The learning success blog

Unlocking Literacy: The Case for Phonics in Every Classroom

In the heart of the ongoing "Reading Wars" in Australian education, the battle lines are long drawn, and now the evidence is clear – the key to unlocking literacy lies in the systematic and explicit teaching of phonics. In this article, we will delve into the critical importance of phonics in teaching reading, exploring the latest research, success stories, and the urgent need for a transformative shift in teacher training at the university level.

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Executive Function: The Foundation for School Readiness

Almost 400,000 children in Australia and New Zealand will begin their first year of school in late January or early February this year. They will be going into classes known in various Australian states as Kindergarten, Prep, Pre-Primary or Transition, and into Year 1 in New Zealand.

Every one of these children will transition into their first year of a formal school setting in various stages of school readiness.

What will determine a successful transition? 

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5 Signs & 4 Ways to Help an ODD Child

Does your child argue a lot – with you or teachers?  Does he or she seem to anger easily?  Is this behaviour worrying you?

It could be quite normal – just a phase your child is going through. On the other hand they may have oppositional defiant disorder, also known as ODD.

There are five signs which can point to ODD, according to Dr Martha Burns.  In a conversation on the Learning Capacity Podcast, she described the signs and discussed how to help a child who has this disorder.

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Ruben Struggled to Read & Pay Attention – How Did Fast ForWord Help?

Rubin was in his first year at school (kindergarten in NSW). His teachers told his mum, Lani, that he was not concentrating, he fidgeted a lot, and he could not complete his work.

He was also having great difficulty with his early reading, struggling to sound out simple sentences like "I am Tim. Tim sits."

Because his older brother Kito* had benefited from the Fast ForWord brain training exercises a few years ago following an audiologist's recommendation for his auditory processing disorder, Lani decided to have Ruben do the exercises as well.

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Poor Listening Skills - Could it be Auditory Processing Disorder?

Do you have a child or student with poor listening skills?

At home you might ask your child to do something like, "go and put on your school clothes, get your jacket and put your library book in your school bag". He or she may look confused or just say "huh", or actually go and just get one or two of the three things done.

In the classroom, the student with poor listening skills will have trouble keeping up with classroom discussions, following instructions and learning information when it is presented to them by the teacher's voice.

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How Your Brain Learns to Read: Professor Stanislaus Dehaene

Did you know that learning to read is one of the most complex things we ask our brain to do?

What goes on in our brain that makes it possible for us to translate the little squiggly marks that are letters on a page, into meaning?

One of the world's foremost experts on reading, Professor Stanislas Dehaene, a French neuroscientists and author of the book “Reading in the Brain” has some answers. He explains in this video:

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Dyslexia & Intelligence: Is there a Connection?

Some teachers and parents can mistake a dyslexic child for someone who is lacking intelligence. But the truth is dyslexia has nothing to do with a child’s level of intelligence.

In fact many very intelligent people – like Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group of companies and Charles Schwab who pioneered the discount stockbroking industry – are dyslexic and had trouble learning to read.

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9 Tips to Improve How you Learn & Your Learning Capacity


If you ask teachers and parents, and even some older students, for tips on how best to learn, you will get lots of advice. Some based on their personal experience  - what worked for them - some on what they have seen work for students and some derived from research.

In his book "How We Learn – The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens”, Benedict Carey includes some tips based on scientific research. Of the nine tips below, the first eight come from Carey’s book and I have added a ninth: Increase Your Brain’s Capacity to Learn.

Here are the tips:

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5 Essentials for Effective Neuroscience Learning Capacity Programs


How do educators sort through the hype surrounding brain-based "neuroscience" learning programs?

Parents and educators have been seeing the benefits for students using well designed, research based brain training programs to improve their learning capacity. This has led more and more distributors of educational products to jump on the bandwagon and promote their products as "neuroscience based".

So if you have been noticing more advertisments, emails and other promotions using the terms "neuroscience" and "brain-based" as a basis for their products, how do you know what are valid claims and what is simple opportunistic use of these labels?

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Fast ForWord Endorsed As One Of The Most Powerful Reading Tools

The Fast ForWord reading and language program has received an official re-endorsement from the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE). Fast ForWord’s CASE endorsement now enters its 7th year and will extend through December 2024. Read the Businesswire announcement here

Developed for struggling readers, Fast ForWord is a unique 3-in-1 program that simultaneously develops reading, cognitive, and social-emotional learning skills to efficiently build reading and learning skills. Included in the Fast ForWord suite of exercises is Reading Assistant, an innovative guided reading tool that uses speech verification technology to support and listen to students as they read aloud, acting as a guided reading coach.

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Elements - Newest Addition to the Fast ForWord Literacy Program for Secondary Readers

Elements is a new addition to the   Fast ForWord Literacy program  for secondary readers. The four exercises in Elements I and the five exercises in Elements II are designed to deliver the rewards, instant feedback, and socially safe learning environment that adolescent learners need to stay motivated and become college and career ready learners and readers.
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Brain Wave Research: Fast ForWord Aids Language-Based Learning Problems

Do you know what this means?:
"Brain wave oscillation bands appear to be a major mechanism co-ordinating billions of nerves across different brain regions to perform even basic cognitive tasks such as paying attention to someone who is talking and understanding what they are saying."

It's about brain science, language learning and reading, and it may help your children or students.

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Fast ForWord Receives Another Gong

Fast ForWord and MATHia have been named as Award (Gong) winners in the 2021 Best Tools for Back to School (USA). They were awarded for helping students, parents, and teachers succeed as they head back to school.

The new Awards of Excellence program is published by:
Tech&Learning (techlearning.com) TOOLS & IDEAS TO TRANSFORM EDUCATION

And is designed to help their readers find the most impressive products and solutions for their work in any learning environment.

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How to Evaluate Conflicting Research About Educational Programs

I heard from a school about the great results they are getting from a neuroscience program.  Then one of my staff pointed out a meta analysis that is critical of the program. I can’t understand why supposedly gold standard research - a meta analysis - is saying something totally different from what I hear is happening in other schools.” 

That’s what a school principal said to us.

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Macquarie Uni’s MUSEC Briefing # 28: Academic vs Real World Evidence

If you are considering a product to help your brain or improve academic performance, what evidence would you rely on?

Many people don't want to read research and thus seek a trusted advisor. Sadly, they are often unaware of potential conflicts of interest.

A case in point is the Macquarie University's Special Education Centre (MUSEC) brief discussed herein, where Macquarie University crudely used one meta-analysis to support their commercial initiative.

Can you rely on MUSEC for an independent, impartial and unbiased opinion?

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Artificial Intelligence & Learning (a dummy’s guide)

Speaking almost sixty six years ago Professor John McCarthy, one of the founding fathers of AI said at the Dartmouth University conference 1956 , “Every aspect of learning... can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” 

Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist, said “Every aspect of our lives will be transformed by AI” and it could be “the biggest event in the history of our civilisation”.

