Emma' Story - IM with toddlers

IM with very young children. Given the right circumstance, IM is very much an option for the very young. Here's one story.

Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive Flexibility is the ability to shift gears, a foundation human process that plays a role in an individual's ability to succeed. IM dramatically improves cognitive flexibility at all levels of functioning. Here are three video clips about this mental process.

A dad shares about how improved cognitive flexibility seen during IM training positively impacted his son's behavior.
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A teen in an elite private school. This video begins with some higher level IM tasks and then you'll hear the student and parent talk about the behavioral ramifications of improved cognitive flexibility.

Research is now being done on elite managers and what's happening in their brains that allows for top end cognitive flexibility that makes them the world's innovators. 

Synchronized Brain is Important

This is a collection of recent finds on the importance of synchronization with in the brain. This extremely significant mental process is where IM impacts the brain. 

IM Parents must watch video.

This is what IM is all about - changing and building neuronal networks with in the entire brain and particularly in the cerebellum. This 12 minutes is worth your time. You may appreciate the scientific nature of the video but mostly it will change the firing of neuronal networks with in your own brain so you can understand IM more thoroughly. Please watch.

Thinking about thoughts

Rebecca Saxe, a TED Talks speaker, discusses the development of the right temporal parietal junction - the part of the mind that helps us understand what other people are thinking. Very interesting.

ANTs - Automatic Negative Thoughts

Dr. Amen talks about ANTs in this video.  This is the seventh video of his speech, you need to go about 1:07 seconds into video to get to the ANTs part. Great video series! Watch it!

Amazingly low IM Scores

The scores you make on IM are huge indicators of your basic mental functioning, but they fall short in telling the whole picture. Yes, if a child comes in averaging over 100 ms, I know this child is working far harder than they need to in this world. Basic timing is a huge issue. But on the other end of the spectrum, some students can have AMAZINGLY low numbers and can still be lacking in some very basic mental processes. More IM can lead to significant mental processes still coming on line. The numbers don't tell the entire picture.

Brain Balance

Dr. Melillo has recently published an excellent book called Disconnected Kids.  His website  has a couple of wonderful videos on the right side of his website. I strongly encourage parents to make an effort to watch the second one, Dr. Melillo on Everyday with Marcus and Lisa.  Dr. Melillo covers key aspects of brain imbalance on this video.  As you watch the first video, KCAL9 Features Brain Balance,  you will notice that part of the brain balance program seems to implement Interactive Metronome.  At IM Focused, brain balance has for years been a focus of  IM training in addition to connecting various pathways and improving the timing and synchrony of the neuronal activity in each pathway.

Weak Right Hemisphere or NLD

Your child's brain is marvelous, fascinating and has TWO hemispheres - both hugely important. Some times I will notice weakness in one or the other hemisphere during IM training. Extreme right brain hemisphere weakness can sometimes be seen in attention issues, understanding the big picture, and what is often referred to as non verbal learning difficulties. Here you'll find one of the best descriptions I've found of what this looks like in a child.  A must read if I've said your child has a weak right hemisphere. Note - not all children will have all of these symptoms - some may have very few, but typically the right hemisphere is in charge of these mental processes.

My child has above average timing, now what?

Would you recommend IM if my son scored in the above average or superior range on his IM pretest?

Though it is true that the child's general timing is above average it's important to note that IM impacts more than timing. Quality of movement, connectivity in different brain regions, distractibility, and stamina are a few of the other significant factors to consider.

Right or Left

Many students that I see have mixed dominance. They have not established consistent use of either the right or the left side of the body. Here is a good link with relevant vocabulary and activities for you to check out. Mixed handedness connected with social competence here.

Parts of the right hemisphere of the brain implicated in Dyslexia

Parts of the right hemisphere of the brains of people with dyslexia have been shown to differ from those of normal readers. Researchers writing in the open access journal note that in all cases, differences could be seen in either the right cerebellar declive or the right lentiform nucleus. Click here for more information.

IM is considered a cerebellar exercise by many professionals. If the right cerebellar declive is exercised during IM, maybe this is a link to the large improvement in reading often seen through IM.

New Baby? MUST HAVE!

Dr. and Mrs. Philip Teitelbaum have written a book that has is so right on the money.  A few posts back I've mentioned retained infant reflexes and how I believe this is an important piece of the puzzle in helping many of our atypical children with neurodevelopmental issues.

Typical Development In their book, the Teitelbaums lay out exactly what typical neurodevelopment looks like physically in babies. Exactly how do typical children roll over, crawl or walk?

Impulsitivy linked to specific region of the brain

This article  and the orginal research in the Oxford Journal suggests that the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex has less volumn in impulsive boys.  Could it be that we build neuronal pathways, build volumn, in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)  during IM, and could that be the reason why many IM students see gains in impulsivity after IM training? The Anterior Cygulate Cortex (ACC) and the amygdala also seem to be a piece of the puzzle too.  

Processing Speed located throughout the brain

Many individuals gain signifantly in the speed at which they complete tasks after IM training. This  study  may help explain why.

Right or Left Brained Test

I ran across this video test measuring which hemisphere of your brain is dominant.  I don't know if this actually measures what it says it does or not but would be interested in seeing it's potential application if it does. I see some students that show definite preferences to one side of the brain. If you watch this video and then do IM with me, let me know which direction the dancer spins Then post IM watch again and let me know if you can get her to spin the other direction.  I can get her to spin both directions, but one way still dominates.  

The Motor Cortex of the Brain

A good video showing the sensory motor parts of the brain that IM tasks work, one of many regions worked. When you focus on hand movement, leg movement, trunk or hip movement, you build a different neuro-network.

Left Hemisphere versus Right Hemisphere

If you are interested in a great video from a brain scientist about the functions of the left and right hemisphere, this video is awesome. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a stroke, leaving only one hemisphere in tack. She shares how her brain worked differently and how fascinating that was for her as a brain scientist. Very uplifting and powerful. Stroke of Insight

Left Hemisphere Neglect

Occasionally I see clients that tend to "neglect" the left side of their paper during the visual processing pretest. They don't see or circle pairs on the left side of the paper nearly as frequently as they do on the right. This may indicate a weakness in the right hemisphere of the brain. In training children with this pretest behavior, I usually choose to target tasks with the left hand or left foot as the student becomes able to handle the challenge. I just found an article that said, "...left hand movements produced a significant reduction in the severity of neglect only when these movements were made on the left side of space." This seems to suggest simple left handed/footed tasks. Sometimes I add crossing midline with the left hand, adding movement of the left hand in the right hemisphere space. Though this path is important, I'm not sure that it's indicated for left hemisphere neglect. See article abstract.

Left Hemisphere Neglect Article