We are Proud to Announce Our February Provider of the Month

Dr. Susan Zapf is an Occupational Therapist and Assistive Technology Professional with over 27 years of experience working with the pediatric population in both private practice and the school-based settings. She is an entrepreneur and is the Owner and Clinical of The Children’s Therapy Center, Inc., a prominent pediatric sensory integration clinic in Houston, Texas. Dr. Zapf is also the Owner and President of Children’s Journey to Shine, Inc, an educational training company that educates healthcare professionals on assistive technology assessment and service delivery and provides therapy services that utilize animals and nature as tools in therapy. Dr. Zapf is the President of Reining Potential of Texas, a non-profit organization that uses the horse in occupational therapy services. Dr. Zapf is adjunct faculty for the Ph.D. Pediatric Science track at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in Provo, Utah, and teaches a course on assistive technology. As an occupational therapist, she is passionate about helping children and their families develop skills to reach their full potential and she believes that occupational therapy, assistive technology, and animals can be powerful interventions to assist in this process.

Setting your 2023 Goals

Now that you have settled into the new year, have you set professional goals for yourself? Professional goals are the actionable steps you need to take to grow in your career. Ask yourself that elusive job interview question: “where do you see yourself and your career in five years?”, then build your goals from there. Below are 3 professional development goals where Interactive Metronome may be of help.

“Are you ready?”

Ash refused to let Autism Spectrum Disorder rule his life, learn how his grades and behavioral patterns greatly improved after training with Interactive Metronome.
Ash, a 10-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, didn’t typically struggle with his academics but had the tendency to speak out of turn, chew on his clothing or other items he found around him, and had trouble keeping his hands to himself which was often reflected in on his daily report card. After trying other modalities with no improvement, IM was introduced. Ash struggled getting used to the headphones and the rhythm but was excited to try this “new computer game with clapping”. Being a perfectionist, Ash refused to give up and wanted to do better. After months of IM training, he was able to meet his IM goal and it showed not only on his report card but with his abilities to stay on task in class and even lead his gym class in their warm-up exercises.

Use of the Interactive Metronome in the Rehab Setting

Prior research utilizing kinematic analysis & functional MRI have shown that Interactive Metronome (IM) training facilitates measurable and statistically significant improvements in golf shot accuracy (distance to the pin) and substantial improvement in performance consistency (Sommer & Rönnqvist, 2009; Sommer et al., 2014). In the present study, 20 professional female golfers from the KLPGA participated in a randomized, controlled study comparing the effect of IM training (35-40 min, twice weekly for 6 weeks) to spending more time playing the game of golf (increasing golf playing time by an additional 35-40 min twice weekly for 6 weeks). The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of IM on swing speed during putting, which was specifically executed at a distance of 2-5m, which has been previously determined to set apart elite golfers who achieve a par or birdie compared to those that demonstrate only about a 10% success rate (Pelz, 2000). Golf putting movements and brain activity were analyzed using Kinovea Software and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). Performance variability (or consistency) was measured as the standard deviation of mean swing speed (SSD) during 3 sections of the swing: backswing, backswing-impact, and impact-finish.

New Reseach! Published in Human Movement Science!

Interactive Metronome® is featured in THE HEALING JOURNAL

Interactive Metronome® is featured in THE HEALING JOURNAL! How Feedback Synchronizes the Auditory Brain – by Kraus, Nina, PhD; White-Schwoch, Travis

Interactive Metronome® is being presented at: Sound Health: Music and the Mind Shaping our Children’s Lives Through Music Engagement an NIH -KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERSHIP

Check out Dillen Hartley’s Presentation from the Austim, ADHD and SPD Summit!

IM Provider, Course instructor and researcher Dillen Hartley, OTR/L presented at the Autism, ADHD, and Sensory Processing Disorder Summit. He discussed Interactive Metronome Applications for Retraining the Brain in ASD,[...]

Meet Our 2017 July Provider of the Month! Stephanie M. Foster

Meet our July 2017 Provider of the Month, Stephanie M. Foster PhD, OTR/L. This accomplished IM Provider, really runs the gamut as far as skills, knowledge and experience. After years[...]

Meet Tina Blue, the Virgin Island’s 1st IM Provider

Meet Tina Blue, a world class OT who has been practicing for decades. She moved to the Virgin Islands in 2001 and opened her own practice in 2012. In this article, Tina talks about how she has utilized IM with clients from all walks of life, even some superstar athletes. Read more to find out how Tina has been helping clients get the most out of therapy.