maintain focus. IM trains a child’s brain to coordinate all of this
sensory processing.”
It takes persistent, consistent training to create new neural path-
ways. “I ask kids to do a minimum of 30,000 repetitions over the
course of treatment,” says Christopherson. “With the IM home sys-
tem, I access each child’s hours and scores online, to see how many
repetitions he’s done and how many days he has trained this month.
If he’s not keeping up, I lock his program until he comes into the of-
fice and gets back on track.”
One of Christopherson’s clients,
a six-year-old named Peter, had been
receiving speech and occupational
therapy for two years, but his prob-
lems still held him back in school.
Peter was enrolled in a six-week ( 18
sessions) course of IM. Sometime
around the fifth week, Peter’s mother
observed that he communicated his
needs more clearly, was less frustrat-
ed, and was able to complete tasks
without being reminded to do them.
In school, he paid more attention in
class. At a parent-teacher meeting,
Peter’s teacher asked his mother
if she had changed his medication.
The only thing that was new was the
IM therapy.
with their focus and attention. My youngest has a hard time staying
on task. I say, ‘Go brush your teeth,’ or ‘Go do your homework’ and,
five minutes later, it’s not done—or even started. After playing the
games for several weeks, he doesn’t dawdle quite as much, and I’m
not hounding him as much to get things done. It has reduced the
stress in our household.”
In addition to cognitive improvement, children benefit emotion-
ally. “For many kids, medication helps regulate impulsivity,” says
PROGRAM PARTICULARS
Cogmed
> RECOMMENDED
USE:
25 sessions, 30-
45 minutes each, for
five weeks.
> COST: Rates vary
for provider services
for testing, assess-
ment, and supervi-
sion, if needed.
> LEARN MORE:
cogmed.com
IFOCUS SYSTEM
( focuseducation.com)
At the heart of ifocus is Jungle Rangers, an award-winning video game
that is played at home. Developed
by a group of scientists, researchers,
doctors, and concerned parents, the game grabs a child’s interest
with engaging characters and an intriguing story line, while stimulating his brain with three cognitive exercises—Span Tasks (to help
absorb and store information), Continuous Performance Tasks (to
help block out distractions), and N-Back Tasks (to help store and
update information over a longer period of time). These exercises
improve regulation of emotions and behavior, two key factors in
attention. The game helps a child filter, focus, absorb, and remember
information.
“Parents say, ‘I don’t think my kid has ADHD, because he can sit
and play video games for hours. But when it comes to doing school-
work, he can’t do it at all,’” says Kimberly Kerns, Ph.D., a pediatric
neuropsychologist at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia,
who consulted on developing Jungle Rangers. “The game doesn’t ask
a child to move his cursor around fast and do lots of different things
at once. The game creates new pathways for learning while recogniz-
ing and adjusting the skill level to the child’s abilities.”
“When I got the package, I expected a video game,” says Julie, the
mother of two sons, “but it was a holistic approach to helping my boys
Interactive
Metronome
> RECOMMENDED
USE: Three 45-minute
sessions a week for
four to five weeks.
> COST: Prices vary
by provider for in-
clinic testing, assess-
ment, and supervi-
sion. The IM Home
program is $599.
> LEARN MORE:
interactivemetro
nome.com
ifocus/
Jungle Rangers
> RECOMMENDED
USE: Five days per
week, 30 minutes per
day, for at least four
weeks.
> COST: $14.95 for a
30-day trial. After 30
days, if you decide to
keep the program,
the software is $200.
> LEARN MORE:
focuseducation.com
Kerns. “They are not doing it themselves, the medication is. Giving kids the tools to control their own impulses makes them feel
like they can take control of their behaviors. They feel good doing it
themselves.”
THE FUTURE OF BRAIN TRAINING
While there is excitement among researchers about using brain
training to treat ADHD, Etkin offers a realistic perspective.
“Right now, the brain training literature is a mess, because people
are learning how to do it right,” he explains. “It’s early, and bench-
marks are starting to be developed. There’s always hope that there
will be some cure that’s easy, fast, and lasting, but, as a clinician and
a scientist, I can tell you that cures are never easy, fast, or lasting, and
they require a person to do a lot of work themselves. You have to con-
tinue doing your homework to make it last.”
That’s an investment many parents—and their children—would
be willing to make.
The good news is that as the human brain continues to be mapped
and explored, it’s clear that brain training will be a part of a new frontier in treating children with ADHD. A
