Gemm's Blog

Avoiding kid burnout secret to falling academic achievement

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Tom Friedman, New York Times reporter, wrote an interesting article this week about how American students highest in the world or near to it in 4th grade, but by 10th grade they are 25th in the OECD. He goes into theories about charter schools and money and teachers, but how about this?

1/ American kids don't want it as much. This is Clayton Christenson's idea in "Disrupting Class". They see their parents life, it's fine for them, and so they cruise assuming it will be handed to them on a silver platter. And chances are they are right about that. South Korean kids do not like what they see when they look at their parents life, they want more and so they work hard.

2/ Kids do not connect reading with fun and so as they get older and more independent they do less and less of it, leading to general academic decline.

The fact is American kids have a big educational disadvantage. They are "fat and happy" -- this is a pretty difficult motivation to over-turn.

But parents can influence point 2/. The answer to falling 12th grade standards seems to be to start on content earlier and earlier. Wrong! Because schools and parents do this, children do not get their foundations set. If they were not quite reading comfortably, in a way that can lead to reading enjoyment, too bad --there's homework to do and tests to pass. This is not the school's fault -- schools reflect the desires of their communities.

Foundations are important. The primary goal of Elementary School should be to secure the foundations so that children can prosper later on. Because this is not being done fewer and fewer students learn to love reading and avoid the tough subjects like science and math.

What can parents do? The old standard "The Read Out Loud Handbook" (Jim Trelease) argues the connection between reading and fun is best maintained through reading out loud to your child as late into life as possible, certainly through 5th grade but beyond that also. Another suggestion is to keep investing in reading skills -- if your child does not enjoy reading, try course like the Fast ForWord program, Lindamood Bell or other programs that will help provide reading comfort. Reading comfort will lead to more reading (just as closed captioning helps Finnish kids lead the world in reading!) and hopefully reading enjoyment, a virtuous circle.

Reaction to Obama education speech

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Don't you find it interesting how muted the media coverage was of President Obama's powerful speech on education. There was a lot of bold insights and strategies in that speech and yet it was greeted with a yawn.
I think this tells us there is a lot complacency in the public these days about the value of education and the quality of education children are receiving. Famous business author Clayton Christensen in his book Disrupting Class argued that America was lagging in education in large part because children don't want it as much. They are growing up in a comfortable life style, catered to at every turn and so what's the big deal. Things will turn out fine. In Korea though, kids grow up in poverty and so they are motivated to get to a better place, so they work hard. In fact the whole population is focused on pulling themselves up to a better place through education.
The reaction to Obama's speech I think proves Christensen's point. I think it also explains why change in US education happens at a glacial place. New programs such as the Fast ForWord reading program or approaches take decades to take hold. The feeling for a large majority of the constituents -- parents, educators, tax payers -- is that the education stakes are just not that high.
This reactive mindset may have onset at exactly the wrong time. The current high school generation may be in for a shock as a confluence of factors collide: less economic opportunity, a virtual business world where employees world wide compete for the same jobs, and educationally inferior standards in the US. This more than anything may define our economic future.

Metacognition and why your child needs it!

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:16:00 +0000

Metacognition
An elusive but defining element of learning success.

Without metacognition -- learning awareness -- your child cannot achieve at his or her potential. Delays in developing this most crucial of learning skills explains why many struggling early graders go on to under-achieve at high school and college.

What is it?
Metacognition refers to a level of thinking about what you are learning as you learn (listening to a teacher, reading or studying): Am I getting this? Does this fit with my current knowledge? If I am not getting it, what should I do right now -- re-read, get help?

Planning the way to approach a learning task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating the progress towards the completion of a task: these require metacognition. Similarly, maintaining motivation to see a task to completion is a metacognitive skill.

Why Is It Important?
Students who demonstrate a wide range of metacognitive skills perform better on exams and complete work more efficiently. They are self-regulated learners who utilize the "right tool for the job" and modify learning strategies and skills based on their awareness of effectiveness.

A student with metacognition is aware of his or her own strengths and weaknesses, the nature of the task at hand, and available "tools" or skills. Individuals with a high level of metacognitive knowledge and skill identify blocks to learning as early as possible and change "tools" or strategies to ensure goal attainment.

Why Many Students Do Not Develop Metacognition
Metacognition when reading/listening to a teacher requires free brain capacity, headroom to think over and above the listening or reading. And so the information needs to be coming to the student automatically, subconsciously like riding a bike.

If child's learning mechanism is overloaded --if reading is not automatic, if listening in class, i.e., auditory processing, is inefficient -- then metacognition cannot develop as it should.

About half of all students in the US leave 8th grade below grade level. The vast majority have delayed metacognitive skills. They may well have functional reading and listening skills but these skills are inefficient, taking up too much conscious brain space, crowding out metacognitive development.

Our Programs Aim to Develop Metacognition
Gemm Learning uses Fast ForWord software to help the brain learn to process efficiently, which frees up brain capacity for development of metacognition.

These skills take years to develop. Time lost learning the basics such as efficient listening or reading with automaticity impacts metacognitive skills later. If you think your child has an over-loaded learning mechanism that could lead to a metacognitive gap later in life, fill in this screening to see if we can help.

For more on metacognition when reading click here.