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New Insights About the Autistic Brain Confirm Fast ForWord Helps

People with autism may simultaneously have too much connectivity in some parts of their brain and poor connectivity in other parts, according to new research from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, published in Nature Neuroscience in January 2015.

The research compared brain scans from a group of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and brain scans of a control group with normally developing brains.  The resting brains of the control group looked very similar to each other whereas the scans of the brains in the autistic group were all different. They showed unique patterns of connectivity, different patterns of excess or poor connectivity in each brain.

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Teacher Saw Student Miracles with Fast ForWord

As an educator who specialised in teaching children to read, I tried lots of different methods. Some worked with some children and some worked with others but there wasn’t one that I could say was super effective.

For 3 years I ran a reading group before school which we called Early Birds for the children who needed more help with literacy. We staffed the program with parents and volunteers and every morning before school we would see up to 15 or 16 children for a twenty-minute lesson, one on one. And when we did that, we started to see the children make progress in their reading. 

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Building Student Learning Capacity - The Missing Link in Education

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if all the students you teach would pay attention and more easily “get” what you are teaching them?

That’s impossible, you might say. Perhaps it is, but it’s not impossible to improve the attention and ability to learn for every one of your students. Listen to this podcast “Student Learning Capacity – The Missing Link in Education” to find out how.

Welcome to the concept of being able to change the learning capacity of students.

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Out-of-School Learning Business - Rewards & Challenges: Monique Peters

Monique Peters is a mother of a child with learning difficulties.

Her efforts to help him opened up a new world for her. A world of learning specialists, educators, tutors, neuroscientists, support groups and other parents desperate for a solution for their own learning disabled child.

Monique saw a need that was not being met from the range of existing services for families like hers.  So she established an out-of-school learning business to support parents like her and children like her son. It's called Brainwise Learning.

This is Monique's story.

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How to Get 7 Months Reading Gains in 7 Weeks

One of the largest school systems in the USA state of Alabama achieved average reading level gains of seven months in only 35 days. Students in 17 primary schools used a systemic, research-proven approach to reading intervention that developed cognitive skills essential to reading and learning.

“We felt that helping students with skills like memory, attention, and processing would be beneficial to their learning in any subject and have a greater impact on achievement. Our data so far has supported that belief, ” says Tim Solley, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Academic Accountability.

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What is Fast ForWord123?

Fast ForWord123 (FFW123) is a unique 3 step, evidence-based method for increasing students’ capacity to learn. It is a powerfully effective and scientifically validated method for improving learning outcomes where English is the language of instruction.

This method blends the best of education technology with empathetic support of human factors and motivation from the “reward economy”.

It builds cognitive skills essential for learning, and simultaneously improves the four components for learning-in-the-English-language: listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Scientists built & evolved FFW123 on 45 years of research

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Educational Neuroscience:  A Wave of Change for Teachers & Students


Is educational neuroscience a legitimate area of knowledge which can help teachers and students, or is it mostly "neurobabble" as some articles in the Melbourne Age and in The Conversation have recently suggested?

The authors of both these articles correctly point out that there is an increasing amount of brain-based language in education discussions. And also that much of the 'brain' and 'neuro' language being used has little scientific basis.

But that does not mean all discussion of the role of neuroscience in education should be dismissed as useless "neurobabble". In fact educational neuroscience is now a recognised scientific discipline which is being studied in some of the world's leading universities including Stanford, Columbia and Vanderbilt in the USA and Cambridge University in the UK.

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Sarah 2.0: Recovering from Chronic Brain Inflammation

What happens if you suffer chronic brain inflammation?  How does it affect you, physically, emotionally and cognitively?

And what can you do to help you recover?

Sarah Rasborsek, a young, healthy, successful woman enjoying her life, was stricken by brain inflammation.  Her world was turned upside down. I met her via a Learning Success Podcast interview in February 2019, where she explained what had happened and how difficult her life had become.

Now  a little over a year later, Sarah spoke to me again on another episode of the Podcast. She has made significant progress in her rehabilitation. But she explains she will be unlikely to return to how she was before the inflammation. She describes herself as a new Sarah - Sarah 2.0.

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The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr Norman Doidge: Book Review

Dr Norman Doidge's best selling book , “The Brain That Changes Itself” did more than any other to change our view of the brain’s ability to “rewire”.

While Dr Doidge published it over a decade ago, it remains an easily readable, fascinating account of how we came to know that brains are “plastic”.

Scientists, educators, and parents had believed brains are “hard-wired” - our abilities are limited by the structures in our brains.

In “The Brain That Changes Itself” Dr Doidge explains how that old belief has been replaced by the knowledge of “brain plasticity" – our abilities can be changed and improved by various forms of mental exercises.

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Attention, Listening Skills & Fast ForWord - Dr Martha Burns Update

"Neuroscience now is very interested in attention disorders.", says Dr Martha Burns.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. She explained:

"So what we were talking earlier about listening skills, that's the term teachers use. Listening skills. Can the child sit in the classroom and pay attention to me?

Listening skills is auditory attention. One of the great things about Fast ForWord is it builds auditory attention. One of the best studies that's independent, that it has a control group, is on auditory attention.

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ADHD, Auditory Processing Disorder or Specific Language Impairment?

Many of the children I work with in my speech pathology clinic who have dyslexia also have additional difficulties with processing information and sustaining their attention.

They often have some or many of these challenges: 

  • Difficulty following verbal instructions
  • Need instructions to be repeated
  • Slow to process information
  • Easily overloaded with auditory information
  • Difficulty sustaining attention for learning tasks
  • A tendency to daydream
  • Easily distracted
  • Academic difficulties

These symptoms could indicate that they have one or more of the conditions known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), auditory processing disorder (APD), or specific language impairment (SLI).

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Devon Barnes - learning difficulties specialist

Devon Barnes: 35 Years in the “Learning Difficulties Mindfield” .

Learning difficulties are based in the mind, or more specifically in the brain, according to speech pathologist and learning difficulties specialist Devon Barnes. She has been working for the past 35 years with children who have a wide range of learning challenges.

In an discussion with learning support teacher Moya Gibb-Smith, Devon describes the challenges for parents in what she calls the "Learning Difficulties Mindfield". And gives some advice on how to sort the hype from reality when parents are trying to decide how to help their child.

What's the first thing a parent should do it they are concerned their child may have a learning difficulty?  Speak to the child's teacher, says Devon.

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cheryl chia the learning capacity podcast

Brain Fitness for Children in 26 Centres Across Asia & the Middle East

How can you improve the learning ability, intelligence and emotional quotient (EQ) of children of all ages? Cheryl Chia is a Singapore based mother of 2 young girls, author of a book titled “Fit Brains Learn Better: A Chronicle of 12 years of Brain Fitness Training” , and the founder of BrainFit, a service which focuses on helping children from birth to 18 years develop a learning advantage by strengthening their brain fitness and intelligence.

