Speech Therapy -Metronome Therapy for TBI Recovery

Speech Therapy – Metronome Therapy: Craig Part Fourteen  

After bringing TBI Voices to one Florida support group, one of the vacillators of the group, a speech pathologist, had asked me to tour her facility.  While there, she had showed me the apparatus for metronome therapy for speech therapy.  But Craig is the first survivor who could explain to me the benefit of this therapy.

After the neuropsychologist, you started to get some cognitive therapy.  Did that also include speech therapy or not?

Yep.  I went to a speech language pathologist.

Is that who was doing the cognitive therapy or was it separate?

I had two.  I had Sara, who did the speech language and memory. Then I had Brian, who did the cognitive, more of the long-term memory, the behavioral-type things and some biofeedback and a couple of other things.

So tell me about the speech therapy.

Now Sara, she got it.  She knew what was going on with me.  She was the first person that actually explained to it (besides my attorney who I got later) explained to me what was going on – this is what’s happening, and made it so that it made sense.   (That was the) first time that they didn’t make me feel guilty, the first person that I didn’t have the guilt that this is happening.

So what were you doing in speech pathology?

A lot of phrases, words, memory things.  I remember the memory blocks, pictures and she’s also the one that introduced me to the interactive metronome.  Like I said, once I could time my brain again,  control it, that’s when the rest of the impulsivity started getting better.

Explain how the metronome works.

Well, metronome is a device, it’s computerized.  You have devices on your hands, your feet, and there’s other devices.  Basically you’re using your auditorial, your vision and your body and you’re timing it to a metronome, you’re timing it to that beat.  So by training your brain to keep time it actually helps impulsivity.  Since then I’ve used that on kids with ADHD and they’re not taking any medicine so you’re able to control  themselves.  It’s an amazing process.

For more information about metronome therapy, go to https://www.interactivemetronome.com/

Next in Part Fifteen – Learning to Avoid the Overwhelming After Severe Brain Injury