Why students with dyslexia can't do multiple choice

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Story by BBC News (abridged)
A medical student in the UK with dyslexia claims multiple choice exams discriminate against people with the condition and is taking legal action to prevent their use.

But why do children who struggle with reading find multiple choice difficult? Dyslexia is known to cause problems with the way the brain processes words and sequences, and students with the condition are generally granted 25% extra time in exams.

But Naomi Gadian, a second year medical student, is calling for the General Medical Council to scrap multiple choice questions as part of doctors' training. She says although essays and practicals have not been a problem, multiple choice questions discriminate against people with dyslexia. "They don't let me express my knowledge. In normal day life, you don't get given multiple choice questions to sit. Your patients aren't going to ask you 'here's an option and four answers. Which one is right?'" she says.

THE ANSWER
A lot of information in one question can be difficult to remember. So are multiple choice questions particularly difficult for people with dyslexia? Dr John Rack, head of psychology at Dyslexia Action, says people with the condition can find multiple choice questions difficult because of the large amount of information which they have to deal with, all at once. "Dyslexics often have problems with their 'working memory'," he says, "which is the space where we hold on to information. If there are too many options, it is hard to keep track of them and by the last option, they have forgotten the first."He says everyone can find this problematic, but those with dyslexia find it harder - especially as they tend to read more slowly.

Reasonable adjustments
But Dr Rack does not think multiple choice is the worst exam format for those who have dyslexia - and says it is unusual for people to have a particular problem with them. He says case studies and essays can put pressure on the speed of writing and fluent writing skills such as spelling, structuring and sequencing.

"So long as multiple choice questions are well structured and short, they should be fairly accessible," he says.

Story from BBC NEWS
It is interesting that test skills and learning skills overlap. Gemm Learning's programs aimed at resolving learning issues also work in the test prep format.

Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:19:00 +0000

If you are intrigued by the idea of brain plasticity but find it hard to get your head around the concept, The Brain that Changes Itself is a great book.

As related in this book, the adaptability, self-healing and rejuvenating power of the brain when exercised the right way is amazing. The stories of miracle recoveries and transformations are heart warming and exciting. The book tracks the experiments and clinical trials that lead to our current understanding that the brain is indeed "plastic" -- it is adaptable and malleable -- as these tidbits show:

A neuroscientist nursed his father back to full health after a massive stroke using brain exercises. After his father's death years later they discovered that the brain had reconstructed itself using only the 3% (!!) of mass not stroke affected.

The brain of a person who had lost all sense of balance learned how to balance again using outside sensors to re-learn what to do, then rebuilding internal vestibular skills.

Experiments such as one with ferrets, where the brains connections to the eyes and ears were surgically switched. Two months later the previously auditory part of the brain was now processing visual signals. It adapted.

ENTER MIKE MERZENICH

Of course, a book like this has a lot about Fast ForWord software and its co-founder, Dr. Michael Merzenich. Here's an excerpt:
"......Merzenich is worth the search. The Irish neuroscientist Ian Robertson has described him as "the world's leading researcher on brain plasticity." Merzenich's specialty is improving people's ability to think and perceive by redesigning the brain by training specific processing areas, called brain maps, so that they do more mental work. He has also, perhaps more than any other scientist, shown in rich scientific detail how our brain-processing areas change....."

All kinds of media and respected individuals have praised this book for taking a dry subject like brain plasticity and bringing it to life through personal experiences.

If you have a child with a learning issue that concerns you, this book will give you renewed hope that the future is bright and that a better outcome is possible.

Early Intervention Makes a Big Difference

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:41:00 +0000

Spotting and treating learning difficulties early is vital for children's mental well being, a UK government report has found. The report from Foresight, the government think tank on the future, said learning difficulties were a problem that affected up to 10% of children.

"Yet too often they remain unidentified, or are treated only when advanced. The result can be under-achievement in school and disengagement by the child, sometimes leading to a long-term cycle of anti-social behavior, exclusion and even criminality," it said.

"Improvements in early detection combined with focused interventions could prevent problems developing and create broad and lasting benefits for the child and society."

The report found that dyslexia and dyscalculia (math learning problems) can both substantially reduce lifetime earnings and academic achievement, with dyscalculia potentially as common as dyslexia but frequently undetected.

"We need to empower professionals at schools to better address the needs of individual children, and to improve learning and development trajectories.

Parents also need to be vigilant. Know the signs of language and learning issues under 5 years of age, and the signs of reading difficulties 4-7 years of age. Here's one article that we wrote for Parent Guide called Looking for Clues.

Even small gains from interventions at elementary school or earlier will have out-sized benefits over a lifetime, in and out of school, due to the power of compounding.

Is SAT test prep worth the time and money?

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:36:00 +0000

There's no doubt that a kid who reads the SAT prep books, and takes a Kaplan course, will have some advantage over someone with no familiarity with the test. But if the test can be gamed through these tools, why doesn't everyone score 2400? The reality is that -- for all the prepping -- tests like the SAT still measure your ability to solve problems quickly when faced with new information. Even if you've seen 1,000 math problems before, you haven't seen this exact one. You haven't seen this exact reading passage, so you haven't been asked these specific questions. For all their flaws, standardized tests still measure your ability to synthesize information and think on your feet, a core ability that is not that easy to prep for.

