FAST FORWORD

What is Fast ForWord? Fast ForWord is patented software specifically designed by brain scientists to build an individual’s learning capacity through exercises designed to improve brain processing speed and accuracy. The Fast ForWord family of products is a sequenced training series that begins with strengthening the foundational cognitive skills of memory, attention, processing and sequencing and continues through to the foundational reading skills of vocabulary, phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency and comprehension. Memory skills are improved to hold information and ideas facilitate comprehension of complex sentences, and aid in remembering instructions. Attention abilities are developed to focus on tasks and ignore distractions. Individuals are also taught how to Process more efficiently, enabling them to see and distinguish images and sounds more quickly. This is a prerequisite for phonemic awareness and reading. Sequencing skills, necessary for phonics, word fluency, reading and oral comprehension, are also improved. How do you know it really works? Continuous research. Since its origins in university labs, scientists have continuously tracked the gains resulting from students using the Fast ForWord product. To date there are over 90 school based research studies tracking over 40,000 students. In addition, independent research conducted by Stanford University has imaged the brain before and after the use of Fast ForWord products to show that areas of the brain are activated after product use. The Reading to Language Connection Fast ForWord exercises help individuals connect the language skills that are ultimately necessary for learning to read. A person who does not recognize or process word sounds accurately will not be able to make the right associations between letter representations and spoken language. Comprehension of connected text depends heavily on the reader’s oral language abilities. This is particularly true with regard to understanding the meanings of identified words and syntactic relationships among them. Each language skill adds to the overall picture, or goal, which is fluent reading and communication. The skills necessary for reading are phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition, listening comprehension, working memory, sound-letter recognition (phonics), semantics, and language comprehension. These are targets of the Fast ForWord Program.