What drove Cheryl to find the time, energy and enterprise to build BrainFit from its original single location in Singapore to a network of 26 centres in eight countries across Asia and the Middle East?

And what has she been able to achieve for the children who attend the BrainFit programs and for their parents as well?    

Cheryl discusses her BrainFit journey in an episode of The Learning Capacity Podcast.

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Primary Teacher: Success for Her Struggling Students with Fast ForWord

 "Our results with the Fast ForWord program show overwhelming success," says Tina Morse, Grade Two Teacher.

As a teacher and a parent, Tina knows first hand the many challenges struggling learners and readers face.

After trying the Fast ForWord123 language and reading program with her son to address auditory processing and language impairment issues, she saw his reading skill level improve eight months in only three months’ time.

It was then she realized how much this neuroscience-based program could help students at her school.

Read below for a quick summary - there is a link at the end of this summary to the full case study about helping students with dyslexia and other reading challenges make rapid gains.

One-on-one tutoring plus Fast ForWord123 for struggling readers

The school uses a one-on-one tutoring system based on the Orton–Gillingham multisensory approach to reading instruction. And they also give the struggling students individualised instruction via the Fast ForWord123  program for 30 minutes a day.

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5 Keys for Building Maths Skills: Dr Dion Khlentzos

After 20 years as a maths teacher and tutor, Dr Dion Khlentzos, has a clear view of what's necessary for building students' maths skills.

His top five keys to maths success include building on students' prior knowledge, relating maths to their everyday life and strengthening their motivation and belief in their own maths abilities.  

He discussed the five keys in an interview on The Learning Capacity Podcast where he commented on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and whether artificial intelligence will reduce the need for many people to understand maths. 

Dr Khlentzos also commented on how technology like Zoom and Skype has enabled maths tutoring to be delivered to students who find it hard to attend face to face sessions with a tutor.

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Learning Difficulties: 16 Terms Explained for Parents & Teachers

If you have a child with language challenges, reading problems or learning difficulties, and you have sought help from their teacher, speech pathologist or other learning professional, you may have heard some unfamiliar terms.

Words like phonemic awareness, auditory processing, listening comprehension and working memory.

Listen to Episode 96 of The Learning Capacity Podcast for explanations of 16 common terms used in discussions about learning difficulties. Once you understand these, you should be able to have more productive discussions with your child's teacher or therapists.

  

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Rebuilding a Brain after Chronic Inflammation: Sarah Rasborsek's Story

Can you imagine what it would be like to suddenly forget your past, to have pounding headaches, dizziness and tremors?

To be unable to find words when you wanted to speak?      

To experience an extreme loss of energy, have your blood pressure drop dangerously low, and find yourself uncomfortably sensitive to sounds and sunlight?  

And to feel that as well as having no past, you have no future? 

Sarah Rasborsek did.  She experienced all that and more when she "fried her brain" and suffered chronic brain inflammation during a triathlon on Queensland's Gold Coast in January 2018.

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Moya Gibb-Smith

Remedial Reading on Steroids - A Learning Support Teacher's Story

Learning support teacher, Moya Gibb-Smith has used most of the well-known remedial reading programs to help her  students who were struggling to learn to read.

While she said they all had merit, there was one program that stood out for her.  "It was like doing it on steroids. It was just so much quicker, so much more effective".

Moya described her journey from a young "reluctant teacher" to a passionate remedial reading teacher in an episode on The Learning Capacity Podcast. Listen to the podcast, or read the transcript of her story, which includes how her husband  was "going a bit blue-mouldy" on the way.

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Episode 84

Dr Marianela Diaz - Innovative Early, Bilingual Education in Panama

Psychologist and Educator, Dr Marianela Diaz searched the world for best practices in early learning before establishing the first Cleverest Education learning centre in Panama.  

She discovered Singapore leads in many aspects of early education and spoke about her experiences in a conversation on the Learning Capacity Podcast.

Dr Diaz says, "Since I am a psychologist and I'm into education, I know that the most important years are the very early on, the first five years is where you make your neuron connections. So, that's why we decided to go into early education". 

"I also wanted to do something that would actually coexist with cognitive learning and emotional learning".

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Why Sullivan’s Mother got Fast ForWord for Autism Help: Address Root Causes

Why did the mother of 9 year old autistic boy, Sullivan, choose the Fast ForWord program for him, when she had a multitude of interventions available?

And did this neuroscience–based program help him?

Sullivan’s mum writes a blog, Rethinkinglearning, where she has documented her journey since he was diagnosed with autism at the age of two.

She writes:

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Ekamai International School: Building English Language Brains Fast

The Ekamai International School in Bangkok was close enough to visit whilst we were at the Educating with Neuroscience 2017 Asia conferences in November.

This Seventh Day Adventist school has over 1,300 K-12 students who come from 33 different countries and English is typically not their native language. 

I was intrigued to see the focus of Ekamai school’s leaders on the importance of English. Students can’t miss the prominently displayed signs proclaiming:         

Be Competitive Globally, Speak English Fluently  

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Autism & Fast ForWord123: What a Difference a Few Months Make

In the Rethinking Learning Blog a mother of a 9-year old autistic boy wrote how the Fast ForWord123 programs have improved his expressive language skills, listening skills, ability to follow directions, conversation skills, desire to interact with others, social skills and reading comprehension. 

The mother, who calls herself by her blogger title, 'Mama Woz' says, "the progress he’s made in the 3.5 months since starting Fast ForWord has been truly exponential".

Here is her story, courtesy of the Rethinking Learning Blog:

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Fast ForWord123 rated highly by techlearning.com

The neuroscience-based language & learning improvement program, Fast ForWord123 (including the Fast ForWord cognitive, language and reading development modules plus Reading Assistant, the online reading coach) was recently rated by techlearning.com.

Here is a summary of the techlearning.com rating:

OVERALL RATING:

Unique features and technology, sophisticated reporting, real-time feedback, interactive resources, and a broad range of reading passages in an intuitive and easy-to-use program all help teachers understand when and where students are struggling and help students gain the skills they need to be successful readers.

Suitability for Use in a School Environment: 

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Paying Attention: It's Harder Than You Think

We might think this is a simple case of distraction. But attention is in fact a much more complex function than most people realise. Do you ever forget what you came into a room to get? Or, have you ever been listening to an audio book only to realise that you stopped paying attention several pages back?

The following article by speech language pathologist and neuroscience educator, Dr Martha Burns, explains attention and describes how we can improve it by specific types of training. 

In fact, trying to figure out exactly what attention is, and why some children find it easier than others, especially in school, has been the focus of psychologists for years.  As adults, we realise that the ability to attend carefully to a task, ignore distractions and stick with it, is something that takes time for children to develop.