That's not to say that traditional ACT and SAT prep has no value. They do provide structure -- regular classes or tutoring that make the student study in an organized way and invest time in at least getting familiar with the test.

The most dramatic score boosts on cognitive assessments like the SAT or private school ISEE or TACHS (catholic schools) come from improving the actual thinking skills being measured. This is what Gemm Learning does with our home-based Test Fundamentals program.

We offer traditional test prep too, at our centers as a service to our students, but the dramatic point gains we have been achieving are due to the impact Test Fundamentals has had on cognitive abilities as captured in these IQ scores.

Another advantage of boosting underlying learning ability is that the gains endure well beyond the test, in fact for a lifetime. And in these increasingly uncertain economic times, having a little more learning horsepower at college may end up being a difference maker.

From dyslexia to avid reader

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Gemm Learning received this letter just this week:

Dear Geoff,
It has taken me awhile to write to you because it has been really hard to find the right words that express my gratitude. I have decided to share my story of the struggles I have encountered due to my son’s speech/language impairment.

David has a speech and language disability, and struggles very hard to keep up with his peers. He attends public school and the district provides services for him. The Committee of Special Education wanted my child to switch to another school where they felt they had a more “appropriate” setting for his impairment. The setting was a smaller classroom with children that had all types of different needs. It was not an “appropriate” setting it was a place that my son didn’t belong. I refused and David remained in the “mainstream” school setting. David is a bright, caring, lovable boy and is respectful to all around him. The school has been providing support for his needs, but after four years and no improvements I sought outside help.

After research and being turned away by many renowned facilities I became discouraged. Then I met my son’s future Gemm Learning. At one time I was told that my son was not reading at age level, and may not ever get to the same level as the rest of his class because of dyslexia. The Fast ForWord program proved otherwise and more. David is almost at age level reading. It took time and a lot of effort in the beginning of his protocol for him to adjust and get a sense of the program. Since that happened he has not stopped trying to achieve more than he already has. This is a true blessing for a boy that could hardly sound out the word toast and is now reading chapter books on his own.

I will always be in depth to the caring and patient staff at Gemm. In fact using the word staff is not the right word because they are more than that they are goodhearted friends. I believe with my whole heart that David strived with their positive guidance.

Out Of The Dark

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:53:00 +0000

This story of a 28 year old dyslexic just came in:

Annemarie, 28, has had dyslexia her entire life. Her self confidence and overall school performance caused her to give up on her dreams of college. Upon leaving high school she has worked in retail without expecting to advance.

Before coming to Gemm Learning, Annemarie was having difficulties at work. She needed to listen to voice mail messages several times to hear the phone number or understand the person's name. Her spelling was atrocious and her co-workers could not read or understand the messages.

Three weeks into her Fast ForWord program with Gemm Learning Annemarie reported that she was no longer having trouble writing phone messages. In addition, she was better able to recognize her spelling errors.

When recently discussing her progress, Annemarie told us, “I feel like I am finally out of the dark.” She now feels when she has her own children she will be able to help them learn to read.
Annemarie is now an avid reader, her reading comprehension is much improved. She has more confidence and is thinking about college. She hopes to work in the education field, either as a teacher or as an advocate for children with special needs.

From Meningitis to College

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:47:00 +0000

This story just came in. Mayra has been working at Gemm for about four months.
Recovering from a coma
Mayra was once a student who excelled in almost everything she did. She was at the top of her class in college and played violin for the philharmonic. Mayra was an active volunteer, dedicated to her own education and to helping others.

But then her world fell apart. Mayra earned the opportunity to study in Spain, where she contracted Pneumococcal Meningitis - an infection that often leads to severe brain damage causing the loss of use of entire regions of the body. Mayra's case was no different. The doctors treating Mayra told her parents that she was clinically brain dead. Mayra lost all ability to see, speak and move and her parents had to re-teach her how to chew food, stand and walk. Every aspect of her life needed to be relearned. After a year in the hospital, Mayra recovered some of her normal functions but her cognitive and auditory processing were still severely impaired. Her neurosurgeon told Mrs. Rodriguez the synaptic pathways in her brain had been severed. Basically, the information was still in Mayra's head but she could not access it.

About this time she found Gemm Learning. Medical bills were consuming the family and so Gemm offered to provide Mayra a scholarship for Fast ForWord.

Several months later, after participating in Fast ForWord software, as well as continuing her regular therapies, Mayra has made an astounding recovery. She is able to participate in conversation and has started reading again. Her mother is ecstatic about her recovery and is thrilled with how Gemm Learning and Fast ForWord has helped her daughter.

Incredibly, we are happy to report that Mayra now has a goal of returning to SUNY Binghamton to become a lawyer. It's a stretch goal, but given her recent progress we think she will get there and we are proud to be part of her journey.

To Chemo Brain and Back

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:41:00 +0000

Here's a new Fast ForWord software success story that just came in. Gemm has been working with this student for about three months.

A 7 year old battles back from high dose chemo.
Stephen, now in 3rd grade, missed all of 1st grade receiving high dose chemotherapy for osteosarcoma, bone cancer. He has a titanium rod in his leg that requires three surgeries per year to adjust to his body growth. But don’t expect Stephen to complain about the surgeries, the medications, any of it. He just wants to be a kid with time each day to play.

