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Reading Programs for APD and Dyslexia
We provide Fast ForWord for APD and dyslexia at home with professional oversight.
APD, Dyslexia, or Both?
If your child has an APD diagnosis or clear auditory processing delays, it’s likely they have struggled with reading – learning phonics, reading fluency, and/or comprehension. If the reading difficulties are severe, a dyslexia diagnosis is possible.
If your child has dyslexia or severe reading difficulties, they likely struggle to follow the teacher in class. If you looked at all of your child’s dyslexia symptoms on an APD checklist, you might be surprised at the overlap.
Difficulty with multi-step directions is listed as a dyslexia symptom. But more accurately stated, it’s a sign of a language processing delay that puts your child at risk of dyslexia.
APD and Dyslexia – Common Source
Dyslexia and APD are caused by a cognitive skill gap and an auditory processing disorder, which causes language processing difficulties.
This makes sense, as reading is a language skill. It requires phonological awareness to break words down into individual sounds and then recognize them in text form. Similarly, dyslexia is a language-based learning disability.
This commonality of cause is good news. If your child has APD and dyslexia, this is good news. In reality, your child has one issue: an auditory processing deficit that hinders expressive and receptive language and holds back reading.
This creates a much less intimidating way forward. There are not two issues to deal with – dyslexia and APD- but rather just one: an auditory processing delay.
Remediate that processing delay, and reading skills will start to accelerate. Gemm Learning provides Fast ForWord, an auditory processing disorder reading intervention program that does just that.
If you are not sure of your child’s reading level or strengths and weaknesses, start by requesting a free online reading assessment.
“I wanted to let you know Blaise made first honors. He had a 95.6 average. I can’t even tell you how thankful I am to you and everyone at GEMM LEARNING. I remember the first day I walked into your office crying my eyes out, hoping and praying for a miracle. Blaise is diligent and hard-working, and your Fast Forward program was the perfect fit. THANK YOU!!!!!!”
“M. has been doing extremely well. His grades have improved dramatically, and his reading has improved significantly. We are so thrilled. We are continuing the program this school year. He actually enjoys the lessons and does it without a struggle.”
Fast ForWord for APD and Dyslexia
Gemm Learning provides remote therapy for auditory processing and dyslexia using Fast ForWord software. Fast ForWord is a series of cognitive training and reading intervention programs in two phases:
- Cognitive training for auditory processing and related skill gaps
- Reading intervention to build decoding automaticity, fluency, and reading comprehension.
Phase 1: Cognitive Training for Processing
The first phase of Fast ForWord is completely sound-based. A variety of sound discrimination, sequencing, and language comprehension exercises build language processing at natural language speed.
Delays in language processing naturally hinder the development of working memory and attention skills. Fast ForWord assumes these weaknesses and addresses them through discrete, targeted exercises.
The cognitive training program builds pre-reading skills such as phonemic awareness, working memory, attentiveness, and sequencing, creating a strong foundation for reading and learning.
For children with APD and dyslexia, the first phase takes 2-4 months. Younger child take longer, middle school and older a little less.
Phase 2: Reading Skill Exercises
Once a cognitive skill foundation is in place, your child will start to pick out sounds inside words, build phonemic awareness, and read more fluently. They will also start absorbing language around them, picking up vocabulary and language syntax.
Building on this natural momentum, your child will then move on to the Reading Series in Fast ForWord, which works on:
- Undoing bad habits, e.g., reading left to right, not skipping around
- Spelling – phonetic spelling should be natural after the processing training, so the program focuses on rules and exceptions
- Vocabulary and language conventions
- Decoding fluency
- Reading comprehension and thinking while reading
The exercises are age-appropriate, with the final level targeting middle-school-level reading comprehension and metacognition (thinking while reading).
Program Goals for APD and Dyslexia
By improving processing efficiency and related working memory and attention skills, we expect to:
- Boost language skills, receptive and expressive
- Improve reading fluency
- Improve reading comprehension by making decoding efficient
Fast ForWord is neuroscience-based software that was designed by four world-renowned neuroscientists based on the concept that (1) auditory processing is the key to developing phonics and phonemic awareness, and (2) the brain can rewire to overcome auditory processing disorder and related dyslexia symptoms.
Fast ForWord research includes 300+ studies, focusing mainly on struggling readers, children with APD, and children with dyslexia. It is backed by 80+ patents, mainly related to how it slows language sounds and then speeds them up, and has helped 3 million children worldwide.
Find out if Fast ForWord for APD and dyslexia is a fit for your child by requesting a demo, where you can watch overview videos and try the exercises yourself.