IM is an extremely fast program. If a child trains 3 to 5 times a week, they can complete 15 sessions in about a month or so. In just that short amount of time, when pre and post tested on nationally standardized tests, the students often have gained over one grade level in reading and math, sometimes as much as two grade levels.
I use the Gray Oral Reading Test and continuously show 1 to 2 grade levels of gain on this excellent nationally standardized test. School's using IM have testing results and research that shows these types of gains as well. IM's academic gains are FAST, a year's growth in a month! My personal experience tells me that once these initial gains take place you are not done seeing the gains. I have parents reporting students catching up in school performance 6 - 12 months later. Some times I hear a report two years later that the child is functioning typically in the class now, when before you could see an obvious lag behind their peers. It's like IM jump starts maturation to some degree. Students mature faster, take up the slack faster after IM.
What about functional gains, non standardized testing results? How quickly do you see results in the social/emotional realm? That is very variable. I have parents report gains in just one session at times, maybe 5% of the parents. Here are a few of the one day functional gains that I've heard. "She seemed more together playing ball with me." "He came when I called him - unheard of!" A piano teacher commented to the boy, "You've been using your metronome, haven't you." The boy had not but had simply worked his first day of IM trying to slow down his early tendency.
On the other end of the spectrum, some children, maybe 5% again, especially students that seem to have more sensory issues, get what I call the squirrellies during IM. They may cry easily, bounce off the walls, may not be able to focus, can become belligerent - behaviors that are just the opposite of what you would expect and a sign that things are changing. This fades quickly once IM ends if not sooner. Many times it just takes the child reaching the teens for their system to settle down. In house we'll take more sensory breaks which is helpful. At home I suggest that the child goes to bed earlier and eat healthy foods. These students systems are more sensitive, you often saw this sensitivity pre IM with disliking tags, loud noises and different foods. You see it during training with itches and getting out of sorts. For children who have sensory issues going through IM, I usually will hear of functional gains 2 or 3 weeks (or occasionally months, but it almost always comes!) after IM is over and the child settles into the new mental processing. I find it very interesting though that these children, when given the nationally standardized post assessments, show the one to two grade levels gain in reading and math, as well as IM scores, immediately, the day IM ends. Their academic/mental systems don't have to settle into the new timing to show the gains, but their social emotional systems do.