After chemo, Stephen’s mom noticed what medical professionals call chemo brain – a decline in cognitive skills brought on by the toxic effects of chemo. Stephen, previously a good student, was now spending hours on homework, his confidence was down and his teachers recommended a Special Education classroom.

Stephen’s mom felt otherwise. That’s when she came to us. She wanted to know if Fast ForWord could reverse the poisonous effects of chemotherapy. Our center director, Tina Liberatore, was unsure at first. She had seen Fast ForWord work in a wide variety of cases and she was aware that it is being used with stroke patients and she was anxious to help.

Stephen is remarkable young man who had already survived so much. Her advice was to not only to try it, but given the family's medical bills, we offered a scholarship.

Three months later, Stephen is thriving. According to his mother, “Stephen is doing everything faster. His writing has picked up a lot. He has learned to love reading and his reading comprehension is much improved. His hearing teacher has noticed an “amazing” improvement. He is not quite as fast as his classmates, but is working five times faster than last year.” His teachers have also noticed a positive shift in his confidence. By all accounts he is now “singing down the hallway on his way to class.”

“By speeding up his auditory processing, Fast ForWord has effectively slowed the world down for Stephen, making his day much more manageable” said Michelle Reynard, Stephen’s Program Director. “We are exceedingly proud of the phenomenal progress he has made in just a few short months.”

With less time needed for homework, Stephen now has more time to just play. There can be no greater cause for giving thanks this holiday season.

Autism and Language Delays Linked

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:06:00 +0000

An interesting article came out in ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) where functionalMRI studies have detected a consistent delay in language processing in an autistic children. This may explain why software like Fast ForWord which aims to speed up auditory processing to resolve language issues in children at all ability levels. While it is mainly used as a reading software (faster processing of sound creates listening clarity, essential for sounding out words effortlessly) private providers are finding that it is providing autism help. Here is a little of the article.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008)
— Faint magnetic signals from brain activity in children with autism show that those children process sound and language differently from non-autistic children. Identifying and classifying these brain response patterns may allow researchers to more accurately diagnose autism and possibly aid in developing more effective treatments for the developmental disorder.

Timing appears to be crucial. "Children with autism respond a fraction of a second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones," said study leader Timothy Roberts, Ph.D., vice chair of radiology research and holder of the Oberkircher Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Radiology at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Roberts used a technology called magnetoencephalography (MEG), which detects magnetic fields in the brain, just as electroencephalography (EEG) detects electrical fields.

Study: intensive education is helping autism

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:29:00 +0000

A recent article "Study links autism to six new genes" published in Newsday: "Many researchers now believe most autism and Aspergers cases have unique causes." "The findings suggest autism strikes in a brain that can't properly form new connections and also may help explain why intense education programs do help some autistic children -- because certain genes that respond to experience weren't missing, they were just stuck in the 'off' position." "'The circuits are there but you have to give it an extra push... The genetics suggest that 'what were doing makes sense when we work with these little kids - and work and work --and suddenly get through."

This research confirms that these disorders – from ADD through full blown autism – have at their root a problem with neural development. It is somehow delayed or impaired. Connections that should have been made simply never were.

This is why learning interventions like Fast ForWord have had success. The exercises are accessible and provide enough intensity to provide that extra push.

EdisonLearning implements Fast ForWord

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:22:00 +0000

EdisonLearning, formerly Edison Schools, has a division that is developing proto-type schools based on best practices and using the very best of current science. They just announced a decision to impelement Fast ForWord at a school in Baltimore. Here's the press release:

EdisonLearning Selects Fast ForWord Family of Products to Improve At-Risk Students' Reading Skills
OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Scientific Learning today announces that Edison Learning, the nation’s largest partner to public school districts and communities, has chosen the Fast ForWord to provide a research-based reading intervention program for Furman L. Templeton Elementary in Baltimore. Fast ForWord is a family of educational software products that help for dyslexia and accelerate learning by developing the student brain to process more efficiently.

Furman L. Templeton Elementary, a preK-5 public school in the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS), is an EdisonLearning and BCPSS Partnership school. This fall, the school plans to implement the Fast ForWord reading intervention software to strengthen the brain processing and literacy skills of at-risk students in grades three, four and five. In addition, students who require additional assistance are expected to use the Fast ForWord products after school.

“EdisonLearning’s goal in all of our partnership schools is to advance achievement and help students reach the highest levels of reading proficiency,” said Dr. Marlaina Palmeri, senior vice president and regional education officer for EdisonLearning. “The Fast ForWord program enhances our ability to achieve this mission by incorporating proven methodologies that help students develop their cognitive and reading skills while also building their confidence and self-esteem. I n addition, the Fast ForWord program fits easily into our academic day without compromising critical time for core instruction, and is adaptable for our after school program at Furman L. Templeton.”

The Fast ForWord family of products consists of scientifically proven intervention programs that apply neuroscience principles to build the fundamental cognitive skills required to read and learn. The products work by improving the brain’s processing efficiency — how the brain functions to support learning and intellectual activity, including memory, attention, processing rate, and sequencing — with intensive exercises that adapt to each student’s level.

Dr. Joseph Wise, chief education officer for EdisonLearning noted, “Too many students are being taught in classes very much like the ones their parents and even grandparents attended, not benefiting fully from new research, technology and advances in education. As public educators, we can accelerate the learning curve for all children and connect them in new and engaging ways with their teachers.”

