PACE Question

and we saw significant gains in reading fluency.

In my dd’s case, it was probably the visual processing exercises that helped the most with reading, although I’m sure many of the other exercises helped as well (pattern recognition, directionality, etc.).

Mary

My son also did PACE. I did see what he was able to do in PACE transfer. For example, there were all these drills with segmenting, blending, and then reading nonsense words. I have seen that he can look at a word now and do a much better job at knowing how to decode it then before.

My son was unable to complete the AP portion of the program. For me, that is the bigger issue. I think you will see a lot of transferance from the program–if the child is able to do it to start with. There can be underlying sensory problems that make it difficult to complete the program.

In my son’s case, it seemed to be tied to the vestibular system. He did better with the exercises on a balance board. We have since done The Listening Program (a sound therapy program) and went back to these exercises. He was able to do do in several days things he was unable to accomplish in 4 months. I wish we had done the sound therapy first because we really burned ourselves out banging our heads against the wall.

Beth

Anitya, By doing a “search” you will find lots of past posts on PACE if you haven’t done this already. You may have to look back for a whole year but it would be worth your time.

I did PACE with my son and now I am doing PACE with another child. Both kids were greatly helped by improving their ability to hear the different sounds (or phonemes) in the words. PACE really does a great job to improve auditory processing. PACE strengths are also in improving visual scanning and visual memory skills. Also, PACE and MTC does a wonderful job teaching the “code” of reading. They learn that /ow/ says /ow/ like in “cow” or /ow/ like in “bow”. (It also helped me to learn “the code” as I didn’t get taught this information when I was in the school. My ability to decode words has greatly improved and I have always been a good reader!)

To your last question. “YES”! The info learned does transfer into reading and into life. I would highly recommend it.

However, like any other program, you have to match the needs of the child with the goals of the program. If your child has strong auditory skills and strong visual skills, than he/she would not benefit as much from this program. If your child has SI problems, they may benefit from another program before doing PACE. So, knowing what your child needs is the first step; asking questions, like what you asked about the program, is the second step; then correctly matching the two (which is sometimes very hard to do) is the third.
Donna in MO

We did both PACE and MTC (we still have not completed MTC -took a break and still trying to get back into routine). My dd has more the auditory processing deficit profile. I really felt we would not have seen the gains in reading that we did without the MTC portion.

I thought I could get by with just doing PACE to address the auditory processing deficits. The PACE folks encouraged me to do MTC - they had seen that many of their clients who had the auditory processing weaknesses did not in fact make the gains without the MTC portion to really teach them the code. I’m glad I took their advice - it was not until we started the MTC piece that I really saw the reading gains. (and we haven’t even completed it yet - only about half way thru).

Could you please explain to me what the listening program that your son paricipated in.? We are thinking about putting our son into a program called the tomatis program ? Have you heard anything about it? My son also has alot of difficulty with decoding words. Thanks.

The Listening Program, which we used, isn’t modifable for an individual child, is much cheaper than Tomatis (we didn’t pay for it specifically but got it as part of other therapy we were doing but I think it is about $300, is a home program(twice a day for 20 minutes) but isn’t as strong as Tomatis. This means you may get more gains with Tomatis but Tomatis can also have side effects. I was pleased with the results we’ve seen but it didn’t solve all of his problems. Of course, at this point, I am beyond thinking anything will! We just keep chippng away.

Dea, who posted below, has used both Tomatis and the TLP.. You might post below her message for more information.

Beth

I am looking for someone that has actually had a child that has been involved in the tomatis method. I am from Canada and this is a fairly new concept here. In fact we found out about it in a round about way and the schools here have never even heard about it. I have gone for an initial assessment and would love to hear from someone that has been involved. What did you think of it? Was there any substancial gains for the child involved? and what are these side effects I am now hearing about? Help!!! My son is scheduled to begin this method on the 22nd. of May. I am reading all about these other alternative therapies and don’t think many are offerred here in Canada. Thanks,Claudia

We went through PACE and did not complete during the alloted time (12 weeks?). But we continued and my son got past enough levels to be able to do MTC. I saw a much greater improvement with MTC and he was then able to pass all the AP levels in PACE with much greater ease.

We are only through level 11 in MTC, so he still has a long way to go, but I have resigned myself that we are in it for the long haul. I don’t expect overnight miracles. He does not have auditory or visual problems, just can’t get the blending down to where it is fluent. But, he is much better off now and with the MTC drills, it just keeps reinforcing those skill. He does great in spelling in MTC, but when he writes for a school assignment, all the training so far goes out the window. I’m looking forward to the day where he will look back at his own work and corrects his errors himself.

gk

Yes, we have done Tomatis and felt it was key to our dd’s ‘turn-around’. If you have the ways and the means, I would not hesitate in recommending that you try it. However, you need to have the proper expectation. What Tomatis did for our dd was open the channels - it made the remediation process much easier. For example, when we did Earobics, she literally hit a brick wall and it was very hard for her. After Tomatis, she breezed thru. You still need to do the remediation - i.e. the reading programs that teaches them to read. It makes the learning process easier.
They tell you that you ‘wake-up’ after doing Tomatis and that is what we saw. Not a cure, but we continue to do the sound therapy and get ‘boosters’ whenever we start new programs or feel like the learning process is slowing down.

The side-effects are regression that you may see during the program period. We saw emotional meltdowns for about a 1 week period that were very noticable and also night terrors for about a 1 week period. They kind of freak you out and you really question why you are doing this to your child. It was explained to us that we were seeing ‘movement’ or hitting areas of undevelopment. Movement is actually good, you know you are seeing changes.

Are you going to the center in Toronto?

I’ve been working with a student in MTC—after finishing PACE. It’s also been very slow going. I got the suggestion from someone to cut down the drill sheets to a manageable level. In other words, work with just the top 1/3 or even 1/4 of the page. It made an enormous difference for us. The child doesn’t feel overwhelmed with the huge list, the progress speeded up, and the gains seem every bit as good as when we spent days plowing through the long list. I insist on very quick recognition of the words we use. It really made a difference for us, so I thought I’d pass on the idea.

We live in Vancouver and just found a centre that does the tomatis method locally. Unfortunately there is very little information about this approach so we are just praying that this is the best choice for our son. When we went for testing there they said he was left ear dominant which I’m sure they tell everyone. Some of the information that they told us seems to fit and because our options are very limited here we feel we have very few options. A friend of mine who’s son was also tested there was reading about other physical problems these kids can have as a result of the tomatis program. She says that they can have ringing in their ears etc. Have you experienced anything like this or know of any other places where we can get more info. Thanks for your help. Claudia