ADHD: A massive problem with the sense of time!

A must see! If you have a child with attention issues, you should watch this presentation by Dr. Russell Barkley, a distinguished lecturer from the University of California’s MIND Institute. Research indicates that children with ADHD have difficulties in the executive systems, particularly the non verbal working memory. “The non verbal working memory is the origin of the sense of time, the subjective awareness of time. Which explains why ADHD so disrupts the individual's ability to deal with time. Why they are always late, never prepared, never organized.”

Dr. Barkley continues, “ADHD is a form of time blindness. ADHD children have a near sightedness to the future. Future events have to be immediate and compelling before the individual is capable of dealing with them. Events that lie at a distance across time are of no value to these children. They can’t muster anticipatory responses and prepare for future events. To put it in another way, the ADHD individual lives in the now, and past and future are of little consequence in the regulation of their behavior.’ He calls this deficit in the non verbal working memory, Temporal Neglect Syndrome ("Temporal" is often used for "timing" in scientific articles.).

“My theory of ADHD is that ADHD causes a massive problem with the human sense of time.” Dr. Russell Barkley.

In this presentation, Dr. Barkley speaks of 5 different executive functions that seem to be deficient in ADHD. Please check out the Data Spreadsheet posted this past summer showing gains in executive functioning across the board.

IM and Sports

Notre Dame Football Team uses Interactive Metronome®. This is an older media clip that I just found.

ADHD and Timing

This study , published in April of 2008, is research looking at how children with ADHD are motivated. The task they were given involved time estimation. These children tended to have more variability in their time estimations. The article suggested poor time estimation might be a deficit in ADHD.

Quote: "Children were required to estimate a 1-s* interval. Children with ADHD underestimated more severely the interval and responded more variably than controls. The study suggests that children with ADHD suffer from motivation problems when reinforcement was not available. Underestimations of time may reflect more stable deficits in ADHD."

* second

Our Son, Brad

Our son, Brad. Awesome personality, significant, valuable, an important member of society, smart, creative. Loves to sing and take things apart, studied a trig book for hours in the 5th grade...

But pre-IM he couldn't turn in a homework assignment if it bit him on the nose! And it looked like a bomb exploded in his desk. Daily. We had years of testing, but the most therapy he ever qualified for was 6 months of speech. He was a child falling through the cracks. We often noted that he marched to the beat of his own drum.

After thousands of dollars spent on counseling, medications and tutoring, IM was the key that changed his life. All other interventions fell by the wayside. He is our miracle child, though hardly a child anymore. He went through IM at age 17! The sooner the better, but it's never too late!

I wish Brad could have had IM at age 8. The hardships ahead were evident by that time. But I hadn't heard of it then, nor was it available. With Brad, I discovered that children do not outgrow true learning difficulties. Instead, the gap was increasing. Changing his life course meant finding the right tool. For Brad, that tool was IM.

Brad is now a 23 year old grad school student studying Occupational Therapy in Kansas City. He knows I talk about him all the time. He's cool with that. I talk about him because other parents--who are where I was 10 years ago--frequently tell me Brad's story gives them hope. Besides. I just like talking about him! I'm his mom.

B Vitamins may be Important for Spatial Learning and Memory

I have recently become an avid viewer of a huge resource of professionals talking about diet and wellness for children with neurological issues, particularly autism, on the Dan Website. This recent article, published in August 2008, supports many of the concepts the Dan speakers address. Quote, "..a diet deficient in folate and vitamins B12 and B6 demonstrated significant deficits in spatial learning and memory..." I am not in the medical profession, and IM is my personal passion, but I think parents interested in helping their children should also look at diet and exercise and (to be politically correct!) discuss this with your doctor.

IM is a movement oriented program. Through exercise, we change the brain. It seems strange to the newbie that clapping your hands and tapping your feet can actually increase your ability to read by grade levels! But it can! There is undeniably a connection between the physical and the mental!

In terms of diet, I can frequently tell when a young person has skipped a meal by their inability to replicate their previous best performance no matter how hard they try. With a nutritious snack in house, their scores can almost immediately improve. It's a great opportunity for them to see clearly that diet impacts mental processing. Don't skip breakfast before the big test!

Basal Ganglia and OCD/Tourette's

I see a significant number of students with OCD or Tourette's. This article links PANDAS, a recently discovered neurological disorder due to strep infections, to a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. This is a quote from the page about PANDAS at the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health): "The children usually have dramatic, "overnight" onset of symptoms, including motor or vocal tics, obsessions, and/or compulsions. This abrupt onset is generally preceeded by a Strep throat infection. One part of the brain that is affected in PANDAS is the basal ganglia"

Dr. Neil Alpiner's paper showing MRI's of IM trained individuals showed that the basal ganglia is one of the areas that IM seems to impact. Maybe that is the reason that we sometimes see a lessening of OCD bahavior or tics with IM training. Whether or not PANDAS is the cause of the tics may not be as important as the fact that the part of the brain where the tics seem to originate may be stimulated through IM training, "healing" the injury somewhat.

FAQ: Is IM covered by Insurance?

IM is covered by insurance if your child qualifies for occupational or speech therapy. The Capper Foundation here in Topeka, Kansas, has occupational therapists that are IM certified. Please check them out if you have a child with a significant diagnosis.

I am an educator with a special education/early childhood background. The child I typically see is the child that falls through the cracks. The medical field knows IM works for learning struggles as is evidenced by its growing popularity for the special needs child as well as stroke and traumatic brain injury patients. In 2003, Kansas had 3 IM providers; today, 2008, nearly 40. Most of them serve the insurance covered population. The sad fact is that a huge number of our children could benefit from IM, but don't qualify for insurance coverage. I am here for that parent and child.

The average parent would be challenged to afford the cost of IM through an OT with out insurance. That challenge is significantly reduced by offering IM in groups, while still individualizing tasks for students. Most children over 8 yrs old and in a regular classroom setting can do IM in groups. The students often enjoy the camaraderie of others working along side them. I also offer parent/child teams for the child with more severe needs or the younger child. My goal is to make IM affordable to the masses of those who don't qualify for insurance. Through group mode training, costs can be cut in half or more. Some flexible spending plans are now beginning to cover IM too. Most parents find IM very affordable with three small monthly payments.

Data Speaks through Another IM Provider

Dr. Z offers Interactive Metronome® and has posted several testimonials from his clients. Read the comments and note how people all over are seeing the same typical gains with IM that I am seeing; reading gains, initiation, attention and focus. Gains become fairly predictable when you've seen enough people through the program. We may not know exactly how IM works, but we can tell you what it does! Check it out.

Dr. Z's Webpage