About EdisonLearning
EdisonLearning is the nation’s largest partner to public school districts and communities, and during the 2008/09 school year, has a network of more than 100 schools serving 350,000 students in 23 states. EdisonLearning works with school leaders and communities to provide solutions that inspire students to think, learn, and succeed. The organization partners with public educators to create or support improvement in schools that help students achieve lasting gains in performance and prepare them to meet their full potential and the expectations of the 21st century workplace. For more information, visit www.edisonlearning.com.

About Scientific Learning Corp.
Scientific Learning creates educational software that accelerates learning by improving the processing efficiency of the brain. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord® family of products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. Scientific Learning Reading Assistant™ combines advanced speech recognition technology with scientifically-based courseware to help students strengthen fluency, vocabulary and comprehension to become proficient, life-long readers. The efficacy of the products has been established by more than 550 research studies and publications. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com or call toll-free 888-452-7323.

The Biology of Dyslexia

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

by Martha S. Burns Phd
Why is it that one child within a family of normal readers needs reading help when it comes easily to other children? Find out about brain studies which point to biological explanations for dyslexia.

For decades, ever since dyslexia was described as a disorder in learning to read, scientists, educators, and parents have wondered about the causes. Why is it that one child within a family of normal readers has so much trouble learning to sound out new words, can't learn to read effortlessly with good comprehension, or needs a great deal of special tutoring to learn what comes easily to other children?

Over forty years ago, reading specialists speculated that there might be some defect in the brain that could account for dyslexia. Some experts even used the term "minimal brain damage" or "minimal brain dysfunction" to account for the struggle some children experienced in learning to read. But, after years of research with EEG and anatomic scans like CAT or MRI images, no structural differences could be found to account for reading problems.

In the 1980's, Normal Geshwind and Albert Galaburda of Harvard Medical School proposed a theory to account for neurological changes that would not be visible to the naked eye or on brain scans but could cause dyslexia. They hypothesized that the causes of dyslexia might be microscopic changes in brain physiology due to differences in the development of the brain. Brain cells form before a child is born by dividing from base cells and travelling, or migrating, to form functional parts of the human cerebrum. Geshwind and Galaburda argued that there might be factors which occur while the brain is forming that could cause neuronal cells to migrate incorrectly. Neurons that migrate incorrectly never mature and are called ectopic cells. Under a microscope, ectopias look like small warts on the top of the brain, but they cannot be seen on conventional CAT scans or MRI's.

Galaburda conducted several microscopic studies of the brain cells of adults with dyslexia after they died of natural causes. He identified ectopic cells in regions of their brains that were known to be important for learning language. He also found anatomical differences in the medial geniculate (auditory) nucleus of the thalamus, namely an overall reduction in the cell size. The large, magnocellular, cells of the thalamus are the fast processing neural pathways that connect the sensory organs (eyes and ears) to the cerebrum via the thalamus. The questions raised by his findings were:

What are the causes of the ectopias?How are they related to the differences in the magnocellular pathways?How do such small cellular abnormalities cause such severe dyslexia?What can be done to remediate the problems that result?How Ectopias Form In The Brain
Animal research has recently clarified how ectopias form in the brain. In humans, around four to five months gestation, cells migrate to form the cerebral cortex. As the cells are migrating, they are guided by radial glial cells. These guiding cells act like ropes that the cortical cells can climb to reach their end position. At the end of the climb, a membrane acts like a ceiling so the cells remain where they belong. If there is a breach in the membrane, the cells migrate through the breach. Although researchers originally believed that a mother's immune system might play a part in the development of ectopias, it is now generally agreed that a genetic component is a factor in the development of ectopias. At this time, at least two or three genes have been identified that result in the formation of ectopias. A second form of minor neocortical malformation, microgyria, has also been linked to processing disturbances in animals. Like ectopias, microgyria, are microscopic malformations that can be induced in animals while the brain is forming.

A question still remains, however, as to how minor cortical malformations might lead to dyslexia. Animal research has begun to clarify the relationship. When very small malformations are induced in the brains of rats, for example, researchers have found that these will cause a major restructuring all over the brain. Because the brain is so plastic, small abnormalities in a developing brain can produce profound consequences. One region that this restructuring can affect is the magnocellular cell system in the lateral (vision) and medial (hearing) geniculate nuclei of the thalamus. It appears that when neurons migrate incorrectly and form ectopias, these may lead to abnormalities in the magnocellular system neurons that conduct auditory and visual impulses to the cortex. As many as 80% of children who have defects in the fast, magnocellular, auditory sensory systems go on to be diagnosed as dyslexic. However, the impact of these magnocellular abnormalities has been poorly understood until recently.

Connections to Reading Researchers from several different perspectives have begun to clarify the relationship between reduced magnocellular function and reading. For over twenty years, researchers in child language have known that children with developmental language problems have problems recognizing and sequencing tones that occur too close together in time. Dr. Paula Tallal, who first recognized this phenomenon in language impaired children, theorized that a problem detecting tones occurring within rapid succession impaired perception of the phonemic contrasts needed to learn language and later learn to read.

