Earobics or FastForward?

FFW is much more intense than Earobics. They are very different programs, so I’m not sure it’s possible to say one is better than the other. It would be like saying an apple is better than an orange. FFW works on a much more fundamental level of development than Earobics, so in general I would favor FFW. Some kids are unable to get beyond certain portions of Earobics until they do FFW, so it’s possible to use Earobics as a sort of litmus test for FFW. In my opinion, FFW on top of 4 hours per day of summer school would be too much for a 9yo.

Have you looked at Interactive Metronome? That might help with the distractibility, and it’s only 10 to 15 hours to go through the program. Website is http://www.interactivemetronome.com

Mary

Would the Interactive Metronome be similar to the exercises we did with the metronome in PACE? I think they said that was suppose to help with concentration. He can concentrate fine in a one-on-one setting. The neuropsych even said his attention was fine (but that was from a test done on a computer and only he and the psych were in the room).

Is it the CAPD that causes the problems with distractions? Does Fast Forward help solve that problem? The audiologist recommended a FM system. I am concerned about kids making fun of him if he uses that.

Do you think we should do the summer school and wait another year for FFW? I’m sure he couldn’t do a whole day of school and then do 2 hours of FFW.

We have a great tutor right now. She was his first grade teacher. Theyr’e gonna start working on reading comprehension in Jan 1 day a week and math the other day. He’s about 6 months behind on his reading.

Sorry this is so long. I just have so many questions. Thanks for any help!!

Is it worth it? At 1st I didn’t notice any change, her reading was improving more due to the Lindamood Lips program, but then one morning at breakfast a couple of months after training, she said:
“You know Dad, I use to think I was one of the dumbest kids in the class, but now I think I’m one of the smartest. Since I did Fast Forward, I understand what is going on in class, I use to feel so lost and I didn’t know what I was suppose to do most of the time.” (she always was one of the smartest, she just didn’t feel like it.)
Her grades in all subjects, including math and French are climbing. She feels much better about herself and she now explains the lesson instructions to others in the class, what a turn around!
You don’t have to do 2 hours of Fast Forword in a row. Another option might be to do the Fast Forword in two sittings per day, perhaps 1/2 in the morning before school and 1/2 after school (some schools have the child arrive early for school, do half, then the other 1/2 during lunch or resource period). Fast Forword can be done offsite, in other words the school or tutoring center can arrange for your son to train on your home computer and all you have to do is back up onto a floppy disk and send an email to California after every session. It is very easy, my 12 year old was able to do it herself. The beauty of this is the child could train 2 days on the weekend and only 3 days during the week.
Fast Forword requires a lot of concentration, they have to listen very carefully for small changes in sound patterns, so expect your son to find it very tiring. If you are going to do it during the school year, ask for homework to be discontinued for the 6 weeks or so that the training will take.

IM trains attention in a somewhat similar way to PACE, but takes it further. Since your son tests fine on attention, it would not be my first choice.

Frankly speaking, with all the information you have provided here, I would try to get a classroom FM system installed (can’t remember the exact terminology). Have you talked to the school about this? With a classroom FM system, all of the students in the classroom benefit and your son would not have any equipment to make him stand out from the others. If you can’t get a classroom FM system, them I would still consider a personal FM system. If you talk to your son, and if the school personnel are sensitive to the issues and work with his class, the benefits can be well worth it.

Mary

with more information.

http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/capd-fm.html#fm

Mary

Thanks for the info. Annie, did you daughter have CAPD or any language defecits prior to CAPD? Did the tests then show improvements after CAPD? Just curious if your daughter had the same type of problems as my son. My son is borderline CAPD, has below avg recpetive and expressive language, along with NLD. So any problems we can “fix” will be great.

I’m going to see if I can do the FFW at home. I like the idea of breaking it up and using the weekend also. I know our school doesn’t use it. There was recently an in-service at school to tell the teachers about it so they would be more aware of it. The training center is at the University’s SLP center and they didn’t mention I could do it at home. I don’t need any special training?

I’m also going to look into the FM system that MaryMN mentioned.

Thanks to both of you for your help!!!

Has anybody else had experience with these things or other things to help with CAPD or language problems or following directions? Thanks!