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Fast ForWord Founder: Award for Contribution to Neuroscience

Fast ForWord founder Dr. Michael Merzenich has been awarded the Charles L Branch Brain Health Award by the University of Texas for his extraordinary contribution to neuroscience. 

Last year Dr Merzenich was also given the highest honour possible in the field of neuroscience – The Kavli Prize. This saw him granted a gold medal by the King of Norway and a banquet in his honour in the same venue as the Nobel Peace Prize.  

Dr Merzenich’s discovery of lifelong brain plasticity revolutionised the neuroscience world.

Plasticity describes the brain’s ability to learn by creating new connections between neurons within the brain.

Originally, it was thought that brains were only ‘plastic’ during early childhood as the brain developed. But Dr Merzenich’s research proved brains could change and adapt well into adulthood.

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Improve Executive Function with Fast ForWord123 Exercises

Your brain is an amazing organ. Countless studies, experiments and articles have shown us this. The complexities and inner-workings of this powerhouse are still yet to be fully explored. 

Have you ever stopped to think what controls your brain? What prevents it from becoming mere chaos?

Well, it’s called Executive Function, and you need to know about it.

What is Executive Function and why do we need it?

Executive Function acts like the ultimate synthesiser – the general, one might say. It encompasses a range of abilities many people think are merely part of day-to-day functioning. These include:

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How You Can Spot Weak Cognitive Skills in Your Classroom

What’s happening in your students’ brains when they can’t follow your classroom instructions? What if a student doesn’t want to answer your question? And why do some students struggle to tell a story?

These are all signs that a student may have a weakness in one or more key cognitive skills. Skills essential for learning.

As well as language skills, we all need four key thinking skills for effective learning. They are: memory, attention, processing, and sequencing.

Here are some behaviours you might notice if your students have a weakness in these skills:

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25% improvement in writing skills in 11 weeks using Fast ForWord123

25 university students who had Fast ForWord123 training for 11 weeks boosted their writing skills 25%.

This compares with a control group of 28 students at the same university who did not receive the training, and who showed no improvement over the same 11 week period.

Because no explicit practice with writing is included in the training program, the results of this study demonstrate that training in basic cognitive, listening, and reading skills generalise to improved writing ability.

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Fast ForWord: How Much Evidence is Enough? Science & Real World

A school principal recently said to me, “I’ve heard of Fast ForWord but there is no evidence that it works, is there?”

That wasn’t the first time I had heard that.

I’m always amazed when people say there is no evidence of Fast ForWord’s effectiveness. If they only looked, they would find hundreds of journal articles and school case studies with many examples of the success of over 2.5 million individuals who have done Fast ForWord over the last 20 years.

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Fast ForWord & Dyslexia: International Dyslexia Association

LearnFast provides the Fast ForWord program to schools in Australia and New Zealand.

A teacher from one of the schools using Fast ForWord sent us an email saying:  “ One of the students has dyslexia and the mother will not let the child do Fast ForWord because of  this Blog from an official publication of the International Dyslexia Association.”

It is difficult for parents to source objective and informed opinions to help them make decisions to help their child. How sad for them when incomplete information like this International Dyslexia Association blog from 2011 makes them fearful.

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250 Research Studies Published on Fast ForWord & Reading Assistant


How do you usually make decisions when you are thinking about an important purchase such as a car or a large household item like a refrigerator or washing machine?

Do you base your decisions on:

  1. How you feel (“I really like it”)?
  2. What others say about it?
  3. Comparisons of facts and data (fuel consumption, energy efficiency, reports by independent consumer organisations)?
  4. A combination of all of these.

Decisions about educational software

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Double " teaching as usual" reading gain - 146 NSW primary students

Here is how a primary school achieved double the reading gain one would normally expect.

Picture this:  Following a half day professional development session, "Glasses for the Ears" where the teachers discovered how their students could become better learners by using neuroscience, students of all abilities from Grades 2 to 6 were enrolled in the Fast ForWord neuroscience-based program.

The teachers who volunteered to implement the program received more detailed ongoing training and support.

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How Poverty & Disadvantage Impacts Learning for 730,000 Children

More than 730,000 children in Australia are living below the poverty line.

These disadvantaged children are at risk of having their learning compromised.

The Poverty in Australia 2016 Report, released last week, found the number of children living in poverty is increasing.

The report was written by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) in collaboration with the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

Find out how poverty and disadvantage can disrupt learning – see this infographic (courtesy of We Are Teachers and Scientific Learning Corporation).

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3 Famous Neuroscientists: How Brain Plasticity Helps Human Potential

“The science of neuroplasticity is slowly but surely transforming how we think about ourselves and our brains, and how we can build a stronger brain that provides us with a better life,” said Dr Michael Merzenich.

He was speaking in a roundtable discussion with Professors Eve Marder and Carla Shatz following the trio’s receipt of the $1million 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.

The three scientists discussed how their work disrupted a central dogma of neuroscience and how it offers the promise of plasticity-based treatments for people who are struggling to learn, have brain damage or who have brains at risk of mental illness or dementia.

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What is Neuroplasticity & How Does It Impact Education?  (Infographic)

“Everything having to do with human training and education has to be re-examined in light of neuroplasticity". (Norman Doidge, author of "The Brain That Changes Itself”).

What is neuroplasticity? It is the understanding that experiences are able to change our brains, and that our brain’s structure and capacity are not fixed. The eminent neuroscientist, Dr Michael Merzenich, widely known as “the father of neuroplasticity”, recently shared the $1million Kavli Prize for his contribution to this understanding.

Neuroplasticity offers the prospect of new ways to improve learning and education, physical rehabilitation, mental illnesses and addiction.

An excellent infographic explaining neuroplasticity has been produced by Alta Mira, a San Francisco rehabilitation and recovery centre.  

 The infographic includes this comment about education:

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Fast ForWord Neuroscience Programs a Success at Covenant College

“I’ve too many good results here with a range of children to not give all the kids an opportunity to do it”.

That's how Bruce Horman, Head of Junior School at Covenant College explained why he decided to have all children in Grade Three participate in the neuroscience-based Fast ForWord program in 2015.

Covenant College is a K -12 school with 540 students in Geelong, Victoria.

For the previous three years Covenant College had focussed the program on students from various grades who were presenting with a range of learning difficulties. They also included some students who were achieving in the mid range of their cohort, but had potential to do better.

Bruce commented, “I've seen that bright kids also benefit from Fast ForWord. It's not just for those kids who are really struggling”.

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How Fast ForWord Helped Finn: Autism, Language & Reading Improvements

Watching your child grow up is exciting and wondrous. You marvel at what they pick up and how they develop.