Recently, this same phenomenon has been observed in male rats with induced cortical malformations. In one study, male rats with induced malformations could not detect two tones if they occurred in rapid succession, less than one quarter of a second apart. In a separate study, male rats, unable to detect a second tone when presented within 72 milliseconds of a first tone, were shown to have a greater number of small and no large cells in their medial geniculate nucleus. Taken together, these studies point to the interrelationship between microscopic developmental malformations in the brain (ectopias and microgyria) and problems with rapid processing (large, magnocellular) systems in the thalamus.

Several new studies of reading skill and dyslexia add the final link for understanding the relationship between rapid processing systems and reading skill. One study conducted by Talcott and his colleagues at Oxford University showed that phonological reading decoding skills were correlated with ability to process fast moving auditory stimuli, while the ability to recognize words with irregular (non-phonemic) combinations of letters was correlated with ability to process fast moving visual information. David Heeger and his colleagues at Stanford University have reported findings from a functional imaging study comparing normal and dyslexic readers while performing tasks that require fast visual processing. They found less activity in the magnocellular pathways of people with dyslexia than in the normal readers. In a third study, John Gabrieli, Torkel Klingberg and their associates at Standford University have found, using a new imaging technique called "diffusion tensor imaging", that adults with dyslexia have less well organized white matter in regions of the cortex responsible for integrating auditory and visual information. They have speculated that these white matter differences represent differences in processing speed.

In an intervention study, Habib and his colleagues at the Cognitive Neurology Laboratory in Marseille, France found evidence that modifying speech signals to slow the rapid speech transitions significantly helps children with dyslexia. In a study of twelve ten- to twelve-year old children with phonological dyslexia who underwent intensive phonological awareness exercises (45 minutes a day over a five week period), those for whom the short transitional speech elements were slowed and made louder made significantly greater gains than the children who received normal speech for their training.

Taken together, these results suggest that a key to learning to read is the ability to process rapidly occurring sounds and visual signals. It appears, from Talcott's research, that there is a continuum of skill in this domain, with better readers also showing greater processing speed. Processing speed, in turn, seems to be linked to magnocellular processing pathways that conduct information from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex. Finally, magnocellular systems are affected by early minor alterations in the microscopic development of the cerebral cortex that seem to be guided, at least in part, by genetic influences.

Although researchers are beginning to understand the biological foundations of reading and reading disorders, it is important to recognize that there is a great deal that remains unclear. Although there may be a genetic predisposition to factors that contribute to reading disorders, clearly there is not a one-to-one correspondence. Talcott's finding that reading skill, in general, is related to both visual and auditory processing speed, suggests that reading skill occurs on a continuum and involves at least two processing systems. Animal research further suggests that processing speed is related to cellular systems in the thalamus that process rapidly changing stimuli. However, there may be gender differences in these influences, and the biology appears to be plastic, that is, able to be altered by intensive instruction or other environmental factors. We all await the research that will further clarify these latter considerations, as it will help educators to tailor their methods to the specific needs of each child.

Dr. Martha S. Burns is a certified speech-language therapist on staff at Evanston-Northwestern University Hospital and on faculty at Northwestern University department of communication sciences and disorders. She runs the private practice support team at Scientific Learning Inc. She has published widely on neurological foundations of language and reading disorders.
References:
Azar, Beth. 2000 What's the link between speed and reading in children with dyslexia? Monitor on Pscyhology. March: 36-39.
Habib, M.; Expesser, R.; Rey, V.; Giraud, K.;Bruas,P; Gres, C. 1999. Training Dyslexics with Acoustically Modified Speech: Evidence of Improved Phonological Performance. Brain and Cognition. 40:143-146.
Murray, Bridget. 2000. From Brain Scan to Lesson Plan. Monitor on Psychology. March: 22-28.
Talcott, Joel; Witton, Caroline; McLean, Maggie; Hansen, Peter; Rees, Adrian; and Green, Gary. 2000 Dynamic sensory sensititvity and children's word decoding skills. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

My son has Auditory Processing Disorder - APD

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Anne Dixey on a little-known disorder that may affect the school progress of one child in ten
When football dad Kai Vacher wants to shout at his son to take the ball up the wing, he has to restrain himself. For, although Ben, 7 (right), can hear, he can’t understand. He has auditory processing disorder (APD), a listening difficulty that could affect 10 per cent of children.
Kai and his partner Anna had wondered about Ben’s hearing since he was little. “Every time he went to playgroup he would say, ‘Something is wrong with my ear; there is always a rushing sound like rain’,” Anna recalls. But when a teacher suggested he might be deaf the hearing tests came out normal.

Anna gave up her job as a secondary school teacher to help Ben. Her shelves are filled with files, letters and research. It has taken Anna and Kai nearly four frustrating years to get a diagnosis for Ben’s condition. They went from GPs near their home in East Sussex to local speech therapists, audiologists and ear, nose and throat specialists until the final, firm diagnosis of APD at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London.

APD is a listening disorder rather than a hearing disorder; the problem lies in the brain rather than the ear. For any sound to be registered, signals from the ear must be translated by the brain, but children with APD have trouble registering or processing these signals. The exact reason is not yet understood.

Awareness of the condition is comparable to dyslexia 20 years ago. GPs often haven’t heard of it and, although the US has led the way in highlighting the condition, there is no routine test. One of the problems is that experts say it is difficult to diagnose before the age of 7 – a child is changing so fast before that age.

