Never heard of the Interactive Metronome (I.M.)? You’re not alone. Yet this is one of the most cutting-edge therapies for children with any sort of abnormality in the brain — from A.D.H.D. to Asperger syndrome.
During I.M. treatment, a child wears headphones and listens to a recurring beat that sounds like a cowbell. The child claps or taps his foot to the beat — listening to the beat for guidance but also using visual clues — as sensors on his palms or on the floor record how close he comes to hitting the exact beat. Each session becomes more challenging in order to stimulate the child’s mental capacity and endurance.
Sound far-fetched? Really, it’s quite simple. The I.M. exercises both hemispheres of the brain. The right side of the brain, for example, is what helps you pay attention, inhibits impulses and keeps you from being distracted. Children with dyslexia have deficiencies in the left side of their brain, where verbal expression is stored.
“If I’ve got a weak right bicep, what do I need to do to make it stronger?” asks Dr. David Clark, a chiropractic neurologist in Dallas. “Work my right bicep muscle.”
The same philosophy applies to the brain. And, unlike your buff bicep, a stronger brain has staying power even without long-term repetition of the therapy.
Clark has used the I.M. on children with A.D.H.D., autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, sensory integration disorder, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injuries.
Kids love I.M. because it’s like a game, he says. They get instant feedback on how they’re doing from the device’s visual rating system (that’s similar to a video game). And parents are impressed with the results.
Dawn Baldwin’s 12-year-old son Brandon worked with the I.M. about 18 months ago, going 10 days within a two-week period. Brandon has been diagnosed with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder and apraxia of speech. The Denton mom says he can now make the “r” sound in the middle and end of words, something he couldn’t do before the I.M. therapy. And, as a bonus, it helped him with basketball and baseball.
“His right and left brain talking to each other has improved his coordination tremendously,” says Baldwin. “It helped his dyslexia. It helped with his speech. It helped in all types of processing.”
Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at The George Washington University Medical School, heard about I.M. therapy, which was used in musical recording studios, and conducted a study with boys who had attention issues. After 15 hours of work with the I.M., the boys showed improvement — and put I.M. on the therapy map in 2001. Now almost 10,000 therapists in 54 countries are I.M. certified; Dallas has one of the highest concentrations of I.M. providers in the country.
Annette Stanislav is a speech pathologist at the Shelton School, a North Dallas-area school for students with learning differences. She was first introduced to the I.M. when an occupational therapist recommended her 8-year-old daughter use it for help with processing and sensory difficulties. Before I.M. therapy, her daughter would get about halfway through her math facts test. After the three weeks, she could finish the tests.
“Nothing I have found really has improved processing speed,” Stanislav says. “I really see that I.M. therapy integrates the hemispheres of the brain to be able to get them streamlined so they can process the information.”
