Comments wanted,FFWD providers

Yes, my daughter had her share of “moments” while she was training on FFWD. She was doing an hour of Lindamood LIPS then the almost 2 hours of FFWD with only a 1/2 hr break inbetween, so when she was finished we gave her time alone to rest. (This was done during the summer, so fortunatly she didn’t have school or homework to contend with). She didn’t want to see friends or do any activities for a couple of hours afterwards as she felt totally drained. Try to keep siblings out of the line of fire until your child has time to decompress. Hang in there, and try to have some small reward each week so your child has something tangible to look forward to.

We had a lot of meltdowns in the first few weeks too. I know that it got much better. I think by 5 weeks or so. We ended up doing some parts of it for 16 weeks (I wanted him to do all of the games to mastery) and I know that the last part of it wasn’t bad at all.

I noticed the first big change when we were about 6 weeks through. We were at my in-laws and my mother and law was talking in semi-code to me about something. My son picked up enough of what she said to question me about it. Before everything just went right by him. (Now this has been a mixed blessing!!).

Beth

Early on did you have a plateau in the first 4 weeks? Block Commander (the dreaded one) started at 16% and has dropped to stay pretty much around 11% for all of the 3 1/2 weeks we’ve been on the pgm. Is this normal? Or is it a sign that things maybe won’t change on this one for awhile and we should prepare to do 16 weeks on it like you did?

Since LCB, which works some of the same skills (except working memory) is at 98% already and since other games that work working memory (CS, PI) are at 99% and 51% respectively, I have to think that while the memory load is perhaps greater for BC, motivation also has to be a big factor. He’s not supposed to be ADHD but during this one you’d never know it. It’s murder keeping him at it. I have promised a big toy of his choice once 20% is reached, but it is going to be a struggle. Do you think my token system is ok: a dollar store toy from the “mystery bag each time two previous day’s scores are surpassed; an automatic “prize” for surpassing a record no. of points on any game, a Playstation at the end of the road and some big Lego toys for 20% then 40% completion (and so on) for the two toughies—Phonic Match and BC? My reward system seems ok so far, except maybe for BC (can’t afford to go too wild during this high-spending season!)

Also, did you take any breaks from the pgm? Our audiologist (and the co.) don’t recommend it and I understand why from doing CrossTrain, but it is the Christmas holidays and I hope one three or four-day week won’t derail us.
Thanks for your help.

Yes, we were at 7% on Circus sequence until maybe 7 or 8 weeks and then suddenly he took off. Blockcommander was very difficult for him—one of the last ones done. I think it has several components that the other exercises don’t have. One—it has a visual component. My son did better at it once he had some eye therapy. Before he couldn’t keep track of where things were. Second, there are some major directionality issues with it. I practiced with my son with checkers—trying to get front and back and other directions down. Also, some of the language was a bit strange, although I can no longer remember it. Of course, it also has a major memory component.

I recall that the mouse caused a lot of problems too with this exercise. I think I took it away from him and operated the controls myself. He would point to where he wanted it to be. This helped.

Personally, I doubt it is motivation. I think it is just hard for him—perhaps for some of the reasons noted above. It doesn’t require any more attention than other exercises—perhaps less. That farmer one was murder for attention, as I recall. I think a lot of kids have trouble with attention when something is hard. As far as your reward system goes, we never, with one exception, rewarded performance. We would have never got through it if we had because it was so difficult. I basically rewarded him doing it. He was 7 at the time and into pokemon so he got things like a card a day for awhile, then he earned pages for a notebook. At the end, he picked out out a Knex set—rather inexpensive ($20) and too hard for him but he desp. wanted it because it was a space station. The only time I rewarded him for performance when was he was finally on a roll with circus sequence and I told him about another child who had earned so many points on it. (It was true—just can no longer remember the specifics). He was awed by it but as he got better it became a challenge. He asked me what I would give him, if he did that well. I promised him breakfast at a restaurant. When he did it, he wanted the whole family to go.

We did take a week off after he had done it for six weeks. We went to my parents for vacation and he did it there but my inlaws did not have a computer up to speed. I asked and was told that after six weeks you could do that—who is somewhat vague to me. FFW is a lot like childbirth—intense while you are doing it but you forget some of the details.

We stopped doing exercises when he reached 95% on them. You can drop them by skipping the exercise for the day. This works until you get to only exercises that are not done everyday. So we started dropping exercises at about 8 weeks. So we didn’t do the whole program for 16 weeks. The last 4 weeks were only a couple a day, as I recall.

Hope this helps.

Beth

Thanks, Beth,
You’re right about the intensity—can’t wait until this is done!!! And you’re right about motivation too—it’s not there cause it’s hard. Odd he started well then deteriorated though, but it’s probably because the no. of multi-featured commands increased. He’s a snap at Language Comprehension Builder (touch the clown whose hugging the girl whose kissing the boy—yikes!), one I personally find more difficult. But I think you’re right on the directionality problem. Also the shapes are abstract. Visual skills are now avg. for his age, but it’s hard to scan efficiently on this one and it’s murder for a slow processor; memory crashes before he can activate the mouse. I’ve started clicking for him in response to his pointing just as you did.

Thanks for your feedback. It helps—especially to know there’s hope! (My husband thinks I’ve become dangerously obsessive about this pgm. As you suggest, it’s the nature of the beast.)

Research (except that conducted by the people who created this program) does not support Fast Forward. Save your money for something that works!

Thanks for your comments, but obviously the money has already been spent, so your comments are not exactly germaine. You are partly right in your viewpoint, if not particularly tactful in expressing it; research to date does not support FFWD as a remedial strategy that improves reading per se. However, there is evidence that it is an effective strategy for the remediation of particular types of CAPD. My son fits the profile. I did exhaustive research, including a look at academics from an opposing theoretical camp from the Rutgers-Stanford scientists who developed this pgm. I also consulted two audiologists who specialize in CAPD. I totally support a “buyer beware” approach to LD therapies; and I deplore those who do not look critically at fringe therapies. (I rejected Tomatis for this reason.) However, I would not classify FFWD in this group. True, while independent research is available it does not yet have the stamp of scientific approval (peer review, yes; control group no). Dr. Ron Gillan of the Univ. of Texas School of Speech and Language is well into year one of a 4 year review that will meet all scientific standards. So the jury is out. In the meantime, as one of the audiologists I consulted said, the cost in self-esteem is so high with CAPD and there is plentry of anecdotal and some research evidence of its efficacy (more of the latter kind than is true for other therapies discussed on this board, PACE being among them.) I and parents like me do not feel we can afford to wait for the Good Housekeeping Seal of Scientific Approval. Many of the parents who use this board have made a similar choice. Some (whose children did not, perhaps, meet the profile) are critical of it; perhaps they should have consulted an audiologist trained in CAPD and done more research on the pgm. Clearly, no one therapy is a panacea. But I think it is too soon to judge this pgm.