For Kim Rackemann and her husband, the journey with their son Finn wasn’t quite so straightforward. Finn wasn’t really hitting the usual milestones. He was found to be on the Autism Spectrum, and the main indicator was his language delay.

Despite some scepticism, Finn started the Fast ForWord program, and in what seemed to be a short space of time, the improvements started. I spoke to Kim on The Learning Capacity Podcast where she shared Finn’s story.

Listen to the podcast.

 

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How Fast ForWord Helped Heal and Restore a Life: Ester’s Story

This is a story that defies the odds. It involves years of illness, crushing diagnoses by doctors, and miraculous recovery. It demonstrates how the brain really can change itself.

And it also involves Fast ForWord, a neuroscience based program used for both remedial learning, and learning enhancement. In a special episode of the Learning Capacity Podcast, I spoke to a mother about her daughter’s journey through illness to recovery. 

Given the nature of the details involved, I refer to my guest only as Esther, which is her real name, and her children. 

Listen to the podcast.

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Dawson Now Loves to Read, Thanks to 6 Weeks of Fast ForWord

This is a personal story. It’s about my grandson Dawson.

He’s in grade 4 at school. Dawson is a bright boy. Intelligence testing has put him in the 90th percentile in overall cognitive ability. But his language skills were tested as relatively weak.

He had no trouble learning to read, and he was able to understand what he read. But he wasn’t a big reader.  He would read reluctantly and did not seem to get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Earlier this year his teacher reported that Dawson was reading at a level between year 3 and year 4.

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Educational Neuroscience Helps Students: Special Needs to Mainstream

Peter Carabi, vice president of Global Business Development for Scientific Learning has been watching how educational neuroscience is changing learning for students around the world.

He sees how this relativey new brain science, which is the foundation for the Fast ForWord brain training, language and reading programs, opens new opportunities for students regardless of their country or ability.

Peter recorded an interview with the Learning Capacity Podcast in which he discussed English language learning and educational neuroscience.

This blog is a transcript of his comments about the latter.

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Peter Carabi: English Language Learning with Fast ForWord

Language and reading are universal skills required by everyone across the world. And with English being such a dominant language, there are an increasing number of people looking for ways to improve their English literacy.

Peter Carabi, vice president of Global Business Development for Scientific Learning is in the privileged position of witnessing the effects of the Fast ForWord programs as they help people around the world with their language skills. He sees how this opens new opportunities for them and often completely changes the trajectory of young peoples’ lives.

The programs are based on neuroscience, and the concept that the brain is not fixed, but plastic, and has the capability to change itself. Peter describes it as one of the things that can give us all hope.

Colin Klupiec caught up with Peter at the biannual LearnFast summit in January 2016, on a sunny day in Manly on Sydney Harbour and recorded an interview for the Learning Capacity Podcast. Peter discussed English language learning and educational neuroscience.

Listen to the podcast.

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How to Deal with Oppositional Defiant Disorder? Dr Shan Ong Explains

Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or ODD, can be traumatic to deal with. 

A child's oppositional or defiant behaviour needs to be consistent and obvious for about 6 months, before it's classified as ODD. This can seem like a long time before parents make decisions to do something about it. 

Dr Shan Ong is a developmental paediatrician with deep experience in this field.

I spoke to him on the Learning Capacity podcast, and asked about ODD. What does it mean for parents to take the first steps in handling the situation? And what can parents expect?  Dr Ong  explained that for parents it's a mixture of emotions from relief to denial.  They have to come to terms with the long road ahead. 

We also talked about the role of the child's school. How the school fits in with strategies at home. And  the relationship with a medical professional. 

I started by asking Dr Ong to clarify what defiant behaviours might look like.

Listen to the discussion:


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6 Maths Myths & 6 Ways You Can Build a Positive Maths Attitude

For many students, maths is no fun. And it may not have been a pleasant experience at school for their parents either.

Do you have students or a child who doesn’t like maths?

According to Dr Judy Willis, author of “Learning to Love Maths, there are ways you can help make maths fun for your child. And you don’t need to be a maths “wiz” to help your son or daughter.

Dr Willis has written a great article for Psychology Today about our attitudes towards maths - maths negativity and maths positivity. In it she listed some common myths about maths:

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Improving Reading with Fast ForWord: USA School, Bridges Academy

Veteran educator, Jacqueline Egli, Executive Director of Bridges Academy, a well known not for profit, private school in USA was interviewed recently on the Fox News channel.

She spoke about how Bridges Academy is using neuroscience-based technology to improve reading for students in the school.

“For many of my students in my early days as an educator it might take me three, four, five years to make 6 months of solid improvement, ”she said.

Now her students with reading or learning difficulties use the Fast ForWord program

Egli says Fast ForWord can improve a child’s reading level by multiple grades in 6 - 8 weeks of training, and MRI scans before & after training show an increase in brain activity in kids with dyslexia.

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How Fast ForWord Improved Student Outcomes in Canada School District

Mike McKay is a retired superintendent of the Surrey County schools district in British Columbia, Canada.

He was a public educator for 35 years. The area he supervised has over 160 languages spoken. 

You can imagine it would be difficult to measure the potential problems with language and reading development in such a large and diverse region. 

But back in 2008 he attended a conference hosted by Scientific Learning Corporation, where he saw the research behind the Fast ForWord programs. 

When he came back, he asked his board to trust him, and give him $300,000 to get started. It was bold pitch. Mike tells the story of how things have panned out in this Learning Capacity podcast episode:

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Fast ForWord Helped Mac with Auditory Processing, Writing & Spelling

Sally Wilcox noticed that her son Mac was becoming increasingly frustrated with writing and spelling when he was in grade 5. 

In Mac’s words, it was very simple - he hated writing.

Thinking back, Sally recalled that the early markers were already appearing in grade 1 when Mac had difficulty following instructions.

On deeper investigation, Mac was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder. At first Sally was told that this was developmental and that Mac would grow out of it, and to some extent this was true. Yet the problems persisted and Sally knew that something else needed to happen.

Eventually she found the Fast ForWord programs, and that’s when things started to change for the better. Fortunately Mac was very receptive to resolving his issue, and his teacher was also familiar with auditory processing disorder.

This combination helped Mac make significant gains at school with his academic results. He also increased his self confidence and became more willing to try.

In this episode of Learning Capacity Podcast Sally shares Mac’s story.

 

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Amelie & Fast ForWord: 2 Years Gain in Reading & Maths Despite ADHD

This is the story of Amelie, who as a young primary aged girl was often described as a ‘busy child’.

When Amelie’s parents, Jane and Craig were given the diagnosis for Amelie of ADHD, there were mixed feelings of relief, but also devastation as they knew there was a problem that needed to be addressed.

Amelie was assessed at well below the relevant standards, being two years behind in writing and maths when she started grade 3.

After researching extensively, Jane and Craig eventually turned to Fast ForWord. They faced some big challenges along the way, but in the end they and Amelie persevered with some amazing results.

