Dore Talk

Was thinking of getting this game for Harry. Does anyone know if it would interfere with the working of Dore?

 Here's a write-up on it from last year.

 http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/11005/12029/nintendo-sight-training-ds-game.phtml 

 No it will probably help- purely anecdotal evidence from some clients in Belfast who got one and their eye results shot up nicely.

Thanks for that I think we'll be getting one of those too!

Is it a fun thing, not sure I can make her do anything boring

Well, Harry's already got Brain Training and he plays for ages when his cousin comes round....and yes, they are fun games. You go through different levels to get to the next stage.

Lelly, try Ebay - I've discovered they're much cheaper on there. 

thanks bugalug

We bought DS sight training in March and when Seth visited Dore in April his eye tracking was much improved, he is continuing with his sight training and his excersises!

I don't think it did any harm quite the opposite.

I had an email today from a PS in the US. She does not post here, but have given me permission to copy/paste her comments on the DS Sight Training Game.

Quote
...... We had the question arise in Colorado and we did review concerns about doing the game while doing Dore. It was decided that there are probably some elements of the game that are fine, but there are some elements that may be less desirable to do when you are going through the Dore program. The kinds of things that would concern me would be: eye movements that resemble activity that Dore might prescribe in your exercises i.e.: saccadic or pursuit movements. Another thing to consider is this: the frequency and the duration of the activity. If a person is practicing a potentially interfering activity daily, or several times a week, that is when I would consider recommending against it... AND if the activity is for significant amounts of time. When it comes to eye movements I would say "significant" amounts of time is a balancing act between intensity and actual time. If it is a targeted eye movement then that could be significant at a few minutes (certainly five minutes or more) per session. So the concern is that you could be interfering with the development of the neural pathways that your Dore program is creating. We have recommended that clients do not play excessive amounts of video games because it can interfere with this process, and a targeted eye movement game is definitely something to take a close look at. I had a client begin a speed reading program towards the end of his Dore program, and it really, really interfered with his eye scores, set him back a bit. I recommended that he stop the speed reading course until he was done with Dore, his scores came back up. Certainly once a person is finished with Dore you would be fine to take up any of these activities, because your neural pathways would be well- established and you would only be building upon them at that point, rather than potentially rerouting the foundations.
I'm not saying that the DS game necessarily WILL interfere with Dore but I do think it potentially COULD. Since you do not have the opportunity to monitor this with an OMT at a Dore Center, I would use it with caution, and try to watch your child's eye movements while doing Dore exercises, or wait until you have completed your Dore program. Watch for things like: more pre-emptive movements, more obvious corrective movements towards the targets, more searching to find the targets, and more "wiggly" movement or stop-and-go movement during pursuit exercises.
Unquote

I am so very interested to read the quote above from the PS in the US!

I have been looking on E Bay at the Sight Training game(and so have alot of other parents by the looks of things- the amount of bids these games have had!)

We do not have a Nintendo DS but I was prepared to buy one and the game if I thought it would help our son- (Toby) with his eye tracking. However now I think I will put this purchase on hold because it seems that after reading the above,using this game may well hinder the developement of the neural pathways. Although this isn't proven and it might help his eye tracking, I think I would rather play safe. 

Yes, mine's going to the back of the cupboard until we're done.

Harry's eye-tracking is nearly there and I would hate to affect his progress. 

I was reading the email from the PS in the US and i was wondering if anyone had notice any problems with there son/daughter playing the Wii, my son got one for his christmas and since then we have had a really hard time with his excercises, in fact i would go as far as say we were back at the beginning for a few months he started the program in June 2007, the novelty has since worn off  and things are starting to get a lot easier in fact he was throwing the bean bag over his shoulder the other day and catching it at his back and i was amazed how well he was doing he could catch it up to 10 times without dropping it ( days like this gives us hope) Could it have been the Wii that was making things so hard?

This is the first time I have posted on Dore Talk and I have followed all the forums since the big announcement thankyou all for keeping us informed Ewan had an appointment on the 2nd June and we still have had no direct contact fron Dore it's self, you have all kept me going. Thankyou

Hi, Harry bought himself the WII a few months ago (he saved up) and I have to say I haven't noticed much difference. Without the assessments though it is difficult to say. I have told Harry not to use the WII FIT as there is question-mark over whether this affects their progress, as well as Sight Training.

The PS who sent me that email also said the following, which I found very enlightening:

Think about this when analyzing an activity: is it similar to any Dore exercises? Because if it is, then my hesitation begins. It may even be something that is similar to an exercise a person has never had, which is why we always encourage people to talk to their Dore Specialist, because we see what you may not. Obviously, that is not an easy thing to do right now, which is why I felt I had to give some insight. The other thing is- this game was not a normal activity before they started the program, so then it becomes a new stimuli in the person's life- this is going to stimulate the Cerebellum a lot more than an old activity.

Think about this: what Dore does is isolate various sensory input systems, and then stimulate certain ones. There is a lot of detail involved as to where the stimulation is targeted for each person, to properly encourage the development of neural pathways, where that individual is working on.
If a person is overly dependant on the information from one system in particular, and weak in another, then the exercises will stimulate growth/development/reassignment of the neural pathways to balance the strengths to a proper level. If a person overstimulates any one particular area, there can be problems with that. That is the reason we ask people to not play on the wobble-board while they are on the program...and why we say no exercises within 48 hours of boating... because the will be overstimulating those areas. It is also part of why we look very closely at any OT, PT, Eye Therapy, etc. a person is involved in or wants to begin.
Another thing to think about is temporary stimulation right before an assessment- so swimming, video games, roller-coasters, merry-go-rounds, all can impact the testing, but probably are not likely to have a long term impact on overall progress.
So- regular exercise is not a concern, sports- not a concern, especially anything someone has been involved in regularly since before beginning the program. 

Thanks for that Chris, I think we will try to limit the time he spends on the Wii at least until we get another assesment and hopefully now that we are going forward we can keep going.

Bugalug

Thanks very much for sharing  this informaton - as you say - very enlightening.

It has been well known for years that video games of all types can have detrimenatal effects on children's behaviour, and the Wii is just the latest in a long line of them. It just goes to show that the old adage "everything in moderation" still applies. The DS Sight game and Wii fit seems to be an area of particular concern to those on Dore and best avoided for the present, so I am definitely crossing them off my children's want list for now.

It would be so easy to think that the extra stimulation would be helpful, and it now becomes clear that there is a delicate balancing process that could unwittingly be interfered with if any activity is done to excess.

Jean