who has had a child go through FFW and what specific skills did your child acquire? ffw says the reading levels climb 1 to 2 yrs, how is this measured with ffw, should your child be reading to use ffw or can a nonreader use ffw especially the new cd called ffw to reading,
i understand that ffw works with sound discrimination, do you have to follow ffw with a reading program, the ads and testimonials imply it teaches reading, is this true,
i have purchased crosstrain, and have started the training, but again, i do not see any specific methods of instruction that i am to learn, does the cd do it all and how does a parent reinforce it or is reinforcement not necessary??
any help is appreciated, tha nks
Re: my message above is in reference to FFW not Fast Forward
I didn’t read your initial message carefully enough. We didn’t do the program you are talking about.
Re: FFW
Hi Libby,
I have done FFW with two of my private tutoring students, and have seen some dramatic growth, but it’s true that the skills it teaches are auditory in nature and not specifically reading skills. I had been doing the Lindamood-Bell LiPS program with them, and found they had plateaued at a certain level and were unable to get past it, so that’s when we did FFW, and it really did make their progress afterwards much better, they are both now reading at grade level. But I do not think that would have happened through the use of FFW alone.
I can’t say too much about the new program, because I haven’t experienced it yet, and when I took Crosstrain it was not included in the training. Since it’s so newly out, I would think it will take some time before some efficacy studies on it are completed, especially as compared to other proven programs like LMB. If I were you I would go on the Scientific Learning website, or call them, and ask them these questions specifically. They’ve always been very helpful, both by email and over the phone, when I had questions! Hope this helps!
Sharon
Re: FFW
“plateaued at a certain level and were unable to get past it, so that’s when we did FFW, and it really did make their progress afterwards much better, they are both now reading at grade level. But I do not think that would have happened through the use of FFW alone”
sharon, your above quote,
could you please elaborate on “plateaued at a certain level”, are you referring to their ability to blend, remember code, fluency, multi-syllable, what specific skill improved with FFW and how did this impact their reading?
i am looking for a specific skill which can be measured such a blending, did FFW do this for your kids?
i have listened to all the CD’s and i am struggling to understand how they made your kids get over a plateau, this program is very expensive and i have no idea how to advise a parent on its use other than the nonspecific comments that came on the video sent by the company,
thanks again sharon for taking the time to post, I really appreciate it, libby
I went through cross train also and did FFW last summer with my then 7 year old son. FFW is not a reading program. FFW is best suited to children who have problems with decoding oral language because they can’t process language fast enough. These children often are diagnosed with receptive language problems and have difficulties following directions. It does seem to help some children whose reading is being held back become better readers. My son, however, couldn’t read when he started the program and couldn’t read when he ended the program. He had never been taught to read and the program doesn’t teach reading. We did see other changes though.
Most striking is the difference in his receptive language. People used to talk around my son all the time. Now he is your usual nosy child. His auditory memory also improved. He tests consistently as low average now—before he was in the deficit range.
Beth