Interactive
Metronome®
The Interactive Metronome© program is a new Computer-Based
Technology used to Measure and Improve Timing, Rhythmicity, Motor
Planning, Sequencing and Cognitive Capabilities.
The Interactive Metronome program is an innovative approach for
improving attention and concentration. Initially developed to
assist athletes improve performance, it has since been adapted
to assist individuals improve concentration/attention, motor sequencing
and motor planning, sound localization, figure ground discrimination
and to diminish auditory hypersensitivity/hyperacusis.
This program is based on adaptive training theories where the
individual is coached using auditory cues to repetitively and
precisely perform a simple motor movement to an auditory cue (the
metronome beat) over an extended period of time. Research has
documented significant improvement in attention span and academic
performance in children with identified attention deficits (differences).
For more information and the results of research click here for:
An Introduction to Interactive Metronome© or go to www.interactivemetronome.com
For registration and tuition information and forms please go
to Admissions & Registration.
An Introduction to Interactive Metronome©
For a considerable time there has been a view that timing and
rhythmicity play an important role in a variety of human behaviors
including motor planning, sequencing and cognitive functions such
as attention and academic achievement. A number of studies have
found timing related to measures of overall school achievement
including mathematics and reading, to language and mathematics
performance and in differentiating average readers from above
average readers. Timing and rhythmicity capacities have been found
wanting in clumsy children while tempo perception was found to
correlate with performance measures for children and is related
to music performance. Others have found timing and rhythmicity
relating to self-control and gross motor behavior.
Building on this body of work, a new technology has been developed,
the Interactive Metronome (IM), to accurately assess and to enable
individuals to systematically practice and improve timing and
rhythmicity and related motor sequencing and planning capacities.
Research with the new technology has confirmed and extended the
findings of timing and rhythmicity described above.
The Interactive Metronome© (IM) is a computer-based training
program shown to improve attention, coordination and timing in
children and adults with a wide range of cognitive and physical
difficulties including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
Attention, coordination and timing difficulties have been linked
to developmental, behavioural and learning problems. This innovative
program provides a non-invasive way to stimulate learning and
development.
How it works
The program typically involves 15 one-hour sessions over a 3
to 5 week period. During each session, the computer produces a
rhythmic beat through headphones. As the participant listens,
he/she must anticipate the beat and perform various hand and foot
exercises for a high number of repetitions. Auditory guide tones
provide immediate feedback, letting the participant know if the
response was on time, early or late.
The difference between the participants’ response and the
actual beat is measured in milliseconds and presented as a score.
A lower IM score indicates improved accuracy and timing.
By keeping the beat, the brain is trained to plan, sequence and
process information more effectively. Research has clearly shown
that the brain learns through repetition of precise activities.
In turn, this produces measurable gains in physical and mental
abilities.
Supporting Articles:
Brain Activation During Temporal Processing
Study Suggests How the Brain Keeps Time
Benefits
Studies using the IM have revealed the following. Research with
three groups of children from four to twelve years and one adult
group with the Interactive Metronome® has revealed important
relationships. Measures of timing and rhythmicity related to motor
planning and sequencing show statistically significant relationships
with independent measures. These measures include:
1. Correlations with measures of cognitive processing and
academic achievement.
2. Distinguishing between typically developing children with
cognitive gifts and those with cognitive deficits
3. Correlations with measures of attention, motor coordination,
and rhythmic activities.
4. Evidence of the reliability of the Interactive Metronome
as a consistent measure of timing and rhythmicity.
More specifically the studies revealed the following.
1. Cognitive Processing and Academic Achievement.
Significant correlations with teacher ratings and various subtests
of the California Achievement Test (CAT) indicate IM timing
relates to cognitive processes related to vocabulary, reading
comprehension, language mechanics and expression, math comprehension
and applications, science, social studies, spelling and study
skills. Validity coefficients of IM timing and CAT grade equivalent
scores ranged from 0.28 to 0.42 indicating that students who
are better in timing and rhythmicity are relatively stronger
on these academic tasks and visa versa.
2. Distinguishing between children with and without
cognitive gift levels.
The IM timing and rhythmicity assessment was also able to differentiate
students who were in gifted and talented programs from non-participants,
students in educable mentally handicapped programs from those
in regular classrooms and those having received compensatory
speech and language training from more advanced readers. Correlations
ranging from 0.11 to 0.17 between the IM and participation in
such programs suggest the IM has ability to distinguish children
with cognitive gifts and deficits from those without such gifts
and deficits.
3. Motor Coordination and Rhythmic Activities.
The IM produced significant correlations with independent measures
of motor coordination, accuracy and rhythmicity including instrumental
and dance experience, physical and motor coordination ratings,
measures of music rhythm, and standardized measures of motor
proficiency such as the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor proficiency.
Significant validity correlations ranging from 0.31 to 0.75
suggest that students who have better timing and rhythmicity
abilities also perform better in these capacities than do those
with poorer timing. A study of adult golfers found as they practiced
improving their timing and rhythmicity, as measured by the IM,
so did their golfing accuracy.
