Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation today, interactive metronome therapy anyone?

buddy

New Member
Q did a great job. When I talked to her before the appointment I gave her the oral summary of the tons of paperwork she had...

She got it right away... she said, "OH.... he was not in and out of the hospital over an ongoing behavior problem... it was a medication reaction and the other behaviors seem to totally match his brain injury...." YA THINK????

I said that is what is super hard to get people to see. They only see him now and think oh he must be a "psychiatric" kid like what happened at the ER that time. She was amazed he was not admitted to the seizure unit, they see people there all the time that have behaviors kicked off by seizures. UGGG, yeah ,now tell the nurses.

He had already used his lifetime max for therapy but they always can get more when time goes by so I am not worried about that, it has been since he was 7 I think. But she recommended twice weekly (which by the time we do sp. Occupational Therapist (OT) pt and couseling, AND horseback riding AND therapy dogs, AND three Integrated Listening Systems (ILS) appointments, well... gonna be hard to do that much but we will do our best.

She said when they did the motor testing it was clear he could NOT adjust how hard he threw and he was trying over and over to do it softly. She said his coordination is really poor for his age and she is sure they will prescribe PT which he has never had. Ears perking up you Canadians???? Sound intriguing??

I am so glad my google search went to Courage Center. I have no clue why I didn't think of them earlier.... I just was not realizing there was a center so close to us I guess. their main offices are way on the north side of MPLS and I am south of the cities so it would have been too far.

Now, if we get any of the vocational services, where to stuff that in. I think that it would be fine to do it during the day....since he needs it so badly. It is just that it upsets his routine in school . I wonder if we do it on a Monday and only do school Tues through Friday...just a bunch of appointments instead of school? Intense but they are usually fun, he always did Occupational Therapist (OT) and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and school all in one day so maybe at least Occupational Therapist (OT), SLT and PT in one day... counseling is already every other week. The voc stuff we can add if ever.

So have any of you done interactive metronome therapy? They think it would be good to try with him. I wonder too. I guess I will learn about it. If you guys have experience, I would like to know. They said we can wait and do it in the summer if scheduling is tight.

I was happy when we went out of there. they seemed to want to really help give a clearer perspective on how his issues relate to his brain injury. They did an handwriting evaluation too. He didn't do terrible, I was proud of him!
 

buddy

New Member
The interesting thing will be that since he has a rt. temporal lobe injury and that is known to affect rhythm if he could even really do it, but it could help too.... it is for sure a problem with him. He has NO rhythm. Can't clap to music with out watching others and so is always behind.


http://mindyourbodytherapy.net/interactive_metronom.html

this is a generic site but does have some case studies for adhd, dyslexia, etc. on the bottom. HMM???
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Hmmm...I have no rhythm either. In fact cant even spell it without spell check...lmao. When I took piano I had to use the metronome to keep time until I memorized a piece but I can listen to someone sing and tell if they are off key very well.
 

buddy

New Member
After hearing some of the info and reading I actually thought of you! I wonder if it would help with some of the residual issues?
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine does Interactive Metronome training. She tested my oldest boy and my easy child (dyslexic). Oldest boy is ADHD from lead poisoning (the diagnosis I took for school is Asperger's but he isn't really, it's just the closest I can get). She felt he was very good at it but even with the friend discount, I couldn't afford it because my insurance refused to cover any of it. Ditto for dyslexic son. I can ask her if she's still doing it and if she's had any real success (I had the testing at least 8 years ago).
 

lovelyboy

Member
Hi Buddy.....its always nice when you feel some one can help and give support! Glad you found this!
I also don't know of this therapy....will read up a bit!
They tested my son for fine motor....said he tested far under the norm....I was very surprised! in my opinion he has good fine motor....but like the Occupational Therapist (OT) said its more the poor body posture that causes him to sag into his chair and then result in poor fine motor......and handwriting.
Regarding ryth.....did they test his motor planning....this often has an effect on rythm.....this also have negative inpact on planning skills, starting or finishing a task?
You made me think about putting all therapy on one day.....I don't know how your little guy will react....my son is some times very grumpy after Occupational Therapist (OT) because of all the vestibular stimulation.....I think if your son is happy with the idea, maybe try it but let him know it can be changed.....also maybe discuss the sequence of therapies with the Occupational Therapist (OT), so that you link the sensory impact, emotional and social expectations with when what happens during this therapy day?
 

buddy

New Member
Good suggestions. With everything, it all is just a try and see kind of thing...lol. He used to always do both then school and it was great but he is older now and really into his school routine so not even sure he would tolerate being out of school. Just dont know ...may have to do once per week for each.

Yes, they do check motor planning. It is usually a relative strength for him. Rhythm is typically in the rt. temporal lobe and that is where his CA/surgery was.
 
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