As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, the Interactive Metronome® focuses on the ability of the frontal lobe of the brain to keep timing and rhythm—basically, the frontal lobe controls the body’s motor functions, including coordination. It also controls additional functions, like personality, thoughts and reflexes. And reflexes are something that an athlete wants at their very best if they are to excel at their chosen sport.

When we have athletes at our clinic to use the Interactive Metronome, they are using the machine’s activities to sharpen their reflexes, their response time and their coordination skills.

AskDrKing’s founder and owner Dr. Corey King is an avid motocross/supercross rider, and has helped many of his fellow racers exceed their peers by using the Interactive Metronome. For these motocross riders, they need their reflexes working at their peak, and hand-to-eye motor coordination is essential, especially when a wrong move could result in injury. If their frontal lobe is not firing efficiently, then their reflexes will not be able to respond effectively while they are playing or participating in their sport.

Actually, most athletes need this level of reflex action and coordination.

Think of a quarterback in a football game—he needs to get the ball and quickly survey the field for the teammate in the best position to receive it, and that person is probably a moving target. Hand-to-eye coordination and quick reflexes are indispensable in that situation. What about soccer? Did you know that many basketball players, like Kobe Bryant for example, have played soccer in Europe to improve their coordination and ability to maneuver on the court? The Interactive Metronome can help all athletes improve their skills in their sport, pushing their performance up to the next level, from balance to speed of movement.

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, there are probably many young football stars-to-be who are looking forward to upping their game next season. Do you want to show your coach that you’re ready for Junior Varsity, or even Varsity? Looking for a sports scholarship to help out with those college tuition fees?

The Interactive Metronome can help athletes with these goals.

With the Interactive Metronome, the athletes get something they are already obsessed with: Stats. The Metronome records the athletes’ progress, showing them where they are improving and where they need work. Not only can we refine their activities on the Metronome by providing feedback to help them excel in certain specific areas, these naturally competitive athletes can pit themselves against their past results to really see improvement.

And there is no age limit for the Interactive Metronome!

From 5 to 105, the Interactive Metronome can “build up the muscles” in the frontal cortex to improve motor coordination and create lightning-fast reflexes.

If you have a budding athlete in junior or high school, or if you are an athlete who wants to really improve your performance, please call us at (714) 731-7680 to make an appointment with Dr. Corey King and the Interactive Metronome or sign up our schedule a consultation form. We are the only clinic in Orange County that has one!

Our new Interactive Metronome® helps us work with and improve the function of the frontal cortex. The fontal cortex controls things like impulsiveness and attention span, and it’s where the personality “lives”. It’s also where things like depression and anxiety are created, and for these children it’s the region in the brain that’s not working as well as it could be.

The frontal cortex’s function is like how the brakes work on a car. If the brakes aren’t operating on a car, they can’t be applied, and the car cannot stop.

And that is the best analogy for children dealing with autism and ADHD!

Using the timing exercise program on the Interactive Metronome (IM), it strengthens the region of the frontal cortex, like how lifting weights will strengthen a muscle. With the IM, you can do it with the feedback mechanism from the visual therapy and sound therapy, which causes the frontal cortex to work harder and process the information supplied.

When a child’s frontal cortex is deficient in these areas, and they enter a noisy playroom with bright toys and other, unfamiliar children, the frontal cortex has difficulty processing all of the new information. In response, the child will act out, act aggressively or withdraw.

We can mimic this type of stimuli with the IM, and with repetition, improve the function of the frontal cortex. And, more importantly, we can measure the child’s progress by using the IM. It records objective data from the timing exercises down to the hundredth of a millisecond, giving us an essential way to track the frontal cortex’s improvements.

In this way, we eventually “fix the brakes on the car” and give the frontal cortex the ability to control its functions.

And the best part is that the children love using the IM!