4. Reliability of IM Assessment.
Reliability estimates for the IM range from 0.85 to 0.97, supporting
the capacity of the IM to consistently measure timing and rhythmicity
at a level of reliability equal to well known standardized intelligence
tests.
Hence it appears timing and rhythmicity is an important
component to planning and sequencing actions and ideas.
Most high-level attentional, motor and cognitive capacities depend
upon the ability to plan, sequence and thereby construct patterns.
In fact numerous studies have found that the critical ability
for timing and rhythmicity is associated with the cerebellum,
basal ganglia and pre-frontal cortex. These areas of the brain
have been postulated to underpin a person’s ability to plan,
organize and execute motor activities and cognitive processes.
Additionally, cerebellar activation is associated with mental
operations such as mental retrieval, verbal fluency, and the control
of attention, all-important elements to cognitive functioning
and a wide variety of cognitive tasks such as those associated
with higher executive control. Other researchers suggest the basal
ganglia may be a central neural clock or pacemaker, playing a
fundamental role in the forward planning and the sequencing and
timing of movements.
The pre-frontal cortex is the third area implicated in timing,
motor control, behavioral planning, attention and executive functions.
In addition to a role in timing, evidence suggest the prefrontal
cortex plays a critical role in cognitive processing and may have
a role in representing abstract rules that guide complex thoughts
and actions. Others have found evidence of the pre-frontal areas’
executive role in utilizing the semantic memory of arithmetic
facts and in maintaining optimal levels of executive control.
Of interest, subnormal involvement of prefrontal systems are found
in ADHD children.
These findings strongly support the hypothesis that timing
and rhythmicity related to motor planning and sequencing play
a foundational role in many human behaviors including motor control,
motor planning, attention, focus and related cognitive processes
associated with academic performance.
In addition, these findings support the validity of timing
and rhythmicity as a construct and the IM as a technology to assess
and systematically practice and improve functioning in this capacity.
Therefore, these correlational findings combined with experimental
comparisons of IM trained subjects compared to non-trained subjects
supports the use of the IM as both an assessment of general timing
and rhythmicity and a means of producing potential improvement
in these same abilities. The IM assessment process may serve as
a means of quickly and cost effectively screening school children
for timing and ryhthmicity challenges related to difficulties
in more complex motor and cognitive functions.
In summary, there has been evidence from basic neurological research
and applied studies that timing and rhythmicity is an important
central nervous system function related to a number of attentional,
cognitive and motor skills. Recent studies demonstrate that timing
and rhythmicity is a valid construct and that a new technology,
the Interactive Metronome, is a valid and reliable method of measuring
timing and rhythmicity.
Target Candidates & Applications:
IM has been shown as an effective training tool for children
and adults with challenges in the areas timing, motor planning,
and sequencing of thoughts and actions. These challenges are often
accompanied by difficulties paying attention, learning, and developing
overall coordination.
The Interactive Metronome has found many applications helping
people improve their timing, motor planning, and sequencing of
thoughts and actions:
- Increased concentration and focus
- Improvements in reading and language
- Gains in overall coordination
- Greater control of impulsivity
- Reduced auditory sensitivity
As with any intervention, the varying degrees of severity affect
the immediacy of the outcome. As long as the student is able to
make repetitive limb movements, results from training with the
IM should be seen over time.
IM’s adaptive design can be used with a broad spectrum
of people as long as they are “developmentally” six
years of age and older. Individuals from pediatric to geriatric
have been trained with success. The individual must be able to
understand basic directions and tolerate wearing headphones and
a Velcro trigger on their hand.
Research provided by Interactive Metronome:
a. A Case Study with Athletes and St. Thomas Aquinas
High School
Is an IM Training Pilot: Childrens Psychology Associates reports
in September 2001 that 29 Student-Athletes at St Thomas Aquinas
High School, who were pre- and post-tested on the Woodcock Johnson
3rd edition standardized academic test, completed IM training
in the interval. During the pilot, no summer school sessions nor
tutoring took place. As a result of their improved timing, focus,
concentration and attention, the group results on Woodcock Johnson
were:
- Reading fluency grade level increase by over two years
- Math fluency grade level increase by one year
- Overall academic grade level increase by 1.77 years
The group improved their timing from the average score of 48
to the elite score of 15 achieved only by concert musicians, professional
athletes and scholars during their 12 one-hour sessions completed
in the St Thomas Computer Lab in sessions of 15 people each. For
more detail, click on www.interactivemetronome.com
then proceed to IM and Academics link on the right hand side navigational
box.
b. Interactive Metronome© and Speech Language Pathology
Research conducted on Interactive Metronome© and Speech
Language Pathology includes the following study results:
- A. ‘Improving Motor Planning and Sequencing to Improve
Outcomes in Speech and Language Therapy
- B. ‘IM Case Reports’
- C. Applications of Technology to Solutions for Communicative
Dissorders
- D. Documenting Sensory and Motor Progress
- E. Motoric & Rhythmic Bases of Communiciation
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