In this episode of The Learning Capacity Podcast, I spoke to Jane where she shared Amelie’s story.

 

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20 years of Fast ForWord – Where is Educational Neuroscience Headed?


It's 20 years since four visionary neuroscientists combined their brain research with emerging computer technologies to develop some exercises to help children with reading difficulties.

The work of the scientists, Dr Michael Merzenich, Dr Paula Tallal, Dr Bill Jenkins and Dr Steve Miller proved that the underlying cognitive processes that influence speech and language problems could be identified—and permanently improved.

Their research and the exercises they built led to the development of the Fast ForWord program.

20 year commemorative conference

To commemorate this 20-year milestone, the four founding neuroscientists are participating in Scientific Learning Corporation’s Visionary Conference in San Diego on March 3-5, 2016.

They will be reviewing how far we've come in our understanding of the brain and learning, and where the science, now known as educational neuroscience, is headed. 

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“Phenomenal” improvements for son after Fast ForWord, says Father


Dr Con Kafataris, father of six, describes the changes he saw in his son George, aged nine, as phenomenal” after George completed the Fast ForWord program.

It was a little bit of a journey to find Fast ForWord for George but after trying a few avenues, including speech pathology, Dr Kafataris came across the program through a book titled, “The Brain That Changes Itself” by Dr Norman Doidge.

“The science seemed plausible”, said Dr Kafataris, so he decided to give it a go.

What were these “phenomenal” improvements? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Or read more below for the complete podcast transcript.

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Urana Public School: 5 Years of Success - Fast ForWord Brain Training

Dorothy Dore, principal of Urana Public School spoke with The Learning Capacity Podcast about how the school is building student learning capacity with the Fast ForWord neuroscience program.

Urana Public is a small primary school of 26 students (K- 6) located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, 600 kms south west of Sydney.

The school has implemented Fast ForWord for the past five years with excellent results, according to Dorothy.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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A New Zealand School Found Fast ForWord & Helped Struggling Students

Sasha Scott, reading recovery teacher at Welbourn Primary School in New Zealand, was troubled.

She and the school’s associate principal, Jenny, were puzzled why, year after year, there was always a group of students that never seemed to make the progress they should.

Sasha told The Learning Capacity Podcast, “The teachers have all done the very best that they can with what they know. But year on year, those same children pop up again. What could we do differently for these kids, because obviously what we were doing wasn't meeting their needs?”

Searching for a solution for students who were struggling

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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When Will Educational Neuroscience be an Integral Part of Teaching?

“It's here now. If you haven't looked, you may not have noticed it.”

That's neuroscientist, Dr Steve Miller, speaking on The Learning Capacity Podcast about the emerging field of educational neuroscience.

He pointed out that neuroscience, the knowledge of how our brains work, is being applied in a range of diverse fields and has recently come to education.

Research from neuroscience is being applied in:

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Your Attention Spotlight: How You Can Improve it for Better Learning

"Can you please pay attention?"

How often have you, as a teacher or parent, said this?

I'm sure you've done it many times, because you know that your message will not get through to the listener unless they pay attention.

Neuroscientist and attention expert, Dr Steve Miller spoke to The Learning Capacity Podcast about attention and learning, how we need to turn our brain’s attention spotlight on, and how this essential learning skill can be developed.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Fast ForWord Helped George Overcome His Learning Difficulties

“The results have been quite phenomenal. It's just been amazing to watch”

That's how Dr Con Kafataris described the changes he saw in his nine-year-old son George after the Fast ForWord program.

Dr Kafataris was speaking with The Learning Capacity Podcast about George’s language and learning difficulties, the improvements following George’s participation in the program, and why he decided that his six year old daughter, Eleni, should also do the neuroscience based exercises.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST 

George’s parents had known since he was about three years old that his language was delayed.

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Educational Neuroscience in Action - School & Parent Success Stories

There’s quite a bit of talk going on these days about the emergence of neuroscience in education. Some people are even talking about a scientific model of education, and not just pedagogy (the method of teaching).

But what is educational neuroscience - are there programs that schools can implement which deliver the principles of this science in a practical way?

The Learning Capacity Podcast has produced a 3 part mini series in which two teachers and a parent tell their stories about how they implemented an educational neuroscience program, and the results they got.

Listen to the podcast

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Dr Martha Burns Answers Two Critical Thinking Questions from Teachers

Do you ever think much about thinking?

For most of us, busy with our day to day lives at home and at work, this is probably not something we do often. But is it a useful thing to do? 

Two teachers (an English teacher and a visual arts teacher) asked The Learning Capacity Podcast questions about thinking, and these sparked a discussion about the concept of critical thinking with Dr Martha Burns, Director of Neuroscience Education at Scientific Learning Corporation

What is critical thinking?

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Six Ways You Can Improve Your Writing with Neuroscience Insights

Never start a sentence with 'and'.    

Really?

Imagine if you could easily improve your writing, or your students' writing, by ignoring some old rules such as the one above. And by using some writing principles from neuroscience.

A new book, The Reader’s Brain: How Neuroscience Can Make You a Better Writer  contains 6 science - based guidelines you can use. It also includes some old rules that don't help at all.

The author is a university professor who wanted to give her students a way to improve their writing with insights from neuroscience data, such as eye-tracking, EEG brain scans, and fMRI neuroimaging.

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Is Educational Neuroscience for Real? Dr Martha Burns explains

What is educational neuroscience? Is it a specialist area of knowledge or just a general title for intellectual sounding conversation? Can it help teachers get better learning outcomes for their students?

Maybe it's just "the latest thing" which will fade away in a year or two, just as many educational ideas that initially sound good, turn out not to be very useful.

Dr Martha Burns, Director of Neuroscience Education at Scientific Learning corporation answered these questions, and more, in a discussion on The Learning Capacity Podcast.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Dr Burns explains that educational neuroscience is a new branch of neuroscience.

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Can You Have a Maths Brain? Dr Martha Burns explains.

Maths is not fun......

Most of us easily and naturally use language, but when it comes to maths many people struggle, and find it is not so “natural” to work in numbers or maths concepts. Why is that?

Do we have brains that are wired for language from birth, but not for maths? Or is there such a thing as a “maths brain”? Do some of us have it while some don't, and if we don’t, how do we activate it?

Dr Martha Burns, expert in the neuroscience of learning, author of over 100 journal articles and three books, and Director of Neuroscience Education at Scientific Learning Corporation answered these questions in a conversation on The Learning Capacity Podcast.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

She explains: “One way to think of it is that maths is a different language. It involves a different symbol system.

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Struggling Readers Need Programs Based on Science - Melbourne Age & Fast ForWord

An article in the Melbourne Age newspaper titled “Children with learning difficulties need programs based on science, not anecdote and neurobabble”makes some valid points but misses key information about how the neuroscience-based program Fast ForWord helps with Dyslexia.

