Fast ForWord – Memory, Attention, (Auditory) Processing, Sequencing

What is Fast ForWord Software?

Fast ForWord is based off of 30 years of Research relative to how the brain learns. The research depicts that the following certain conditions need to be met for successful learning.

Critical tasks are practiced at an appropriate frequency and intensity.
Practice takes place at the right skill level for the individual student—a skill level that continuously adapts to keep the student challenged, but not frustrated.
Multiple skills are “cross-trained” at the same time for lasting improvement.
Rewards build as a student progresses, maximizing motivation.
The learning environment feels “safe,” so students are encouraged to take risks.
The content is age appropriate and engaging.

The research also determined that boosting the brain's ability to process more effectively leads to better learning. Being able to strengthen the brain and change its ability to process is referred to by many as neuroplasticity.

The program was developed by the following doctors: Drs. Mike Merzenich, Paula Tallal, Bill Jenkins, and Steve Miller. Fast ForWord was designed to improve language by strengthening auditory, memory, processing and sequential processing skills. Once the foundational required skills for reading and language were strengthened, the user is then taken through a series of reading programs. The user gets the full foundational cognitive skills needed for learning and then specific work for reading, vocabulary and comprehension.

"If there's an aspect of this that's important, I think it is the lesson that most changes that are occurring in brains when brains are losing functionality are reversible. Or, from a child perspective, most of the limitations that are recorded in the brain of a child in fact are improvable." -Dr. Michael Merzenich

"Whatever you struggle with in a sense as it stems from your neurology, the inherent plasticity of brain gives you a basis for improvement. This is a way underutilized and under-appreciated resource
that we all have." -Dr. Michael Merzenich

The Science Behind the Product

The software is designed to meet the individualized ability and progress of each user. By doing so, the software is always adapting to the user and never frustrates the user rather keeps them engaged and motivated.

Four key components of technology-based intervention work together to create the dramatic changes in brain function required to achieve universal literacy:

Frequency and Intensity — Neuroscience research demonstrates that completing a set of learning tasks in a frequent, intense timeframe accelerates learning.
Adaptivity — Exercises adapt with each key stroke to individual skill levels and responses, keeping students continuously challenged but not frustrated.
Simultaneous Development — Exercises develop major cognitive and reading skills simultaneously to produce lasting improvements in learning.
Timely Motivation — Tiered rewards are designed to maximize motivation from start to finish.

Fast ForWord® LANGUAGE series includes a patented technology that stretches and emphasizes speech sounds at early exercise levels, progressing to natural speech sounds as a student advances to higher levels. This technological ability to “acoustically modify” speech helps students recognize word sounds, first in isolated syllables, then in groups of sounds, then in words, and finally in sentences.

How Do You Do This Exactly?

The Program begins with strengthening the foundational skills needed for learning, language and reading. This takes about 8 to 12 weeks to complete. From there, a student can progress into grade appropriate reading skill levels which takes 8 to 12 weeks. A total of 12-24 weeks to help your struggling learner become proficient in reading, learning and language skills. The program is completed in the student's home and monitored daily by ELSK. Weekly and monthly progress reports are provided to the parents discussing status and next steps. ELSK provides you with everything you need: Software, Headphones, Y-connector, manuals, resources, free support and a dedicated remote coach.

Students can achieve, on average, a 1 to 2 year gain in reading skills in 8 to 12 weeks using one of our prescribed protocols:

30 minutes each day, five days a week, for 12 to 16 weeks.
40 minutes each day, five days a week , for 9 to 13 weeks.
50 minutes each day, five days a week, for 6 to 10 weeks.
90 minutes each day, five days a week, for 4 to 7 weeks.

How Do You Know if it's Working?

Scientific Learning's Progress Tracker, an accountability tool, provides real-time monitoring of individual performance on the Fast ForWord exercises.

It provides clear, action-oriented information showing student progress over time, in specific reading and cognitive skills areas.

What Each Program Strengthens

Fast ForWord Language (Elementary)

Improves memory by having the student hold a statement or question in working memory while retrieving picture-concept associations from long-term memory.
Improves attention by developing the ability to focus on multiple tasks and ignore distractions.
Strengthens auditory and linguistic processing rates so that students can distinguish sounds quickly enough to discriminate individual phonemes and understand words and sentences.
Develops sequencing skills through exercises that require the use of a logical word order to comprehend simple and complex instructions and organize a response that follows the specified sequence of actions.

Fast ForWord Language to Reading

Builds memory through exercises that task both working and long-term memory.
Improves attention by developing the ability to focus on tasks and ignore distractions.
Develops auditory, visual, and linguistic processing of orally presented words, sentences, and stories for meaning and comprehension.
Develops sequencing skills through exercises that require the use of word order to comprehend complex statements, follow multi-step instructions, and form appropriate responses to a specified sequence of actions.

Fast ForWord Literacy (Middle & High School)

Improves memory by requiring holding a word or statement in short-term memory while retrieving picture-concept associations from long-term memory.
Improves attention by making students focus on the tasks at hand.
Strengthens processing ability through auditory, visual, and linguistic processing of orally and visually presented stories for meaning and comprehension.
Develops sequencing through exercises that require using word order to comprehend simple and complex statements and instructions and organizing a response that follows the specified sequence of actions.

Fast ForWord Reading Prep

Builds memory by developing the ability to hold a spoken word in working memory while retrieving picture-concept associations.
Improves attention by developing the ability to focus on tasks and ignore distractions.
Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences.
Develops sequencing by using positional clues to identify missing letters.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 1

Builds memory by developing the ability to hold a spoken word, sentence or passage in working memory while recalling letter-sound associations, vocabulary, punctuation rules or semantic information from long-term memory.
Improves attention by requiring focused attention to listen while reading along and sustained attention across multiple passage segments and questions.
Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences.
Develops sequencing by using positional clues to identify missing letters, to reorder the letters of a 'scrambled' word or by tracking the temporal and causal event sequences in passages to answer comprehension questions.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 2

Builds memory by having students hold an incomplete sentence in working memory while recalling vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation rules from long-term memory.
Improves attention by sustaining interest across multiple passage segments and questions.
Develops processing by coordinating the auditory and visual processing of two perceptual streams, speech and written text.
Develops sequencing by using word order and grammar to identify subtle difference in meaning among phrases, sentences and passages.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 3

Builds memory by working on long-term recall of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Improves attention by requiring selective attention to grammatical features of similar response alternatives.
Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences.
Develops sequencing by using word order to help determine precise meanings.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 4

Builds memory by having students use working memory to compare paragraphs with single sentence paraphrases.
Improves attention by enhancing the ability to focus on different aspects of presented vocabulary and ignore distractions.
Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences.
Develops sequencing by using logical relationships, word order and syntax to identify precise meanings.

Fast ForWord Reading Level 5

Builds memory by having students hold words and sentences in working memory while completing or reorganizing sentences and paragraphs.
Improves attention by allowing students to selectively focus on critical information while sustaining attention across longer text passages and question sets.
Develops processing by enhancing fluency in extracting and integrating meaning from longer text passages.
Develops sequencing by enabling the recognition of causal and temporal event sequences in text passages.