IM Update

Since you are all traveling along this I road with me, I thought I would share with you an email I received from our IM therapist today.

"Hi there,
Very busy weekend.
Sorry I'm just now responding.
I love the prayer. Keep it coming! : )

For some kids, this is the key and we see world-changing results in a few weeks. For most, however, this is just one tool in the toolbox. I suspect that will be the case with Jameson. She has so many things going on that they all need to be addressed before real change takes place. For example, I have a student right now who struggled through IM. He really did okay but never met all of his training goals and we stopped and moved on to reading because he was worn out. About 6 weeks after stopping IM, the light went on for him and I saw night and day changes in his reading in the span of two sessions. In his case, I attribute the sudden change partly to the change that was continuing to take place in his brain from IM and some basic reading skills he was missing.

I have had some kids that had that "sudden" change a full year after finishing IM. Others, it was a month or two. Those tend to be the older kids that have more neural pathways in place that need changing. The research backs this up. As long as the big goals are met, the brain continues to re-map itself as time goes on. Kind of like with the inter-continental railroad, nothing big happened until that last golden spike was driven. Then, trains could race across the country carrying all kinds of good stuff.

I emailed my education director at IM last week concerning IM and its effects on PTSD. She responded very quickly but, unfortunately, with bad news. Walter Reed had begun a study specifically on IM/PTSD with returning soldiers but, the lead physician's husband was deployed and she withdrew the study. My director is asking if we would be willing to put together a case study concerning PTSD with Jameson. The hope is that, if we can show gains specifically with PTSD that another university or hospital will pick it up and continue the research on a larger scale.

This would require two things: 1. getting a physician and/or counselor involved now and 2. documenting along the way. Let me know what you think about this. I think it could really serve the larger good.

For now, would it help to try to move her times to later in the day in order to get school work in before coming? I have emailed a former professor to see about the ESL/IEP issue. I will let you know as soon as I hear something back.

Blessings,
Angelique "