Research Based Reading Programs

Fast ForWord Overview & Program Summaries

Fast ForWord software is a series of research based reading programs designed to be completed sequentially, the order depending on student age, needs and goals. The programs have helped over 1 million struggling readers and learners in more than 40 countries around the world.

Based on 30 years of research and 55 patents, Fast ForWord is made up of eleven different programs with over 60 different exercises -- drawn from cognitive research on reading, neuroscience, linguistics, and the science of natural learning. Its results are backed by over 250 research studies and 800 white papers.
How the science works

Program Overview
Along the road to critical reading comprehension there is ample opportunity for a glitch to interrupt progress -- difficulty with one or more reading skill.

Fast ForWord is adaptive, meaning that while your child will see exercises covering all aspects of reading, progress through the sections that cover skills he/she already possesses will be quick, leaving the vast majority of their time for exercises that target their individual reading skill gaps. Research based reading interventions, drawing on the Fast ForWord program series, are individualized for each student.

Each Fast ForWord reading program takes 4-8 weeks, depending on the student's reading skills and session length, 30, 40 or 50 minutes. Students spend 3-8 months, working on average on 3-4 programs.

The Opportunity Provided By Science
Here is why Fast ForWord has been so successful:

• Decoding is the key to reading. If it requires concentration, reading comprehension is undermined.


• Decoding requires accurate processing. Decoding, pulling apart words automatically in your head, i.e., to hear "cat" as |c| |a| |t|, requires accuracy in processing that is a challenge for 90% of struggling readers.


• Processing can be improved. The brain is like a muscle, not a hard-wired computer -- it will change if exercised appropriately. Fast ForWord starts by targeting these cognitive skills.


• Therefore: Reading can be natural. Once cognitive skills are strengthened, most students can learn to read with comprehension like their skilled reading peers. Fast ForWord follows this natural learning path, with exercises that accelerate the development of reading skills in sequence.

Summary of Software Series By Program

Fast ForWord is designed in two distinct stages:

1. Cognitive programs to treat underlying causes. All students start with Fast ForWord Language v2 or Fast ForWord Literacy to improve processing, memory, sequencing and attention, essential cognitive skills required for reading.


2. Reading series to fill in student reading skill gaps. Most Gemm students move on to complete at least one program in the Fast ForWord reading series, to help students learn to read efficiently and effectively.

Typical Elementary Protocol

Our research based approach starts with Fast ForWord Language and Language to Reading, followed by one or more of the programs in the reading series, depending on each child's unique needs, based on our ongoing assessments.

Typical Middle, High School or Adult Protocol

Older students start with Fast ForWord Literacy, the cognitive skills program, followed by Literacy Advanced, and two or more programs in the reading series, based on each student's unique needs and according to our ongoing assessments.

Fast ForWord Cognitive Programs

Language and Language to Reading
Fast ForWord Language and its follow up program, Language to Reading, use adaptive algorithms and neuroscience principles to develop the processing and retention skills required for reading. These programs for reading are designed for children ages five to ten years old.
Fast ForWord Language

Fast ForWord to Literacy and Literacy Advanced
These two programs are adolescent/adult versions of Fast ForWord Language and Language to Reading. They have a cool, space age feel to them, to keep middle and high schoolers and adults engaged.

The goals of Literacy and Literacy Advanced are to improve language processing so that a student can automate decoding, to make an exhausting reading style more efficient, freeing up brain capacity for much stronger reading comprehension.
Fast ForWord Literacy

Fast ForWord Basics and Reading Prep
For your younger children, four to seven years old, Gemm Learning will start with Fast ForWord Basics. It uses fun activities to develop the basic skills necessary for language and reading development. As a precursor to our Fast ForWord Language program it also enhances a young student’s ability to become familiar with computer skills and techniques.
Fast ForWord Language Basics

Fast ForWord Reading Programs

The Reading series is comprised of age appropriate programs for reading that fill in reading skill gaps, adapting to each student's weaknesses, providing exercises and content to meet each student's particular needs.

The programs escalate in difficulty and sophistication, aiming to develop language fundamentals, vocabulary and spelling, along with reading comprehension and exacting sentence completion and sentence matching exercises that seek to undo early bad reading habits and reset a reading foundation capable of handling the escalating difficulty of reading comprehension through the grades.

The Fast ForWord Reading programs, Levels 1-5, loosely correlate with grades. Reading Levels 1 and 2 have exercises to build fluency, spelling and language structure, while Reading Levels 3 and 4 progress through reading comprehension to exercises that build critical thinking and inferential skills. Reading Level 5 is appropriate for middle school through adult.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 1
Reading Level 1 -- for K to 2nd graders -- works on early foundational skills such as vocabulary, phonemic awareness, spelling and reading accuracy in sentence comprehension. It uses simple sentence completion exercises to help develop critical thinking skills while reading. It combines a left to right eye tracking exercise with essential sight words to build capability in both areas. Each exercise is engaging, hosted by its own colorful character. Children are able to work through the material at their own pace. The primary goal here is reading fluency.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 1

Fast ForWord Reading Level 2
Reading Level 2 -- for 2nd to 4th graders -- builds on the work on fundamentals in Reading Level 1. The spelling element of the program moves from phonics to spelling rules. The sight words include unconventional spellings and the reading comprehension exercises continue to progress. This program completes the reading fluency work in Fast ForWord.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 2

Fast ForWord Reading Level 3
While Reading Level 3 uses a 4th to 6th grade vocabulary, it is a challenging program and the starting point for most adolescents and adults. It takes the thinking-while-reading skill development up a notch with Twisted Pictures, an exercise requiring the student to choose one out of four similar sentences to describe a complicated picture, and Hog Hat Zone that has missing words in sentences pulled from the classics. It also introduces an exercise that builds metalinguistics, a dexterity with language -- rhyming, seeing the nuances -- required for higher level thinking.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 3

Fast ForWord Reading Level 4
Reading Level 4 -- for 4th to 7th graders -- is a smooth continuation of Reading 3. It has follow on exercises for the main Reading Level 3 themes with a stand out grammar exercise to help round out student syntax and grammar skills.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 4

Fast ForWord Reading Level 5
Reading Level 5 is a unique, open ended program that pushes reading and thinking skills as far as they will go. Its research based reading exercises teach metacognitive strategies using a natural learning, incremental approach that encourages analytical thinking from all angles. It has comprehension and passage completion exercises that work on critical thinking, drawing inferences and abstract reasoning -- higher level reasoning and thinking skills required in reading and writing, called reading comprehension with metacognition.
Fast ForWord Reading Level 5