This is a great question from a mom who's son has completed basic IM training. Many children and even adults go on to do more IM. What does that look like and what do they gain?
Generally you should expect continued growth similar to basic IM, just more. IM seems to be cumulative. Presently I feel as if I see just a little more gain in math with my core conditioning tasks, but that's just trend I've noticed - a hunch, but may not be correct. Numerically on all pre and post IM tasks, I average about 15% gain with basic training and another 15% gain on sessions 15-30, usually core conditioning tasks, but not always. On the Gray Oral Reading Test, students gain a year or two with both basic and then again with core conditioning, so standardized testing shows the same continued growth.
Another way to put this is if your child was a C student and is now a B student after basic IM tarining. The next format would likely push him close to the A student level. If your child was a D student, now they are a C student after basic IM, the next format might bring them up to the B level. Sometimes parents are expecting to go from D to B or even an A level in just 15 sessions, that does not typically happen, each 15 sessions seems to bump you up some, but not all the way. It also is very individual in nature - some children learn very quickly, others more slowly, but what you want is continued growth, and that's what you get with continued IM. I've trained students for as many as 45 - 50 sessions with continued growth. I am not sure how far one could go passed this but I'm sure some day I'll find out.
Generally you should expect continued growth similar to basic IM, just more. IM seems to be cumulative. Presently I feel as if I see just a little more gain in math with my core conditioning tasks, but that's just trend I've noticed - a hunch, but may not be correct. Numerically on all pre and post IM tasks, I average about 15% gain with basic training and another 15% gain on sessions 15-30, usually core conditioning tasks, but not always. On the Gray Oral Reading Test, students gain a year or two with both basic and then again with core conditioning, so standardized testing shows the same continued growth.
Another way to put this is if your child was a C student and is now a B student after basic IM tarining. The next format would likely push him close to the A student level. If your child was a D student, now they are a C student after basic IM, the next format might bring them up to the B level. Sometimes parents are expecting to go from D to B or even an A level in just 15 sessions, that does not typically happen, each 15 sessions seems to bump you up some, but not all the way. It also is very individual in nature - some children learn very quickly, others more slowly, but what you want is continued growth, and that's what you get with continued IM. I've trained students for as many as 45 - 50 sessions with continued growth. I am not sure how far one could go passed this but I'm sure some day I'll find out.
Below I've linked some specific areas that more advanced tasks might target. You can also google each mental process and learn more too since I did this rather quickly. Tasks are chosen according to each child's individual needs. Click each link to read about these processes.
Crossing midline If you look up non verbal learning disorders where you'll find alot of information about crossing midline challenges.Technical Crossing midline paper - This is a more technical paper. I've learned something new here too. Up to age 10, mirror movements are considered normal. (Moving right arm along with the left arm, etc.) I understood this frequently observed behavior to indicate a less mature motor pathway was being used, but now I have clarification, ages and sources behind my concepts.
Sequencing I didn't come across a good article about sequencing but there are hugh numbers of sequencing activity resources on line. Every school actively teaches sequencing skills. IM just does the sequencing in time and space. Sequencing is putting items in a set order by time, size, or other characteristic.
Working memory This is just a very nice resource, better than what I found for most of the above processes.
Visual processing A chapter in a book on the importance of visual processing. There's more resources on my blog about this here. I have a great book on my parent resource shelf about visual processing.
Crossing midline If you look up non verbal learning disorders where you'll find alot of information about crossing midline challenges.Technical Crossing midline paper - This is a more technical paper. I've learned something new here too. Up to age 10, mirror movements are considered normal. (Moving right arm along with the left arm, etc.) I understood this frequently observed behavior to indicate a less mature motor pathway was being used, but now I have clarification, ages and sources behind my concepts.
Sequencing I didn't come across a good article about sequencing but there are hugh numbers of sequencing activity resources on line. Every school actively teaches sequencing skills. IM just does the sequencing in time and space. Sequencing is putting items in a set order by time, size, or other characteristic.
Working memory This is just a very nice resource, better than what I found for most of the above processes.
Visual processing A chapter in a book on the importance of visual processing. There's more resources on my blog about this here. I have a great book on my parent resource shelf about visual processing.
