Computer Program Fast ForWord

Rachel,

My knowledge of Fast ForWord is related to auditory processing disorder. It is sometimes recommended for children with APD to help them with auditory integration problems. I was told that it might help my child, but the research is limited at this time and we do not know what the long term effects are. It is expensive. If you do it yourself, you will pay $100 for the training video and about $850 license fee to take ONE child through the program. If you have a private SLP do the program, you will end up paying the licensing fee plus the SLP’s hourly rate. Not only that, it is very time intensive, about 90 to 100 minutes per day for several weeks. I’m thinking that FFW is not really what you need, but I can give you some links to read about it if you need them.

There have been conversations here recently on reading fluency, and I recall Reading Naturally and Great Leaps (3-5) being mentioned. I know Great Leaps is very inexpensive and I would think Read Naturally would have to be less than FFW. Of course, there may be earlier skills that you daughters are lacking that might account for the slow reading. You might want to have them tested by a reading specialist.

For anyone interested in becoming a licensed FFWD provider, the Crosstrain video training is now on sale for only $49 through Dec. 31st.

Janis

I agree with Janis. We did it at home with good success and it was much more affordable. Plus, we were able to work it into our life a lot easier than traveling to a clinic. We ended up doing part of the sessions before school and the rest after school. It helped my son a lot but it did not help improve his reading. Do a search to see past posts about this program.
Donna

Donna,

What improvements did you see? My child is a slow processor and seems to have weak auditory memory.She has weak auditory comprehension. These things result in integration problems. I still haven’t decided whether to do FFWD or not, although at $50, I may order the training kit and just wait until the program fee goes on sale!

Janis

Janis,

My son did FFW after first grade. We saw def. improvements in auditory memory—tested in low end of normal after doing it. He also improved his receptive language skills. We used to be able to have conversations around him and he would never pick anything up. About 1/2 way through FFW, he started eavesdropping as well as my other two children!!!

My son tested as having decoding deficit type of CAPD which tested normal after FFW. He also has auditory integration subtype as well as some orgainization output, particularly word retrieval.

FFW made a permanent change in my son. His resource teacher and slt, who had him for both first grade and second, saw a big difference in him. Now it wasn’t any miracle—just a piece in the puzzle of my son.

Beth

Thanks, Beth. You and the others familiar with APD issues have been extremely helpful and I appreciate it so much! I’m going to have to decide quickly since the sale is through Dec. 31. Oh, I may not have said this here yet, but I found out today that the license fee for FFW is also discounted $100 as well.

Janis