Keiki Success Spotlight: Meet Kainoa

Meet 12-year-old Kainoa, a 6th grader going to a private school who was referred to me for his ADD, dyslexia and working memory deficit. His parents described him as easy going, but to the point where he was “content to sit and let the world pass him by.” He was often lost in his own world at home and school, and would often lose attention or any focus on the task he would be trying to complete. Sometimes, it would even take him 5 hours to finish his homework at night, and need constant parental supervision.

Kainoa’s parents tried medication, but the side effects were causing more problems than helping him with his challenges. A family friend with a daughter who had similar challenges with attention – and had success at Learn 2 Focus – referred Kainoa’s parents to me. Through careful consulting with me and sitting down with him and his parents, we were able to assess that he would benefit the most from Interactive Metronome (IM).

For 4 months, we went through the IM training program. The training included a lot of switching and rotating tasks to keep Kainoa engaged. We went through multiple learning sequences to keep him focused on the tasks, along with an intense program to address his working memory and processing speed.

In less than 4 weeks, Kainoa’s parents noticed several positive changes. He spent less time doing homework – which meant no more 11 p.m. bedtimes to the relief of his parents! – and he was able to work independently without parental supervision on his homework. Not only that, but his quiz scores and homework tasks were much improved.

At the end of 4 months, his parents were so pleased with the vast improvements! Kainoa became more aware of the world and situations around him, which resulted in improved attention in class and at home as well. He was happier and more engaged. In the classroom, he became better at solving math word problems, with higher scores. He also showed improvement in reading and comprehension, showcasing predict, inference, sequence events and memory skills.

If you’d like to learn more about Interactive Metronome and how it might benefit your child, please feel free to contact me and we can chat!