Interactive Metronome for Treatment of ADHD

Interactive Metronome Training is a proprietary therapy for certain neurological disorders, usually administered by a therapist or other health care professional.  During therapy sessions patients learn to coordinate movements with regular timed sounds.  The repetitive nature of the task is designed to “promote synchronized timing in the brain”.  An underlying principle of this therapy for ADHD is that deficits in neural timing underlie some of the difficulties patients with ADHD have with daily functioning, and that training in timing, in conjunction with more traditional therapies, can improve these difficulties.

Effectiveness

There have been many studies done examining the effects of Interactive Metronome on various neurological disorders, as well as on neurotypical adults and children.  All of the studies are too small (typically less than 100 patients in the treatment group)  to make definitive conclusions.   Also, blinding and appropriate sham treatments are difficult issues due to the nature of the treatment.  Additionally, some studies do not measure clinically important outcomes and focus instead on changes of obscure neurological parameters.

Two studies have been done on children with ADHD.  One small randomized, controlled study of  56 school aged boys demonstrated improvements in a wide range of variables including school performance, attention, and concentration.  Another small randomized, controlled study of 72 boys (36 in the treatment group) showed improvements in performance in computerized testing of reaction time after training.

While the Interactive Metronome’s website claims that effects of treatment can be long lasting, no clinical study has addressed this directly in children with ADHD.

Side effects

Side effects have not been examined in most studies of interactive metronome.  However, it would seem that the training would generally not have more side effects that something like playing video games. 

Important downsides include cost, time,  and possible ineffectiveness.  Interactive Metronome training typically requires 15 sessions with a therapist.  It can be covered by insurance if it is part of a larger therapeutic program for occupational or physical therapy, for example, but copays would still apply.

The bottom line

This therapy is potentially expensive, and while it may work in certain patients we do not know the chances of effectiveness as we do with other therapies like medication.  However, it is unlikely to have significant side effects.

Interactive Metronome would likely find a place in patients who have good insurance coverage, who are receiving therapy for other reasons, such as handwriting problems, and who have had problems with either side effects or effectiveness using more traditional therapies.

Reference:

Interactivemetronome.com