Fast Forword?

My son has been through Fast ForWord and I am actually administering a lab for my school district. I have been very pleased with the program. It builds auditory processing skills and speed for children with decoding (reading) and language delays. In and of itself it might or might not produce dramatic results, but coupled with other effective programs it helps because it strengthens the auditory processing skills necessary for many other tasks. So, I would think about mhy my child might need FFW and do the tasks fit with those needs. I would look at what else we need to do after FFW. I would also check for a provider since many schools now offer FFW.

We did FFW when my son was 7, following first grade. We saw major improvements in receptive language—he suddenly could understand what was going on around him. He started eavesdropping on conversations, for example. (Not all is good!)

We also saw his short term memory move from the deficit range to low normal.

All this changes have sustained over time.

Beth

What are the age requirements for Fast Forword?? My brother is 14 and he has a horrible time decoding and in turn comprehending because it takes so long to decode.

I am wondering if it would be a good program to use before he hits 9th grade in the fall!! He will be attending a vocational school which is good because they focus more on hands on but I don’t want him to become frustrated because he can’t read the manuals or instruction in his shop class.

He is spending part of the year in auto mechanics, carpentry, and marine mechanics. He is really interested in mechanics but that requires alot of reading of manuals, I would love to jumpstart his reading success.

He has been getting Wilson for 3 years and is currently in book six. Unfortunately, this is the only area he is making some progress. At the last IEP meeting his Speech/Lang Path. said if he was retested right now she could almost guarantee that he would show absolutely no improvement. I was pretty much appalled!!

Anyhow, any suggestions on if the Fast Forward program might help would be greatly appreciated!!

K.

K,

Fast forward helps with receptive (understanding language) the most reliably. These kids tend to test as having decoding deficits on tests of central auditory processing. In other words, their brains don’t interpret what they hear correctly. Whether it would help your brother or not depends on what the underlying causes of his difficulties in reliably decoding texts. Certaily, Wilson is a good program and his continued difficulties do raise a red flag. Has he been tested for CAPD?

It is an intensive program—2 hours a day which requires motivation and discipline.
Also, some people are able to get the school to provide it but mostly people have to provide it privately and it isn’t cheap–about $1000 for the program itself.

Beth

He was tested an diagnosed with CAPD. A major weakness for him is decoding and receptive language.

I didn’t realize it was that expensive but if it were to make a difference if used over the summer than it would be worth it.

K.

It is expensive no doubt but my son has had permanent changes because of it—we did it 2 years ago. He picks up on everything we say now!!

I don’t know if this is your child but you can become a provider and then you don’t have to pay for those costs on top of the program (which is alone about $850 and provider training is $150). It isn’t difficult if you are reasonable with a computer—I did it and I am not an expert by any means.

Beth