To be diagnosed with CAPD (where I live) you have to pay the audiologist another $300, so I decided to put the money towards the FF training instead. My daughter’s only low score on the WISC III was for digit span, a test for auditory processing.
If you decide to do FF off site, they will explain to you how to set-up, basically you install the program from the CD-ROM (bet you have done that with kid’s software) run the program from the desktop icon, then when finished you go into ADMIN icon and update and back up. You need a very quiet place for the kid to work as house hold noise will disturb and anger the child who is trying to concentrate. You also need a quality pair of over the ear, digital ear phones (mine are Optimus about $60 I think, KOSS makes excellent ones also).
From what I hear you may be able to do the training yourself if they consider you qualified, cost now $45. and you train over the internet and view a video that they will send you as part of the package. Then you are a qualified provider, rather than a parent running offsite under the “supervision” of a qualified provider, which is what we did. The cost of working under a provider can be very expensive, I paid over $2,000 to the provider for what likely amounted to a couple of hour work training me and enrolling the child (not pleased about that, but I am very happy with the results). I don’t know what they charge a school to be a provider, but I would imagine it would be cheaper for you to go that route, even if you paid the teacher out of your own pocket to train as a provider.

I have heard that the CrossTrain package, which is the self-training tutorial to become a FFW provider, is one sale for $50 until the end of December. To find CrossTrain, you need to log into the FFW website (http://www.scilearn.com or http://www.fastforward.com last time I looked) as an “educator” rather than a parent. Then CrossTrain comes up as one of the online store options.

There are no restrictions as to who can buy CrossTrain. When I did it, it was a package with CD-ROM. I went through the tutorial that was on the CD, read the manuals, and then logged onto the website (the manual described how) to take a multiple-choice test. After passing the test (not difficult), I agreed to their licensing provisions (basically, this makes sure they get a fee for each child put through FFW), and was issued an ID as a certified provider. If you have a 4-year college degree, this also allows you to be a provider to children other than your own.

Once you are a certified provider, you can order FFW. FFW itself periodically goes on sale — usually towards the end of a calendar year. I heard that this year it is discounted from $850 to $750 until the end of December (but you would have to be certified before you could order it, unless you know a certified provider you could order through. In that case, you could then switch the provider after you become certified.)

Hope this isn’t clear as mud! Things may have changed somewhat since I did all this, but probably not by much. It is much, much less expensive to be your own provider than to do it offsite through someone else. (Here, that option costs about $750 in addition to the cost of FFW.)

Mary

“My daughter’s only low score on the WISC III was for digit span, a test for auditory processing.”

Digit Span actually measures short term memory capacity- which a somewhat different animal from auditory processing. AP refers to your effectiveness and efficiency at processing the sounds of language.

Check this site for good explanations of the subtests and clusters of the WISC:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1580/sped/wisc.html

Robin

The phychologist’s report described digit span as “a measure of auditory short term memory”, which I thought was the same as auditory processing, sorry if I confused anyone. Figuring out what to do is complicated enough without missinformation, so thanks for taking the time to point that out Robin.

Thanks for the info. I’m going to check into being my own provider. That would help with spreading things out more so he wouldn’t have to sit for 2 hours straight.
MaryMN, did FFW help your child? Did he/she have the same type of problems as my son - below avg language, problems following directions, and getting distracted easily?
I’ve seen a lot of info on these boards. How does everyone find out about the different therapies and what would be a good program to try? I only know what I’ve read about here.
Thanks to everybody. I wouldn’t know what to do with all the difficulties we’re facing if not for everyone out there!!

It took a bit of research to find info, I asked friends who had children with learning difficulties and was refered to our local chapter of the Learning Disabilities Association and the local Literacy Association (their library was a good place to get books and videos on learning disabilities). The psychologist suggested a developmental optomotrist and vision therapy. The tutoring center that I finally decided to go with after trying a poor one, suggested Fast Forword and Lindamood LIPS. One of their tutors put me on to an OT that specialized in learning disabilities. I have also gotten excellent info from this board.
And what did the school suggest you must be wondering? Well, the resource teacher calls my son his success story after working with him 1 1/2 years ago. Seems he and the principal think that as long as there is no behavior problem, there is no problem (even though the kid is reading 3 years below grade level and he is only in grade 3!).

this stuff can be so confusing when you are first starting out- the numbers are weird and the names don’t describe what is really being measured. Arghhh…Have a wonderful Christmas!

Robin