What Do Rhthym and Timing Have to Do With It? Bethlehem Pediatric Offers Interactive Metronome

Rhythm and timing are especially important to childhood learning and development. Many of the activities that a baby does are based on rhythm and timing including coordinating suck-swallow-breath for eating, rocking on hands and knees in preparation to crawl, and making rhythmic noises for self-soothing. The toddler claps in response to a caregiver clapping. A preschooler sings along with the song at circle time, swings a bat to hit a baseball, or beats a drum along with a classmate. What happens when the rhythm and timing of the brain isn't functioning efficiently?
If your child struggles with difficulties in organization, motor planning and coordination, balance, and/or attention, Interactive Metronome may be able to help.

Interactive Metronome is a computer based program where the participant taps a target/switch in response to a metronome beat heard over headphones. The computer calculates how far from the beat the participant is in milliseconds and provides additional auditory and visual feedback to guide the person's motor actions closer to the beat. Scores are recorded on the computer and each session can be compared to monitor progress. This is an intensive therapy and runs 3-5 times a week for 3-5 weeks with the target number of sessions being 15.

Over the course of the treatment, patients learn to:

• Focus and attend for longer periods of time
• Increase physical endurance and stamina
• Filter out internal and external distractions
• Improve ability to monitor mental and physical actions as they are occurring
• Progressively improve coordinated performance.

For the pediatric population that we serve at our facility, the activities are modified to make them fun. The more a child is motivated to participate in the treatment, the more he or she will gain from the treatment. If you would like more information about our program or want to schedule an opportunity to trial Interactive Metronome please contact us @610-625-4404.

Further information, research and case studies can be found on the Interactive Metronome website.