DS7 has issues with poor attention. We've had a round of assessments, and our psych advises that he is at least borderline ADHD. As a result, his OT has started him on this programme called Interactive Metronome (www.interactivemetronome.com). The research on this, as well as independant testimonials, seem very positive - I googled and found one or two comments on an ADD forum.

This is still early days for us yet, but it seems positive so far. Has anyone else here tried it? Otherwise, it may be worth looking into for kids in a similar position.

Cheers!

I'm glad to hear that your experiences have been positive! My 10 year old was diagnosed with Non Verbal Learning Disorder recently, and it was recommended because he does a ton of inferring while people are speaking and he had some slow processing speeds. The educational therapist recommended it for him, and then when we went for his OT assessment I asked about it and was told that they too offer the program.

The only negative that I've heard is that some people have found that it doesn't have lasting results, but I'm not sure that's the case with a large population. Obviously not every therapy is going to work for every child, but if it works than I say go for it.

We actually found out that our insurance does cover it, so we're going to give it a try once we finish all of his other assessments and we see where everything stands first.

Hi Christen,

Tks for the info. We were also recommended Fast Forword as an alternative, but for some reason, this is extremely costly for us while Interactive Metronome doesn't have additional costs to what we're currently paying for OT.

I think it's probably too early to call it a success yet. I may have jumped the gun when I called it that - it's just that he's quite willing to do it and seems to be improving in terms of the number of minutes he can sustain. We've done it for nearly 2 weeks with daily follow-ups at home.

About retention, I've heard the same for Fast Forword as well. Wonder if there are therapies out there that have a longer term (permanent?) effect.

We've been trying to get into a local interactive metronome program for over a year and I'm hoping that it'll happen this summer.

We met with an educational therapist who recommended it for my oldest. When we were at the OT's office for an assessment a couple of weeks ago, I asked her about it and she said that they actually offer it as well. I don't know if you have many OT offices locally, but try more than one to see if you can find it.

Thanks! Part of the problem here is that this is a service that's supposedly going to be offered soon at the hospital where I work (the clinicians are trained and ready to start, but the appropriate equipment order is currently "on hold" indefinitely). If I start elsewhere, there's a rather substantial copay, whereas if we wait until the program at my hospital is up and running, there would be no copay.
I don't mind paying the copay, but the only other place to offer the service (at least that I can find via their website and calling around) was supposed to call me back--months ago.
I should probably follow up again, but this year has been so jammed-packed with other medical appointments & therapies, there hasn't been time to worry or wonder about it. Until now. I'm on it again!

Wanted to say the program and steady rhythmic beat from the metronome sounds a lot like the buddhist meditation and chanting that we have in this part of the world (Asia). I wonder about the connection...