INTERACTIVE METRONOME
Interactive Metronome ® is a therapeutic modality aimed at improving motor planning, sequencing, timing and other behavioral / neurological processes that are essential for good attention and learning. Interactive metronome is a computer based, interactive technological version of a traditional metronome used in music. The method uses tapping motions to develop control over one's body and mind. It can be helpful to individuals who have specific challenges with motor planning, timing, rhythm, concentration or over activity. Studies have shown that IM is especially helpful for those who have difficulty focusing, attending and concentrating in school. It has also been successfully used by coaches and athletic trainers to assist individuals want to improve at sports. Interactive Metronome (IM) is a cutting-edge neurological assessment and treatment tool that is redefining traditional expectations for pediatric and adult therapy outcomes. Interactive Metronome is one treatment modality for which there are efficacy studies demonstrating its effectiveness.
The IM® program involves repeated hand, toe, and heel exercises as well as weight shifting, and bilateral lower extremity coordination. These exercises are performed during therapy visits and are increasingly varied and extended so that most patients are able to perform thousands of repetitions. Since the treatment provides engaging feedback and requires a high level of concentration, it provides the patient an opportunity to maintain a level of endurance not typically reached with other repetitive exercises.
Interactive Metronome® is recommended to be provided 5 days a week for 3 weeks, 1 hour each day. It is most successful with children who follow verbal/visual cues, have fair attention and can tolerate the specified treatment regime.
IM® was developed in the early 1990s and was first used to help children with learning and developmental disorders. Through years of clinical research and the efforts of innovative therapists, IM® was soon being implemented as part of a therapy program with older patients who also exhibited some of the same deficits as pediatric patients.
Because IM® works on the core brain functions of motor planning and sequencing, it is being used successfully by occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech therapists to enhance traditional therapy approaches, achieving measurably improved outcomes. Published research shows that improving rhythmicity and timing through Interactive Metronome® (IM) may also result in significant improvements in the development of cognitive and physical skills that are important for performance in many areas, which include but are not limited to, attention and concentration, motor planning and sequencing, behavior (aggression and impulsivity), language processing, balance and gait, endurance, strength, motor skills, coordination, bilateral coordination, sensory processing, activities of daily living (ADL’s).
According to an article published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy entitled "Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives on the Interactive Metronome® – A View from Clinical Occupational Therapy Practice", “Many of the individuals [who] occupational therapists evaluate from a sensory integrative frame of reference are ‘out of sync’ with the spatio-temporal aspects of their environments. They often lack the internal sense of timing that is necessary to regulate sleep as well as physical and social interactions with the world. In addition, they often have difficulty with visuo-spatial and constructional skills that are highly dependent on accurate perception of temporal and spatial cues." It went on to say "Clinical experience suggests that if IM® is used as a technique along with sensory integration, there may be an improved ability to more fully benefit from the sensory integration approach. If IM® is done when no further gains are seen with a sensory integrative approach; it is possible that IM may be effective in creating further gains."
IM® is a unique application of technology that can improve those underlying capacities, which are essential to patients’ development of speech-language and cognitive skills. Through neuroplasticity, the cognitive-motor exercises that make up IM tasks stimulate the brain to adapt or create new neural pathways that compensate for injury or developmental delay, which results in functional outcomes.
IM® can result in or contribute to improvements in:
- Language processing
- Social communication
- Planning and sequencing
- Attention and concentration
- Control of impulsivity and aggression
Courtesy of Sue Seiler, OT, Kidabilities, Hawthorne, NY, 914-347-5990
sue@kidabilities.com, www.kidabilities.com
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