How well an affected child listens seems to depend on the situation he is in, and noisy environments are most problematic. Kai, a former teacher and now an education consultant, describes it as like “living with a child who is periodically deaf”. Communicating one-to-one is fine, but Ben is lost in a crowd. “When he is at a birthday tea with eight or ten kids he hasn’t got a clue what is going on. He will look at the faces and laugh, but there is a slight delay.”

The Vachers, along with Ben’s 12-year-old sister Lizzie, were ecstatic when Ben’s condition was finally diagnosed but then began the struggle to find the right treatment. A breakthrough came with the loan of a radio microphone system from the National Deaf Children’s Society – Ben’s teacher wore a microphone and he had a receiver. During that eight-month period he came home “skipping and laughing.” The teacher’s voice had been distilled out of the background noise.

But since the microphone system had to be returned at Christmas, at the end of the loan period, he has been in a class of 35 without the equipment. Anna says: “Four times a day he gets pain in his ears and has to leave the classroom – the teacher says he is struggling. It is about his wellbeing, too. Now it is awful, he comes in from school and just curls up.”

Ben has an added hearing sensitivity that means he hates the noise of fireworks or even a hairdryer. But his listening problem does not mean that he cannot appreciate music. “He is very musical and plays the violin and piano,” Kai says. “When he hears a song on the radio he will sing the tune perfectly – but he will get the words wrong.”

The family is currently in discussions with the local authorities and hope to get another microphone system for Ben to use at his village state school. They cost about £1,300.
Computer training can help APD sufferers.

Dilys Treharne, an APD specialist at Sheffield University, says: “We think about 10 per cent of kids have got it – that’s a lot of children. Some of them cope quite adequately with it but some really struggle. You cannot cure it but a lot of work can be done to ameliorate the problem.”
Options include cutting noise in the classroom with carpeting, radio microphone systems and computer programs. Addison Primary in Brook Green, West London has just joined a handful of other state schools nationally using Fast ForWord (FFW) intensive computer training, aimed at children with APD and other disorders such as dyslexia. The programme uses games that reward learners when they listen carefully, correctly recognising sounds or accurately following on-screen instructions.

Pete Dunmall, the head teacher, had never heard of the condition but, when one pupil was given a firm diagnosis, he decided to use the internal budget to fund FFW for six children who might benefit. “We just want to see what impact this programme has with these children and then evaluate,” he says.

Diagnosis of APD is complicated when children also suffer from other conditions with similar symptoms. Difficulties with reading might be due to dyslexia and problems concentrating because of attention deficit disorder.

Professor Dave Moore, the director of the Institute of Hearing Research, describes it as a “referral lottery” in which a child sent to an audiologist might be told he or she has APD and one sent to a language specialist might be told that they need help for dyslexia.

To find out more about the problem, the institute is testing the listening abilities of 1,600 children, aged 6 to 11, in Glasgow, Cardiff, Nottingham and Exeter. Professor Moore describes it as “the most thorough research being done in the world on the subject”, and it is attracting international interest. The research will help provide an estimate of the prevalence of ADP, with the ultimate aim of developing an accessible, standard diagnostic test.

Word in your ear
What is auditory processing disorder? Hearing starts in the ear, sounds are sent to the brain and the brain interprets them so we can understand. In a child with APD, the brain has difficulty translating the sounds.

What’s the cause? It might run in families and there could be tiny differences in the way brain cells send messages or are joined together. Middle-ear disease (“glue ear”) may also be a cause.
The symptoms APD sufferers have difficulties understanding spoken messages, using speech, reading and remembering instructions.

The diagnosis GPs will refer patients to speech therapists and audiologists who will use a battery of tests.

The treatment Reducing background noise at school and at home can help; as can sitting the child next to the teacher and checking understanding. There are also hearing training programmes, classroom listening devices or radio microphone systems.

Another success with child with autism

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:53:00 +0000

A center director just wrote this to me: "He is in 1st grade and diagnosed with Autism. He is an amazing little boy. His mom just came into my office to let me know that he is now pronouncing "L" blended words correctly. He used to always say "pway" for play or "reawy" for really. He is also reading from left to right and attempting to sound out words without being prompted!!!"

Fast ForWord software has been able to access and change his learning system in a way most therapies cannot. This is partly due to its adaptivity which has students making a lot of repititions targeted at their exact level of difficulty.

Auditory processing impacts learning enthusiasm

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:16:00 +0000

Sound discrimination and auditory processing skills are essential to improve the clarity and breadth of the phonological vocabulary. This opens the door to automaticity in reading and to more effective learning.

Enthusiasm for learning is inextricably tied to the daily educational experience. If the teacher is hard to follow, classroom instruction can be exhausting at best and an exercise in futility at worst. Following directions at home can be problematic also. Your child will almost always need homework help as chances are they miss either the instructional content or the homework assignment details on a daily basis.

And reading help is also required. If your child is not reading easily, school is already or will become trying.

The boost in foundational learning skills that Fast ForWord achieves can make the school day more manageable by reducing frustration and building confidence. It provides reading help in a way the teacher cannot, but changing how clearly a child can hear sounds in their smallest increment, phonemes. This improves the likelihood of a positive effort every day leading to a more productive educational career.

