Fast ForWord facts for kids
Fast ForWord is a special computer program designed to help students improve their reading and learning skills. It's made by a company called Scientific Learning Corporation.
What is Fast ForWord?
Fast ForWord helps students get better at reading and learning. It focuses on important brain skills needed for reading. These skills include how quickly your brain processes sounds and how well you understand what you read.
How Do We Know It Works?
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is a group from the U.S. Department of Education. They review many programs to see if they really work. WWC looked at 21 studies about Fast ForWord. These studies met their very strict rules for research. This is more than any other reading program they have checked!
The WWC found that Fast ForWord helps with many areas:
- Alphabetics: Knowing letters and sounds.
- Reading Fluency: Reading smoothly and quickly.
- Comprehension: Understanding what you read.
- English Language Development: Helping students who are learning English.
Fast ForWord showed the biggest improvement for students learning English compared to other programs. This means it really helps English Language Learners improve their language skills.
Who Created Fast ForWord?
The ideas behind Fast ForWord came from several smart scientists.
- Michael Merzenich and Bill Jenkins from the University of California, San Francisco.
- Paula Tallal and Steven Miller from Rutgers University.
These scientists started the company in 1996. They believed that some children have trouble with language and reading because their brains don't process sounds fast enough. They also thought that special brain training could help improve this. Their final idea was that this training would help with many other learning skills, not just the ones practiced in the program.
