PACE Garauntee?

The PACE company encourages its providers to provide certain guarantees, but it is ultimately up to each provider to decide exactly what guarantees he/she will provide, if any. For that reason, you need to request a copy of the provider’s contract so you can see exactly what guarantee this provider is offering in writing.

The standard the company encourages is (1) full refund after 3 sessions if you want to withdraw, (2) full refund if the child does not make at least a two-year gain in one area of deficit. That is *much* different than a full refund if a child does not make anticipated gains!

Some parents are satisfied with modest gains, some feel cheated if their child does not make dramatic gains. There is no sure way to predict which children will make modest gains and which children will make dramatic gains. However, almost all children will make a minimum two-year gain in at least one area of deficit, so that is a pretty safe guarantee for a provider to make.

PACE is a wonderful program, and most children benefit greatly from it. However, it does not cure all problems. Like everything else in life, there is some risk associated with it — in this case, some time and some money. In my opinion, it is a very worthwhile risk for most parents to take, but you need to go into it with your eyes open.

Nancy

Nancy,

Thank you for your reply. You are an great gift to this community. I am very interested in your background and what you are currently doing.

After seeing your name pop up in response to many important questions, I actually did a search on your name and read those threads. I highly recommend the investment in time. Because I took that time, I learned that I should have my son screened for potential vision therapy issues before persuing PACE, or any cognitive therapy. It turns out that my son’s tracking is way off, so we will be starting him on vision therapy very soon. I was hoping to do PACE over the summer.

Here’s my big questions, that I think I may know the answer to already. Does he have to be pretty well through the vision therapy before beginning PACE. I hate to lose the summer opportunity to do PACE. PACE sounds like way to much to take on during the school year. Thoughts?

Thanks for your kind words! I tutor special needs students part-time and would like to open a non-profit learning clinic someday. My background is too convoluted to explain here, but involved lots of (largely unsatisfying) travel and technical work. My “kicks” come from seeing a child blossom because his needs have been met.

If tracking is your son’s only major vision problem, his VT would likely be far enough along by summer to start PACE. What I look for are scores that around 40th percentile, which is low-average and definitely adequate for PACE. If a child scores 25th percentile (or lower) on a developmental vision test, I encourage more VT first. Occasionally a child is not able to get to 40th percentile in some area, even with extensive VT. PACE is still an excellent option then, but progress may be slower.

I do think it’s easier to do PACE in the summer than during the school year. If you can’t fit all three months into summer vacation, though, it would be very easy to overlap the last month of PACE with the first month of school. That first month of school always involves a lot of adjustment and review, so it is the easiest month to skimp on — especially if you inform the school that your son is finishing up a therapy and needs to leave early (or come late) for an hour every day.

Nancy

If a child completes PACE, and achieves near-or-at age level on the post test, are they considered ‘cured’ of any problems in that particular area? Is there a good correlation between the Gibson testing, and standardized testing?

I think the word “cure” is used only for medical diseases. No one I know would use it in the context of learning disabilities.

A child who completes PACE and then tests at or near age-level on the post-tests would likely have attained normal (or average) **skill** levels in the areas tested. The Gibson tests are normed and seem to yield results very similar to other cognitive tests. However, **content** material is *not* tested. A child could have achieved normal skill levels on the Gibson and still test low on a standardized test such as the Iowa. What this would mean is that the ability to learn has been normalized, but the child has still missed out on years of content learning.

Also, a child can test just fine on auditory processing skills (which are cognitive skills) and still have difficulty reading text (fluency) or understanding the words being read (vocabulary). Gibson tests compare well with standardized tests of cognitive skills. They are irrelevant if you are talking about content-based standardized tests.

PACE does not cure all problems. An autistic child, for example, can make tremendous gains from PACE but will still be autistic. Cognitive skills problems are sometimes only one aspect of a disability. However, they are often a *large* portion of a learning disability.

Nancy

Nancy,

Would you mind if I emailed you privately regarding my son’s situation as it relates to PACE? I’m assuming you do not want your email out for public consumption, so if you send me an email message at [email protected], I can get back to you. If you don’t wish to, I understand, and my feelings won’t be hurt.