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.
.

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. 

Why am I an IM Provider?

Dear Miriam,

I’m an IM provider because of students that fall through the cracks! You are my typical client.

Our son had learning challenges. As a young child every teacher in our small private school said he was too smart to hold back. Finally in 4^th grade, we pulled him out of private school and put him in public to have him fully evaluated. They said he was too high functioning as well. But he still struggled, so we went to Menninger’s ( when they were here), doctors, tutoring, I’m a special ed teacher so he was put through all the behavior programs I ever read about. I would say he ‘survived’ childhood for the most part, but definitely didn’t thrive ( he has said before that he has to grieve the loss of his childhood) Finally, as a senior in high school, we  found the IM program for him. Immediately his life changed. Since then, he’s gone on to THRIVE – first at K State, then at Rockhurst for his Master’s degree and now out in the work force receiving  great comments about his skills and abilities. He’s leading a happy full involved life – everything we ever dreamed of. But he missed out of 17 years of that fullness of life because his brain was imbalanced and disconnected. I am doing what I’m doing for children (and adults) like YOU – the ones that slip through the cracks, something is not working right. I say, the sooner the better but it’s NEVER too late. My oldest IM student to date is 72 years old J.

Lori

This was the response to a letter I received this morning from an adult who struggles. I very much liked my response, says it in a nut shell why I do what I do. Her letter exemplifies how continued struggles impacts an entire life, how hesitant and unsure you become when your timing/brain connectivity is less than what it should be. "What if you can't help me." I've felt that fear, looked for help everywhere. My hope is that IM offers many people in my world an opportunity for that fullness of life, opens up doors like it did for our son. Here's her letter, typos and all.

Dear Lori,

What if  I do the assment and come out that you can not provide me with any help? For this seems to be the case when I was in school.  I would take test to see if I qitify for the LR room and would always test to high for the LR room but, I still had problems in school.  Miriam (Name changed)

IM and Alzheimer's

Some one recently asked me about IM and Alzheimer's. I knew IM had not been used in this population much, but here's one recent case study I just found. 

What does guilt do to mental processing?

This morning, my young IM student was making good gains in being able to identify his ANTs, Automatic Negative Thougths. With enough experience in IM, I can now watch the numerical patterns of an individual doing an IM task and tell with in 2 to 3 seconds when they have a negative thought, such as thinking, "This is too hard." The person does not need to verbalize it at all. It can be fleeting or persistent, but you can SEE it in the numbers. Honestly, simply the thought impacts the score! The person does not always even recognize they had the thought... at first. With enough IM, they too can recognize their thoughts in the numerical pattern.

7 yr old girl "Just doesn't want to put in the effort"

Take a look at this 7 yr olds pre and post IM self portraits. Note: at the beginning of IM last summer, her self portrait was fairly immature for a 7 yr old. You can often tell body awareness challenges through artwork. Here she's drawn a very thick neck and quite out of proportion, or was she trying to make arms? Either way, her sense of her own body seems somewhat vague. She is also missing some key parts usually drawn by seven year olds - arms, a nose, clothes. She has an adorable smile (a sign of internal contentment) - something we want her to keep!!!
.