Auditory Processing Disorder

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Auditory Processing Disorder (or Central Auditory Processing Disorder/ CAPD) is basically the role the brain plays in the hearing process which ultimately enables us to develop learning skills. In order to help children to overcome any CAPD issues we focus on developing their cognitive processes. This ensures the breakthrough that gives long lasting improvements of language, reading and learning skills.

Some level of auditory processing is by far the most common reason that children need reading help not to mention language based learning issues such as difficulty following directions, speaking delays, vocabulary and articulation issues.

Fast ForWord software works on auditory processing very successfully. Send me an email and I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Autistic girl -- feedback from a teacher

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Neuron Learning, a Fast ForWord provider in Ireland received this email from a teacher who is reviewing our products for her own use.

"Spoke to the mum of an autistic girl who is studying with James. Here is the imperical evidence that Fast ForWord does provide autism help:
The child now maintains eye contact with people she meets she mingles with her peers in school she constructs complex sentences and can string them together her power of reasoning has improved amazingly. She is engaging with the phonics program at school and not surprisingly her self confidence has gone through the roof. Her powers of concentration have been greatly enhanced."

This feedback came in the child's third month.

Schools as Brain Training Hubs

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:28:00 +0000

A Gemm Learning Advisory Board member, public school superintendent Scott Spears, had his prediction for the future of education selected by SharpBrains.com. As you will read below, Scott and Gemm Learning are very much on the same wave length.

"I asked for suggestions to refine our predictions for the 2007-2015 period. A good number of people contributed, and the winner is... Scott Spears, retired public schools superintendent"

His prediction (abridged):
"Prediction 11: Schooling will be structurally dramatically altered through the use of diagnostics related to the acquisition and improvement of basic cognitive skills (such as auditory processing speed), along with prescriptions employing emerging brain fitness software.

Schools will be structured around the acquisition of foundational cognitive skills, related physical fitness to support brain fitness, student awareness and knowledge of brain function and responsibility for one's own fitness. Schools will be much more organically structured along the learning needs of individuals.

Learning gaps will close as the playing field levels in the acquisition of the basic cognitive skills required for high levels of success and learning. "Special education" as such will first disappear in the middle and later grades as students receive early intervention for cognitive skill development and as the plethora of currently diagnosed mental disorders are better understood as brain function issues that can either be prevented or re-mediated through neuroscience-based interventions, and will finally entirely disappear as a function of the design of individual learning plans for every student.

The nature of schooling is thus liberated from the current model of emphasis on content acquisition to become more focused on the teacher-student interface of interest-directed learning under-girded by the skills necessary for high-order thinking and learning."
In making this prediction Scott had programs like Fast ForWord software in mind.

Gemm Learning and other centers like ours are at the front end of this new ability to "intervene," to proivide learning help that changes fundamental learning at its core, making for a dramatically different academic career. Scott's focus is on how this will make schools more productive. Our focus is on how these changes make for a much more confident and successful student.

Invest vs Spend after-school

gnixon@gemmlearning.com (Gemm Learning) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Investing in your child's education used to be a common phrase in family life. But as the bar has been raised and as the pressure is on to perform now, to meet ELA standards now(!), it seems the focus has switched from "building a foundation for future success in academics and life" and get ahead to "getting through this year, this material."

And so naturally parents are turning to tutors for help. Tutors, one on one or in small groups, are able to provide the extra help needed to help children learn the day's material. But at what cost?

1/ Especially in early grade, the day-to-day focus takes away from an effort to build foundational skills that could help get your child off the tutoring treadmill in time. It's called "elementary" school for a reason.
2/ Because tutoring, in most cases, does not address the underlying learning issue, it seldom impacts your child's learning ability, confidence or day-to-day enjoyment of school and learning.
3/ Tutoring costs add up. Two hours a week at $75 an hour, is $2,700 a year, times the number of years left at school, is >$20,000 over a school career.

Isn't it a better to at least look at the idea of fixing the problem. Rather than SPEND on tutoring, INVEST in an intervention, a program that can change how children read and learn, an investment that will pay dividends year after year in terms of your child's academic success and confidence, not to mention save on years of tutoring bills and worry about your child's future.

Another way to state the choice: INVEST to lay a foundation upon which accelerated gains are likely, or SPEND to make sure this week's homework gets done and next week's test goes well and just hope for a better outcome next year.

Gemm Learning offers EDUCATION INVESTMENT: we have a range of programs that work on fundamental cognitive skills with different ultimate goals -- reading, language, math facts, writing or learning skills. For more detail on our programs click here.To Spend or Invest?
Investing in your child's future

Investing in your child's education used to be a common phrase in family life. But as the bar has been raised and as the pressure is on to perform now, to meet ELA standards now(!), it seems the focus has switched from "building a foundation for future success in academics and life" and get ahead to "getting through this year, this material."
And so naturally parents are turning to tutors for help. Tutors, one on one or in small groups, are able to provide the extra help needed to help children learn the day's material. But at what cost?

1/ Especially in early grade, the day-to-day focus takes away from an effort to build foundational skills that could help get your child off the tutoring treadmill in time. It's called "elementary" school for a reason.
2/ Because tutoring, in most cases, does not address the underlying learning issue, it seldom impacts your child's learning ability, confidence or day-to-day enjoyment of school and learning.
3/ Tutoring costs add up. Two hours a week at $75 an hour, is $2,700 a year, times the number of years left at school, is >$20,000 over a school career.