Auditory Processing Program

The Science Behind Fast ForWord Software

Why Auditory Processing Matters
If a young child cannot process at natural language speed they miss a lot of instruction and direction and they do not "get" reading. For children who hear every sound in every word, reading is simply a matter of transposing language to a new format using their ABC's. But, for those with a limited or muddy speech vocabulary, reading is like being confronted with a whole new language.

Enter Fast ForWord
The starting point in developing Fast ForWord software was that reading is a language problem -- if auditory processing difficulties make language "muddy" sounding then decoding will be difficult. Fast ForWord was developed as an auditory processing program. Scientists reasoned that if they could make improvements in the underlying difficulties that make language muddy, they could dramatically improve reading and learning skills.

Thirty-five years later they have done just that. The program is often described now as Fast ForWord auditory processing software. The majority of Gemm Learning students have some form of auditory processing issue, often so subtle that the it goes unnoticed until reading starts to falter.

Inaccurate listening impacts the ability to follow instruction in class and reading -- decoding and comprehension. And so, while Fast ForWord is primarily a reading program, it also dramatically helps learning efficiency by improving processing speed and accuracy.
Difficulties helped by auditory processing software

Fast ForWord Program

Background
In 1997 The Scientific Learning Corporation introduced the Fast ForWord program after 30 years of development combining cognitive research and neuroscience, by several of the world's leading neuroscientists and universities. Since its introduction there has been considerable interest in the program as an auditory processing disorder treatment.

Fast ForWord was designed to facilitate the development of a child's language skills which, when improved, make reading easier. It is based on the premise that the language delays and auditory perceptual disabilities of many children stem from an auditory processing disorder, a slower rate of processing. When children process information at a slower rate they will miss certain acoustic cues and on a micro level may mishear individual words and confuse/interchange sounds within words.

How The Science Works

On a more global level, children with auditory processing disorder may experience difficulty in many areas of receptive and/or expressive language, i.e. reduced vocabulary, difficulty remembering and/or sequencing information as well as in reading and reading comprehension.

Fast ForWord has proven itself to be be an effective auditory processing disorder treatment because it increases the rate at which children process information resulting in improved/more accurate processing and subsequently improved language and reading skills. This is accomplished through a series of computer based exercises which utilize the theories of neural plasticity of the neural pathways and structures of the brain.
The science of Fast ForWord

Fast ForWord Founders' Idea
The most common cause of poor listening accuracy is that the brain does not process fast enough to discriminate between sounds. To improve reading, Scientific Learning came up with a simple idea: when you teach a child to hit a baseball you start slow then speed-up -- why not do the same with the brain?

Their Program
They created Fast ForWord, a "slow pitch machine for the brain." This software is the first and so far only program based on neuro-scientific principles developed by a cofounder of Fast ForWord, Dr. Merzenich.

The exercises work because of their intensity. Each day the student is prompted to make hundreds of decisions in quick succession. It is an adaptive program that adds speed and complexity in tiny incremental steps, each student working at his/her own pace.

At regular intervals students receive unexpected surprises in the form of fun activities on the screen or sounds. These surprises are designed to produce a spike in norepinephrine, activity that promotes brain change. Many of the exercises focus on memory in conjunction with other skills. Fast ForWord does this to encourage the brain as a system to reorganize. Every minute of computer time is productive, every minute working toward improved learning.

Once mastered, these new skills are used every day and so they endure, making this one-time program a compelling alternative to tutoring which tends to require an ongoing commitment.

Quick Facts On Fast ForWord
There are 75,000 children around the country working on the software right now, and one million who have already completed it. Over 40,000 of these students have been part of highly scrutinized scientific studies, and over 700 scientific articles have been written on the subject. Fast ForWord auditory processing empirical evidence -- in trials and studies -- confirms that the software is indeed able to boost learning and reading skills for the vast majority of students who follow the protocol.

Program Detail

There are seven games in Fast ForWord Language v2, the first program in the series. Fast ForWord Language v2 (and the version for older children, Fast ForWord Literacy) is a comprehensive treatment for auditory processing disorder -- it has exercises that target the various aspects of auditory processing disorder and language, including sequencing, working memory, phonological awareness, selective attention, processing speed and accuracy.
Fast ForWord Language

Research has shown that to process language at a normal rate we ought to be able to hear the difference between tone sweeps, at the longest, of 40 msec. in duration. An inability to do so may result in language and/or auditory processing difficulty. One of the program's exercises, Ele-Bot, aims to improve a child's ability to understand various grammatical constructs, i.e. pronouns, plurals, negatives, passives, double negatives, while Space Commander targets auditory memory skills.

Program Structure
Fast ForWord is series of programs, done sequentially, that treat the cause of auditory processing difficulties and then develops reading skills. Upon entering the program all children start at the same basic level. The children must attain a predetermined level of proficiency before they are allowed to progress. The rate at which a child progresses through the program is therefore determined by the child.

On average, children will complete the first program in 6 to 10 weeks. From there, they move to a cognitive follow up program that builds auditory processing skills to their full potential, before moving to age appropriate reading programs that develop vocabulary, fluency, spelling, reading comprehension and other reading skills, most often underdeveloped in children with auditory processing disorder.

Fast ForWord Is Effective
Fast ForWord has a neuroscience pedigree making it the subject of intense peer scrutiny and review. It has been the subject of over 700 white papers and research studies covering many thousands of students, making it the most widely tested auditory processing program available. The overwhelming conclusion of these trials has been positive.

The Fast ForWord program has been very effective in stimulating the development of language skills in many children. It is worth considering for children who exhibit speech and language or reading difficulties associated with auditory processing disorder, particularly those whose progress is slow or whose development has reached a plateau.

Factors To Consider When Choosing Fast ForWord
When considering the Fast ForWord prgram for auditory processing, several factors come into play:

1) The age of the child. Technically the Fast ForWord program was designed for children 4 years of age through adult. Many younger children however do not have certain concepts required and/or the attention span necessary to complete the program. Just because a child has a language delay does not mean that this is the best program for the child at this time. Sometimes the treatment, especially if auditory processing difficulties are severe, should be started when the child is a little older -- six years of age or older.

2) Ability to wear earphones. The child must be comfortable wearing earphones for extended periods of time.

3) Behavior and attention span. A reduced ability to concentrate does not preclude a child from going throughout the program. It does, however, influence the level of supervision, structure and environment in which the program is conducted. Most children under nine years of age require at least some supervision, as is the case with most treatment protocols requiring intense student participation.

Other considerations:

Expectations. Every child is an individual. Although most children have shown significant improvements in language skills over the course of the program, for a few the gains have been more modest.

Location. The program can be conducted either at home or at a clinic location. Location choice ought to be based on the environment which will be best for the child. One of the strengths of Gemm Learning is that it has replicated the motivation and support of an in center environment at home, making this at home option a viable program for children with auditory processing difficulties.