The brain clock (mental timing) and clinical disorders

The human brain clock is intimately involved in wide array of human cognitive and motor behaviors.  At this blog a number of clincal disorders have been associated with some degree of disturbance or damage to brain mechanisms related to mental timing.  This informaiton is scattered across a variety of posts.  I decided to pull it all together (as of today's date) in this post.

Mental timing (brain clock) has been implicated via research reported at this blog in:

ADHD and attention

Autismhttp://www.brainclock.net/search/label/autism

Various speech and language disorders

• Aphasia
• Apraxia
• Speech and language

Tourette's syndrome

Cerbral palsy

Central auditory processing disorders (CAPD)

Reading disabilities/dyslexia (click here, here and here)

Various dopaminegeric-based disorders

• Huntington's 
• Schizophrenia
• Parkinson's

Gate disorders

Stroke related dysfunction

A more detailed reference list of timing-related dysfunctions/disorder (e.g., aging related disorders--Alzheimer's, dementia; ADHD, motor coordination/timing disorders--gait, stroke,swallowing;  speech and language disorders--aphasia/stroke/apraxia/speech; TBI) can be found in special white paper regarding the efficacy of various rhythm-based interventions.

Interactive metronome and CAPD treatment

A little internet mouse alerted me to the following dissertation, a dissertation that investigated the effect of synchronized metronome tapping (SMT - using the Interactive Metronome protocol) on central auditory processing disorders (CAPD). This investigation must only be considered a small pilot/clinical trial given that only 8 subjects were treated. Replication in larger samples is needed.

• The Effect of Interactive Metronome Training on Children’s SCAN-C Scores. Etra, Joel L., 2006: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services. Auditory Perception/Auditory Training/ Auditory Tests/Audiology. (click here for a copy I was able to secure)
  

Abstract

• In this study, the effect of Interactive Metronome, a treatment for attention deficit that requires the subject to match a computer generated rhythm, on auditory processing in male and female children ages nine to fourteen was investigated. Eight children were administered the SCAN-C and then were given the 15-hour Interactive Metronome training and administered the SCAN-C again. SCAN-C raw scores showed a significant increase (p = .002). SCAN-C subtests of dichotic listening showed greater improvements than the other subtests. It is suggested that Interactive Metronome may affect auditory processing disorders by influencing neurological organization. It was concluded that Interactive Metronome could be an effective treatment for disorders of auditory processing. Potential difficulties in the provision of Interactive Metronome were discussed. Additional research was suggested with larger and more diverse samples as well as different trainers. More research into the design of the Interactive Metronome training schedule was also suggested.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, speech therapy, language, speech and language, auditory processing disorders, auditory processing, Ga, CAPD, IM, Interactive Metronome, SCAN-C, education, intervention.ADHD, mental time keeping, brain clock, interval timing

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