Sometimes we need to start certain children with basic therapies to ascertain their needs before moving on to the visual or sound therapies. Some need to have their frontal cortex built up with more basic therapies before auditory or visual stimulation begins, as it may be overwhelming for their system.

Once they start improving, we assess whether auditory or visual input will serve the patient better and start tracking the data. We also use neurological exams to find out which area of the brain is working less efficiently—the left or right brain—and we focus on that side.

One question we get asked a lot is:

What if my son or daughter hasn’t been diagnosed with ADHD or autism, but I’ve noticed that they have lost focus at school? Or—my child is not engaging with other classmates very well anymore? Can they be helped by the neurological therapy and the Interactive Metronome?

Our answer is always YES.

You don’t have to wait until a teacher points out your child’s lack of focus in class, or have a doctor give your child a prescription for ADHD medication before you bring your child in for an evaluation at AskDrKing.

We’ve already had great success with children in strengthening their frontal cortex using such therapies as eye exercises, smell therapy or sound therapy, but now the IM gives us the objective data. This is really what is going to send our clients’ response through the roof—therapies that are fun for the kids that also provide a concrete progress report for us to track their success.

By using the Interactive Metronome as a diagnostic tool, we can also help parents understand how their child’s control over their ability to respond to the IM’s visual and auditory stimuli is directly linked to the ADHD, or other special situation. We are able to show the parents the child’s score and how they compare by using objective data from other children in their age group. By using this comparative scale, we show the parents how their child is ranking, and how we can help them improve those response times.

If you would like to see your child’s working memory, attention span, reading capability and motor coordination improve without medication, please call us and make an appointment for an evaluation. Case studies have seen children with ADHD significantly improve their ability to interact with peers, engage in new motor activities without frustration, reduced aggression and impulsivity, increased reading capability and language processing.

AskDrKing is the only clinic in Orange County with an Interactive Metronome. If you would like a consultation on how the Interactive Metronome can help your child with attention problems, ADHD, autism or other special needs and potentially reduce their need for medication, please call us now on (714) 731-7680 or use our schedule a consultation form.

AskDrKing is very excited to announce a new arrival at our clinic—the Interactive Metronome® machine.

Many of our patients and readers may not recognize the name of this machine, or know what it does, but when we explain its amazing capabilities, we know that Orange County parents will also be excited that it is now available at our clinic.

So what does the Interactive Metronome do?

It is a computer-based technology that enhances motor skills in children and adults, and can improve performance-based skills such as speech and communication, coordination and learning.

At AskDrKing, we’ve had exceptional success with young patients dealing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism, and the introduction of the Interactive Metronome is going to accelerate their progress enormously. The Interactive Metronome produces significant gains in children in the areas of concentration, motor planning, control of aggression, language processing and reading, according to a clinical study. This study’s findings correlate with recent research on the brain’s growth that indicates that environmental influences, not just genetics, can assist in a child’s development.

The best part?

Kids love the Interactive Metronome, as it combines the principles of the traditional musical metronome (which you may remember from your piano lessons years ago!) with the accuracy and creativity of a personal computer to create engaging training exercises. The Interactive Metronome’s unique program uses headphones and hand and foot sensors so that users can coordinate movements to computer-generated music. The program has a patented guidance system that challenges users to improve their performance as it progresses over time, and the immediate feedback from the computer gives participants the impetus and desire to advance their abilities.

Overall, patients have seen improvement in working memory, attention span, information processing and sequencing and motor coordination. Case studies have seen children significantly improve their ability to interact with peers, engage in new motor activities without frustration, reduced aggression and impulsivity, increased reading capability and language processing.

There are only 15,000 providers with Interactive Metronomes across the United States and Canada, and AskDrKing happens to be the only one in Orange County with one in residence. If you would like a consultation on how the Interactive Metronome can help your child with ADHD, autism or other special needs, please call us now on (714) 731-7680 or use our online schedule a consultation form. We anticipate a large response, so please don’t delay in making an appointment.