During Better Speech and Hearing Month, we wanted to share some great news about our clients with APD. We have had a lot of success stories from Providers, but this one about Louise really stood out. She was a bright young girl who was having difficulty reading and processing directions. However, between her "can do" attitude and a little IM training, she was able to improve across the board. As it turns out, she is also amazing at soccer! Read her story today.
Did you know that listening and reading comprehension are linked? And that both skills are very much controlled by our brain’s timing system that functions like a clock? According to a study by Breier et al (2003) published in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research (2003), the brain must process quite a bit of time-dependent information in the speech stream in order for a person to understand what is being said (i.e., timing of voice onset, voice offset, pitch, frequency, pauses between sounds, syllables, words, phrases, etc) If the brain’s timing is off even just a little it affects how the brain perceives sounds, and this in turn affects how well a person can follow verbal directions, comprehend what is said, or read. Fortunately, we can help our brain process time more precisely with the right kind of practice and thus improve such time-dependent skills as listening and reading comprehension. Interactive Metronome (IM) is a unique, patented program that has been shown in clinical research to improve mental timing through progressive, engaging cognitive and motor exercises. Continuous, real-time feedback is provided so you will know each step of the way how you are progressing! Studies show that by improving the brain’s timing with IM, auditory processing and reading not only improve, but do so significantly and in a relatively short period of time...