WHAT IS IT?
The patient listens to a computer generated beat via headphones and attempts to match the rhythmic beat
with repetitive motor actions. There are 14 distinct repetitive motor Tasks which include a combination of
hand and foot movements. Over the course of the treatment regimen, the number of Task repetitions is
increased. Patients completing the Interactive Metronome protocol typically demonstrate significant
improvement in balance, gait, agility, motor planning / sequencing, and focus.
CLINICAL FOUNDATION
Human motor efficiency and performance depend on the seamless and continuous transmission of sensory
information to the brain, the dispersal of this information to numerous areas of the brain, the processing
and integration of this information, and then motor output - which results in purposeful movement and
further sensory feedback. This complex sensory-motor loop effects all purposeful interaction with our
environment; most of which occurs at a subcortical (or subconscious) level. We believe that Interactive
Metronome works by expanding and strengthening this complex neuro-network. Key regions affected
include the cerebellum, pre-frontal cortex, cingulate gyrus and basal ganglia.
The cerebellum plays an important role in the integration of sensory perception and motor output. Many
neural pathways link the cerebellum with the motor cortex and the spino-cerebellar tract - the primary
proprioceptive processing system in the brain. The cerebellum integrates these pathways, using continuous
proprioceptive, visual, vestibular, and kinesthetic feedback to refine posture and movement. Because of this
'updating' function of the cerebellum, lesions within it are not so debilitating as to cause paralysis, but rather
present as feedback deficits resulting in disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and "motor
learning". The "Tensor Network Theory" provides a mathematical model of transformation of sensory
(covariant) space-time coordinates into motor (contra variant) coordinates by cerebellar neuronal networks
The Tensor Network Theory of sensory-motor transformations by the cerebellum has been experimentally
supported.
The pre-frontal cortex is the "choice making" part of the brain - critical to sequencing in motor planning. The
cingulate gyrus is key to somatosensory processing. The striatum area of the basal ganglia is crucial in the
planning and modulation of movement.
HISTORY
In 1992, everyone knew that rhythm was one of those things that either you’re born with or you’re not.
Everyone, that is, except James Cassily. Cassily was a recording engineer in Florida who thought that maybe
you could teach someone to have better rhythm and timing. He worked in a recording studio with musicians
and he knew that if they played more in time with each other, they would sound better and could sell more
albums. He could fix their timing with his mixing board if just one or two musicians were playing together
out of rhythm, but if four or five or more were playing out of sync with each other, it was really tough to
make them sound good. Cassily designed a computer based tool around the traditional metronome to guide
his musicians and give their brains feedback that taught them to play closer to the beat and closer together.
About that time, he was talking with his friend Tom Eggleston. Tom had a son, Jimmy, who had been born
with a lot of challenges. He was missing one leg below the knee, he had several internal developmental
problems, and he was having a hard time in school because he couldn't’t pay attention, frequently disrupted
the class, and could be very aggressive with his schoolmates. Jimmy wanted to learn to play the piano but
he was having a terrible time. His coordination and timing were way off and his attention span was very short
for something that frustrating. Cassily offered to let his friend try the new device out on Jimmy and some
remarkable things happened. First the notes started coming home from school asking what was going on
with the boy. Apparently he had started being more attentive to his tasks, wasn’t disrupting the class,
stopped attacking his classmates, and was more consistently appropriate overall. They had been struggling
to teach him to shift from using a walker to walking with canes with the hope of moving him into a more
mainstream school. By the time he had been through several sessions with the new device, not only could
he walk with the canes, but his motor control and coordination had improved so much that he was beginning
to be able to walk without them.
James Cassily and the Egglestons were amazed and realized that they had stumbled upon something very
important. What they did next was even more surprising. Instead of rushing this new technology to
market, they held it back and spent the rest of the decade refining it and supporting the research that
needed to be done to validate the use of this tool. They named the technology Interactive Metronome and
submitted it to several organizations and professionals who were considered to be tops in the field of brain
science.
Interactive Metronome, or IM, has since been validated repeatedly in research published in well respected
professional journals and at several universities including Central Michigan State University and Penn State.
Notre Dame and Syracuse were so impressed that they use it with their athletes as have the Air Force and
Naval Academies. Luminaries in the fields of ADHD, educational research, and mental health have studied and
published their support of Interactive Metronome, including Edward Hallowell, MD, author of Driven to
Distraction, and a leading clinician and speaker on ADHD; Dr. Paul Stemmer, Jr. of the American Educational
Research Association; and Stanley I. Greenspan, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington
University Medical School, former head of the National Institutes of Mental Health, and chairman of the
Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning.
The patient listens to a computer generated beat via headphones and attempts to match the rhythmic beat
with repetitive motor actions. There are 14 distinct repetitive motor Tasks which include a combination of
hand and foot movements. Over the course of the treatment regimen, the number of Task repetitions is
increased. Patients completing the Interactive Metronome protocol typically demonstrate significant
improvement in balance, gait, agility, motor planning / sequencing, and focus.
