By Amy Vega - September 2, 2014

Should distractions be added to IM training?

Question:

Should distractions be added to the IM setting? How soon?

Answer:

It is usually best to start in a quiet, non-distracting environment. Introducing distractions (auditory/visual) may facilitate better selective attention and is best done after the client is performing at his/her peak without distractions (i.e., has gotten their Task Average as low as possible, getting as many bursts as possible, focusing for longer periods of time). Distractions can be introduced as ambient noise, additional cognitive information to process while performing IM (i.e., answering questions about a story you read to your client while he completes an IM exercise), or you can introduce the dynamic visual displays and games from IM Universe. As your client does well with each game, you can also turn on background sounds to work on filtering and selective attention.

Amy Vega, MS, CCC-SLP

Interactive Metronome, Inc

Clinical Education Director

Clinical Advisory Board Director

Clinical Education Administrator