The author focused on children with reading difficulties, including dyslexia.

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The New Science of Learning. Teachers Build Brains with Neuroscience

Teachers do much more than just teach - they build student brains. 

This is the message from Dr Martha Burns, professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern University, in a podcast episode on The Learning Capacity Podcast.

Dr Burns discusses the new science of learning, and how it involves educational neuroscience and understanding individual differences in children. 

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Students’ Achievement: Encouragement, Maths Tables & Learning Capacity

“The single biggest thing that a parent can give their child is the encouragement to do better, and not give them limiting beliefs about their ability or what they could achieve”.

This is an opinion expressed by David Stanley, former math teacher and now Director of Learning Ecosystems Growth at Learn Fast Australia, in a wide ranging two part interview on the Learning Capacity Podcast.

 In the first part David discussed rote learning of maths tables, how this can improve a student’s learning capacity, the role of parents in helping students set goals, and the educational power of celebrating success.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Memorising Maths Tables: old rote learning, or valuable neuroscience?

Recently, educator Colin Klupiec recorded our conversation where he teased out my understanding of how memorising maths tables can help students build learning capacity and the importance of the role played by parents. It is recorded in two parts on the Learning Capacity Podcast with the key points summarised below.

We discussed some findings from the neuroscientists around brain plasticity - the cognitive neuroscience and how it relates to what some people may think is a bit old-fashioned – rote learning, or learning by repetition.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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How Elaine Finally Found a Solution to Her Son's Learning Difficulties

Elliot’s mum, Elaine had been concerned about his learning ever since he started school. Elliott is now aged 10 and in Year 5 at school.

He did not seem to be making progress with learning to read in Year 1, and by Year 3 he was having trouble with literacy concepts, particularly with comprehension. He also struggled to understand maths concepts. He found it difficult to make sense of the relationships between mathematical symbols and what he was meant to do with them.

As a primary school teacher, Elaine saw a discrepancy between her very energetic, able, motivated, and clever-in-many-different-areas little boy, and his lack of learning progress at school. He needed a lot of help to grasp simple concepts in reading and maths.

Listen to Elaine tell the story in her own words:

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Teachers Change Students’ Brains – How Amazing, says Dr Martha Burns

"You change brains," Dr Burns, adjunct professor at Northwestern University, Chicago told a conference of 400 teachers in Louisiana, USA this week.

Dr Burns was the guest speaker at day two of the Summer Institute, a four-day professional development conference for educators.

She focused on the science of learning and brain research, a topic she knows well. She has authored more than 100 journal articles on the neuroscience of language and communication.

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Auckland Uni Reviews 15 Programs for Dyslexia, Dyscalculia & ADHD

A team of academics from Auckland University’s Centre for Brain Research and School of Psychology has produced an objective overview of 15 computer-based and group or whole class behavioural intervention programs that are designed to remediate learning disorders.

They point out that advances in the scientific understanding of disorders such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have paved the way for the development of programs aimed at helping the  estimated one in five students with these disorders.

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Why Your Working Memory is Important for Your General Intelligence

"Working memory is vitally important for learning. But it is important to remember that memory and attention aren't subclinical skills, they are actually part of what we call executive function. They are part of what matures as you get older that enables you to be effective and goal oriented. They are the part of what makes a student an effective student, a successful student.", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. 

Here is a summary of what she said in her presentation.

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New Dyslexia Research & Fast ForWord by Dr Martha Burns

"What's the new research on dyslexia", asked Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. 

She explained, "Well, this just came out in the journal 'Biological Psychiatry' this year on the disruption of functional brain networks in dyslexia. It's from Dr Sally Shaywitz 's laboratory.

Neuroscientists are trying to figure out what distinguishes a child with dyslexia from a typically developing child. Is there a way we can identify dyslexia based on understanding the brain? What is it about the brain that's different? 

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The Neuroscience of Learning & Fast ForWord by Dr Martha Burns

"How are the brains of different children different? Not all dyslexic children are the same. Not all children on the autism spectrum are the same. As a matter of fact, there are probably as many different kinds of autism as there are children with autism spectrum disorders", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn

Here is a summary of a recent presentation she did on the neuroscience of learning at a conference in Tuscon, USA:

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Fast ForWord Drives Attention, Self Regulation & Self Control

"The latest area that neuroscience is exploring is this whole area of self-regulation, cognitive control", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation about these issues and how the Fast ForWord programs help.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. 

Here is a summary of her talk:

"Can a student sit still? Can they listen to the teacher? Can they get through an assignment without getting up and doing 100 other things?

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The Latest Neuroscience Research about Autism from Dr Martha Burns

"The bottom line of all the research is that autism spectrum is very, very complex. There are probably as many different kinds of autism as there are children with autism spectrum disorders. So it isn't a unified group at all", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation at a neuroscience learning conference in Tuscon, USA.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn.

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Fast ForWord & Reading Assistant are Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Intelligent tutoring systems are getting a lot more attention as computer technology and internet speeds improve, and resources for public education are being squeezed by government budgets around the world.

So much so that an international conference on intelligent tutoring systems is now held every two years.  The most recent was in Hawaii in 2014.

The key features of an intelligent tutoring system are:

  1. The system simulates a human tutor’s behaviour and guidance
  2. It provides immediate feedback tailored to each student individually
  3. Students are able to access the tutor any time anywhere
  4. It is able to help students learn by adapting the difficulty of tasks to the student’s understand at that time

At a recent neuroscience conference in Tuscan, USA, Dr Martha Burns spoke about how the learning technology programs from Scientific Learning Corporation - Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant - are good examples of intelligent tutoring systems.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. 

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8 Steps to Help Students Struggling on LearnFast Maths Skills Booster

The two largest challenges parents may have helping their child with maths homework are:

  1. Dealing with their own memories of doing maths at school - or not.
  2. A sense of urgency: wanting the child to be better, too quickly.

The parent has an essential role in their child’s learning as the parent’s attitude towards numeracy often rubs off on the student. If the parent did not enjoy or is not interested in numeracy, we often find the child has a similar disinterest. It would be beneficial if parents would focus on thinking about how they communicate maths with their child and changing to a positive conversation around numeracy.

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Hugh's Psychologist Proposed Fast ForWord for his APD - What Happened?

It was clear to Melissa Bowman that her son Hugh was struggling in his first year of school. So she got help from the school psychologist who diagnosed Hugh with Auditory Processing Disorder.

The psychologist suggested that Melissa consider the Fast ForWord program and after researching it, Melissa had Hugh do the online exercises at home for about 6 months. Melissa was delighted with the improvements that Hugh made, including:

  • His listening improved
  • He is now better organised
  • His reading improved from below his age level to about a year above 

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7 Tips for Parents of Struggling Readers - How to Give Reading Help

“It would really pain me when I used to hear 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”.