CLINICAL FOUNDATION
Human motor efficiency and performance depend on the seamless and continuous transmission of sensory
information to the brain, the dispersal of this information to numerous areas of the brain, the processing
and integration of this information, and then motor output - which results in purposeful movement and
further sensory feedback. This complex sensory-motor loop effects all purposeful interaction with our
environment; most of which occurs at a subcortical (or subconscious) level. We believe that Interactive
Metronome works by expanding and strengthening this complex neuro-network. Key regions affected
include the cerebellum, pre-frontal cortex, cingulate gyrus and basal ganglia.
The cerebellum plays an important role in the integration of sensory perception and motor output. Many
neural pathways link the cerebellum with the motor cortex and the spino-cerebellar tract - the primary
proprioceptive processing system in the brain. The cerebellum integrates these pathways, using continuous
proprioceptive, visual, vestibular, and kinesthetic feedback to refine posture and movement. Because of this
'updating' function of the cerebellum, lesions within it are not so debilitating as to cause paralysis, but rather
present as feedback deficits resulting in disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and "motor
learning". The "Tensor Network Theory" provides a mathematical model of transformation of sensory
(covariant) space-time coordinates into motor (contra variant) coordinates by cerebellar neuronal networks
The Tensor Network Theory of sensory-motor transformations by the cerebellum has been experimentally
supported.
The pre-frontal cortex is the "choice making" part of the brain - critical to sequencing in motor planning. The
cingulate gyrus is key to somatosensory processing. The striatum area of the basal ganglia is crucial in the
planning and modulation of movement.
HISTORY
In 1992, everyone knew that rhythm was one of those things that either you’re born with or you’re not.
Everyone, that is, except James Cassily. Cassily was a recording engineer in Florida who thought that maybe
you could teach someone to have better rhythm and timing. He worked in a recording studio with musicians
and he knew that if they played more in time with each other, they would sound better and could sell more
albums. He could fix their timing with his mixing board if just one or two musicians were playing together
out of rhythm, but if four or five or more were playing out of sync with each other, it was really tough to
make them sound good. Cassily designed a computer based tool around the traditional metronome to guide
his musicians and give their brains feedback that taught them to play closer to the beat and closer together.
About that time, he was talking with his friend Tom Eggleston. Tom had a son, Jimmy, who had been born
with a lot of challenges. He was missing one leg below the knee, he had several internal developmental
problems, and he was having a hard time in school because he couldn't’t pay attention, frequently disrupted
the class, and could be very aggressive with his schoolmates. Jimmy wanted to learn to play the piano but
he was having a terrible time. His coordination and timing were way off and his attention span was very short
for something that frustrating. Cassily offered to let his friend try the new device out on Jimmy and some
remarkable things happened. First the notes started coming home from school asking what was going on
with the boy. Apparently he had started being more attentive to his tasks, wasn’t disrupting the class,
stopped attacking his classmates, and was more consistently appropriate overall. They had been struggling
to teach him to shift from using a walker to walking with canes with the hope of moving him into a more
mainstream school. By the time he had been through several sessions with the new device, not only could
he walk with the canes, but his motor control and coordination had improved so much that he was beginning
to be able to walk without them.
James Cassily and the Egglestons were amazed and realized that they had stumbled upon something very
important. What they did next was even more surprising. Instead of rushing this new technology to
market, they held it back and spent the rest of the decade refining it and supporting the research that
needed to be done to validate the use of this tool. They named the technology Interactive Metronome and
submitted it to several organizations and professionals who were considered to be tops in the field of brain
science.
Interactive Metronome, or IM, has since been validated repeatedly in research published in well respected
professional journals and at several universities including Central Michigan State University and Penn State.
Notre Dame and Syracuse were so impressed that they use it with their athletes as have the Air Force and
Naval Academies. Luminaries in the fields of ADHD, educational research, and mental health have studied and
published their support of Interactive Metronome, including Edward Hallowell, MD, author of Driven to
Distraction, and a leading clinician and speaker on ADHD; Dr. Paul Stemmer, Jr. of the American Educational
Research Association; and Stanley I. Greenspan, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington
University Medical School, former head of the National Institutes of Mental Health, and chairman of the
Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning.
| INTERACTIVE METRONOME © (IM) |
CASE STUDIES
Multiple Sclerosis
Parkinson's Disease
Head Injury
Multiple Sclerosis
Parkinson's Disease
Head Injury
Geriatric Sedentary Motor Dysfunction Ataxia
Multiple Sclerosis Parkinson's Disease
Stroke Heavy Metal Poisoning
ADD / ADHA (children and adults)
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| Excellence - Integrity - Compassion |