Keeping focused in any classroom today can be hard for even the brightest kids so, to help students with their focus, one Topeka school is letting kids try a high tech learning tool.

Topeka Lutheran 5th grader Riley Voigt is working hard to keep a beat, but it's not his dancing he's trying to improve. It's his focus.

"Its pretty fun and kind of helps you concentrate," says Voigt.

It's the interactive metronome program. A little odd looking but testing has shown its helped kids nationwide improve reading and math scores up to two grade levels in three weeks. The exercises are meant to exercise the part of your brain that helps you hold your focus

The students see and hear the beat of a metronome and match the beat with their hands or feet...green or yellow lights mean their on task, but red means they've lost focus.

"They get that feedback and have to respond to that and make a decision and the first second they lose focus they know it," says Lori Schmidt, Interactive Metronome Certified.

She says MRI tests show the combination of movement works both hemispheres of the brain and allows them to find a way to work together more fluidly.

“Some children tend to have parts of their brain that have not matured well and if that part has to do with attention and focus then they have a hard time paying attention and focusing and I can target that area of the brain to bring that area of the brain up to normal functioning," says Schmidt.

Because functioning in a classroom these days can be down right difficult.

"Sometimes, since we have lots of classmates, it gets really loud and you just want to get out of there," says Voigt

The students are starting out slow, focusing on the task for just minutes at time. But by the end of 15 sessions they'll be focusing 20 minutes nonstop, but this training doesn't come cheap. It's $600 for each student to take the group sessions, but parents have told the school it's worth it when students like Riley achieve their goal.

The Interactive Metronome program is also used at Kansas Rehab to help patients with brain injuries and Parkinson’s disease. For more information on the program you can go to our website at www.ksnt.com and click on 27 News Links.