincinnati ranges from $70-125. It would be fair to assume that yu would pay the average cost per hour plus a fee for the equipment. The provider does pay for time on the computer so you do need to factor that in. The website should have the cost for time or the IM company could tell you. A business is a business and it is good to respect that but it is also good to realize when someone may be overly costly.
Cheryl
Re: your opinion on Interactive Metronome & provider
Regular price of OT is $90.00 per hour. They don’t factor in any surcharges.
A few of us on here have used IM. It really depends on what you working on.
It cured my son’s sequencing issues, was moderately helpful for attention, and definitely made an impact on motor skills.
His timing was much worse than your son. He tested initially at 250. When a child starts that high there is just so much room for improvement.
After 23 sessions he has gotten his hands down into the low 20s in the short form, low 30s in the long form, 40s for the feet and between 80 -100 on the bilateral scores.
I think he will do it again in a few months. I am also considering PACE. Some insurances cover OT so it might be worth trying to get them to pay for this. My therapist says that she has had a few people whose insurances have paid. Mine did not but that could have been because I gave up fighting half way; long story.
I always stayed in the room. I also felt the my son’s excellent rapport with his therapist made all the difference. He absolutely loved her.