Software improves school's test scores in reading (for apraxia too?!)

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone, I just received the following from one of our advisors

Dr. a Tallal -the creator of Fast For Word. I'm was thinking of

trying FFW for both Dakota and Tanner even before reading this! (may have to cut

and paste the link)

Hi ,

A terrific article just came out in a Tennessee newspaper. Please

feel free to quote from it in your book, link to it on your website,

use it in your newsletter or refer others to it in any way that you

think useful. Here is the web access:

Tennessean www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/02/13350015.shtml?

Element_ID=13350015 & _wsgettop3c5edd323b225680_00

(http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/02/13350015.shtml?

Element_ID=13350015 & _wsgettop3c5edd323b225680_00)

Software improves school's test scores in reading

DELORES DELVIN / STAFF

Teacher Jane Crites helps sixth-grader Li Zhong Kai with the

Fast ForWord computer program at Westwood Elementary. Li Zhong moved

from Japan this fall and has made great strides in learning English,

Crites said.

By NICOLE GARTON

Staff Writer

MANCHESTER, Tenn. — When Deyci Sierra moved here from Mexico four

years ago, she didn't speak a word of English.

Like other English as a Second Language students across Middle

Tennessee, she struggled not only to learn the language of her new

country but also to keep up with schoolwork she could barely

understand.

''I was scared because I was afraid no one would like me,'' 13-year-

old Deyci said.

Today, Deyci is in seventh grade and does the same work as her native

English-speaking peers. She helps her younger siblings with their

homework and plans to go to college and become a teacher.

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Both Deyci and her former teachers at Westwood Elementary believe her

rapid progress has a lot to do with ''Fast ForWord,'' a language and

reading computer program that retrains the brain to learn faster and

better.

''It has helped me a lot in my language, learning new words,'' Deyci

said.

Based on neuroscience research, Fast ForWord was initially designed

to help individual kids overcome reading and language disabilities

such as dyslexia. But educators are discovering that, when used

across the board, the program can result in higher test scores.

Westwood was one of the earliest schools to use the software

schoolwide. More than two years ago, Principal got a

grant to try out Fast ForWord on six students who were having trouble

in reading. District officials were so impressed with the results,

they provided funding to buy enough software for the whole school.

Since that move, Westwood has seen dramatic improvement in its value-

added test scores. Although the school always has had high

achievement, students weren't learning as much each year as they

should have been.

For example, on its 2000 school report card, Westwood's value-added

score in language arts was 90.1% — lower than 100%, which is average.

Last year, after a year with Fast ForWord, the school had raised that

score to 138.2%, an achievement the state considers exemplary.

After seeing Westwood's success, other schools are following suit.

New Union Elementary, also in Manchester, bought Fast ForWord this

year and plans to implement it schoolwide by next year.

''I'm really excited about the program. I think we'll see big results

from it,'' said Janice White, instructional coordinator for the

school, citing an expected gain of 1½ to three years in reading and

language levels for most students.

Schools must be willing to pay big for those results. It can cost up

to $30,000 for a yearlong license from Scientific Learning Corp., the

company that makes the software. And that doesn't include computers

to put it on.

believes it's worth it.

''The children learn faster. We can hold their attention longer,''

she said. ''One of the things we're all concerned about in Tennessee

is test scores and accountability. Our children made tremendous gains

this year.''

• • •

Walking into the Fast ForWord lab at Westwood is a bit eerie. The

only sounds are the whirring of machinery and the clicking of

computer mice. All 21 pairs of eyes are focused on their glowing

screens.

Each year, every student in the school goes through the six-week

program, spending 100 minutes a day in the lab.

''You would think they could not stay here for an hour and a half

without having to get up and go to the bathroom, but they are so

engrossed in what they're doing,'' said sixth-grade reading teacher

Martha Hodges. ''They thought they were going to hate it, but they

don't hate it. In fact, some of them are real competitive with each

other, and they have fun doing that.''

Jenna , 12, took about a week to finish a program that takes

most students 25 days. This was her second year using the Fast

ForWord software.

''It's not boring because you're doing six different things, and you

spend about 20 minutes on each one, so it doesn't get boring,'' she

said.

On the screen, animated men in hard hats run around a building site.

Each construction beam has words on it, making up a sentence with a

missing verb. Trent , 11, has to choose the correct verb tense

to complete the sentence. Once he solves the puzzle, a new one pops

up.

When students launch the Fast ForWord software, they feel like

they're playing a computer game. But what they're really doing is

causing permanent physical changes to their brains through repetition

of certain exercises.

With headphones on, they listen to the individual phonemes, or basic

sounds, that make up the English language. The computer is able to

slow down speech to draw out and isolate each sound in a word —

something the human voice can't quite do. This allows students to

hear sounds better that they might normally have trouble

distinguishing, such as ''ka'' and ''da.''

Since beginning Fast ForWord, the faculty at Westwood have noticed

particular improvement in ESL students like Deyci and in kids with

attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. But the program has

value for all the kids, they say.

''They're just going to be better readers and better able to converse

with other people,'' said Jane Crites, a reading teacher and

Fast ForWord coordinator at Westwood.

The changes manifest themselves in a lot of little ways, such as

making better eye contact and choosing harder books to read, she said.

There's no way to prove Fast ForWord is solely responsible for these

changes, and the program certainly isn't a cure-all for every child's

learning troubles. It needs to be supplemented by solid teaching in

the classroom, Crites said.

Still, it makes a difference, and parents as well as teachers have

noticed.

Sam , 11, was one of the first six kids at Westwood to use the

program three years ago. His mother, , had begun to worry about

his struggle with reading.

''He just was not where I wanted him to be with his phonics,'' she

said. ''He was a whole reader as opposed to a part reader. He would

memorize that the letters C, A, T together made 'cat,' as opposed to

saying 'kkk-aaa-ttt' to make it a word.''

The inability to sound out words could lead to vocabulary problems

later on, she knew, so she asked to have him included in the Fast

ForWord program. She's noticed some definite improvements.

''I just think he has more confidence in reading a chapter book that

doesn't have pictures. Before Fast ForWord, he would have been

relying on those pictures,'' she said. ''Now he picks up a chapter

book without a second thought.''

To find out more about how the brain learns, visit:

http://www.BrainConnection.com

For products that train the brain to accelerate learning, visit:

http://www.ScientificLearning.com

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