By Mary Jones OTR/L, LMT, CIMT
Frank and I had known each other for years. We became acquainted first socially through a mutual friend and then, sadly, on a professional level. Headaches had led to brain scans and then on to brain surgery and he had requested that I be his primary therapist. Traditional therapies were helping but only to a point and following three months of outpatient services I was saddened to hear that his physical therapist was ready to discharge him. Having known Frank before his accident, I had the advantage of familiarity with his drive to succeed and his passion for independence. Despite his initial skepticism, Frank had begun to accept his fate that Interactive Metronome was the one card as yet left unturned towards his recovery.
Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD), also called Nonverbal Learning Disability, is a developmental disability which all too often goes undiagnosed. Individuals with this potentially debilitating disorder generally suffer in silence...
“IM not only gave me back my life - it became a part of my life”
Joanne had no idea what was in store for her when her daughter enrolled her grandchildren into one of my IM programs. As the weeks went by and the children started to show dramatic signs of improvement, her daughter’s plan to help her began to unfold. It started with an innocent e-mail “I see how much IM is helping my children, do you think it could help my mother?” - and so the plot began to thicken...
Fastening New Skills with the Interactive Metronome - George’s Story.
George is a 78-year-old man, receiving Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to address functional movement problems as a result of his moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease.
As an OT new to the IM program I was interested to see whether the program would help to alleviate the tremor in both of his hands as he tried in vain to manage his fasteners, buttons and zippers when dressing. I knew from experience that helping clients in this area with traditional therapy techniques (repetition/adaptation/compensation) was often arduous, frustrating and time-consuming.
Undaunted, I looked to the fact that the IM program had helped with many of my clients who had motor problems and set out enthusiastically to help George to “fine tune” his fine motor skills.