“It would really pain me when I used to listen to my son read and he’d look at a word and couldn’t for the life of him try and sound it out. He just couldn’t do it”.
This is how *Alice described her 12 year old son’s reading before he did the Fast ForWord program.
Her son *Ryan was able to go from a reluctant struggling reader, to a determined flourishing student using the neuroscience based exercises in the program.
Alice used to watch on helplessly as Ryan would struggle with reading and spelling. But she saw how the program took Ryan from frustration to fluency.
Feedback from Parents & Teachers
We often hear feedback from teachers and parents about the successes their students and children have had with Fast ForWord, and Ryan’s story is a great example of these.
Alice explained, “Matching letters with their corresponding sounds was just too difficult for Ryan and he would just stop, simply unable to continue reading when he encountered a tricky word or sound combination”.
Ryan was having tutoring in English and reading and was getting spelling help as well. “Tutoring is basically just putting a Band-Aid on the problem, but not fixing the foundation,” Alice said.
So she turned to neuroscience for an answer.
At first it was a struggle to motivate and encourage Ryan to do the neuroscience exercises because he had “learned failure” from his prior unsuccessful attempts to improve his reading. He was reluctant but Alice knew she had to make sure he gave Fast ForWord a chance. So she supported and encouraged him through the reluctant times at the beginning.
Then, a short time after he started she noticed his reluctant attitude drop away.
As Ryan worked his way through the initial part of the program, his reading, listening and processing skills began to improve and the exercises seemed less difficult for him. More than this, his confidence increased as he achieved success in the exercises which had seemed, at first, impossible. But he learnt that they weren’t!
Ryan started to understand the program and gained a strong sense of determination from the continual rewards for success that the program gave him. He was driven to continue to complete the program because he understood that it was helping him.
Training his language and cognitive skills
Reading became easier because the Fast ForWord exercises were simultaneously training all the language and thinking skills necessary for competent reading. These include language skills like phonological awareness, auditory processing and listening comprehension as well as his memory, attention, processing speed and his ability to sequence sounds, words and ideas.
Now Ryan and his mum are keen to get the results from his school exams, English especially. They want to see how much difference his hard work and perseverance with Fast ForWord has made to his academic performance.
They both know that his self-confidence has improved along with his reading skills.
Ryan is now ready to look to his academic future with optimism, knowing that he has the skills he needs to tackle all areas of schooling. And Alice is very happy!