That’s how Alice, his mother, told me of her distress when she would try to help her son Ryan, aged 8, practise his reading.  Ryan was falling behind his classmates at school and he started to think he was “dumb”.

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Fast ForWord Boosted Ryan's Reading & Confidence - plus Spelling Help

“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.

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Build Confidence With Numbers via LearnFast’s Maths Skills Booster

Over the past few months, over 2,000 subscribers have downloaded the LearnFast Maths Skill Booster to help with maths and the feedback has been very positive. 

Students and parents have found it a light time load - only 10 minutes a day – but especially liked the excitement of plotting progress and regular rewards for improvement that has really helped engage many students.

A pleasing and unexpected result was reported by one parent who noticed that her daughter now does other things, not just maths, faster – she gets the concept of “fast”.

Should they start with the standard or jumbled form?

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Is Dr Norman Doidge's New Book as Groundbreaking as His First One?

Will Dr Norman Doidge's new book "The Brain's Way of Healing" have the same dramatic impact as his original best seller " The Brain That Changes Itself", which has sold over 1 million copies?

In "The Brain That Changes Itself" Dr Doidge alerted us to "brain plasticity", our brain's ability to change its structure and capabilities in response to experiences and training. This book increased our understanding of the power and potential of everyone's brains - young or old .

Now seven years later, his second book seeks to extend this theme.

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Handwriting May Boost Learning by Activating Working Memory & Reading

Children today are doing much less handwriting than children did 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Before computers became commonplace, handwriting was much more important for everyone. Back then schools put considerable time and attention on making sure students developed their handwriting. 

I recall entering cursive handwriting competitions when I was a young child (I went to primary school in the 1950s), and the sense of pride for the kids who were judged the neatest writers.

Now, typing on computers and tablets is replacing the act of writing by hand for many students (and adults).

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

 

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"Just Try Harder" Will Not Fix Your Child's Learning Difficulties

Has your child ever been told by his or her teacher to "just try harder"? Have you thought that their difficulties with reading, maths or inability to keep up in class would be fixed if they would just put in a bit more effort?

While this may be a common reaction by adults to a child they think could do better, it is not the answer for children with learning difficulties. No matter how hard they try, a child with learning challenges just can't achieve the desired result because their brains won't let them.

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A Very Happy Mother Explains how Fast ForWord Helped her Children

Therese is the mother of three boys who go to Narooma Public School, on the NSW South Coast.

She recently spoke with LearnFast about how Fast ForWord helped her youngest son learn better and made his attitude to school much more positive. The results were so good she now has her middle son on the program.

Her youngest (Matt, Year 3) did Fast Fast ForWord in Terms 1 & 2 (2014), and his brother (Joe, Year 4) is doing the program in Terms 3 & 4 (2014).

Why was Matt selected to do Fast ForWord?

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Dyslexia in Children - The Brain of a Struggling Reader

If you could look inside the brain of a struggling reader, you would notice it is not the same as the brain of a child who finds reading easy.  How do we know this?

Well, thanks to advances in neuroscience and brain imaging technology, scientists can actually "look inside" brains. Here is a really good infographic (courtesy of We are Teachers & Scientific Learning Corporation) which explains the key differences.  

Includes four tips for teachers (and parents) to help overcome dyslexia in children.

 

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Historic School Helps Students with Latest Fast ForWord Brain Science


Celebrating its 125 year anniversary this year, Narooma Public School, located on NSW’s south coast, has seen a lot of changes since the first students started in 1889. The slate boards and chalk in the classrooms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been replaced by electronic whiteboards, computers and the Internet.

The current Principal and teachers at Narooma have not only kept pace with the changes, but they are leading the way by using the latest neuroscience based educational tools to help their students build their learning capacity and read better.

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How Auditory Processing Disorder and Dyslexia are Related

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and Dyslexia are related conditions. LearnFast interviewed Dr Martha Burns, international expert on dyslexia and APD, about how they are connected and how we can treat them.

Key points from the interview included:

  • A child identified with APD in kindergarten is likely to show signs of dyslexia in year 3
  • Auditory processing disorders are treatable
  • There are various kinds of dyslexia
  • Dyslexia is a learning difference, not a disease

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The Brain Science of Language, Learning & Reading

Thanks to the astounding developments in brain science over the past few decades, we now understand much better how we develop our language and learn to read.

In this video, Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and literacy specialist, discusses the brain science of language, learning and reading. She also explains how neuroscience programs, in particular Fast ForWord, can help develop the thinking and language skills vital for our students success at school.

Key points from the interview included:

• Reading is a language skill
• Parents who reinforce baby babble help them develop language
• Thinking skills (memory, attention, processing speed and the ability to sequence) plus language skills are the foundations for reading & learning
• Fast ForWord can enhance the learning capacity of all students

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How Ear Structure Can Contribute to Auditory Processing Disorder

What is “hearing acuity”? What does it have to do with auditory processing disorder and our ability to learn?

LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and Auditory Processing Disorder specialist to explain the links between a child’s ear structure, their hearing acuity, auditory processing disorder and learning ability.

 

 Key points from the interview included

  • Hearing acuity refers to the very softest sound we can hear across a range of frequencies.
  • Hearing is fundamental to learning language.
  • Ear infection or “glue ear” can cause problems for children
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What Causes Auditory Processing Disorder?

ipad-brain

How do we get auditory processing disorder (APD) – is it something we are born with? To find out, LearnFast interviewed Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and APD specialist.

Key points from the interview included:

• You can be born with it
• There are likely to be students with APD in almost every classroom
• Informed, aware teachers can identify students who may have APD
• This disorder can be related to dyslexia

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How Can I tell if my child has Auditory Processing Disorder?

Are there signs you can look out for at home, that could indicate your child has auditory processing disorder (APD)?

To find out, LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and APD specialist, and we recorded her answers on video.

Key points from the interview included:

  • Does your child often misunderstand what you say?
  • Do they have difficulty following an instruction to do a sequence of things
  • Rule out a hearing problem by having their hearing checked
  • Your child may not be disobedient or oppositional, they just may not be able to process everything you say to them
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Auditory Processing Disorder - what brains do with what ears hear.

How is it possible that your child can hear quite well but they don’t understand what they hear? They could have auditory processing disorder (APD).

To get some understanding of this complex issue, LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and APD specialist to explain in a video interview.

Key points from the interview included:

  • “Processing” the meaning of sounds is different to “hearing"
  • Hearing happens in our ears
  • Processing occurs in our brain
  • Auditory processing disorder can look like attention deficit
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How the Fast ForWord Programs Help with Auditory Processing Disorder

Fast ForWord programs are proven to develop auditory processing skills. LearnFast recorded a video interview with Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) specialist and asked her explain.

Key points from the interview included:

  • Fast ForWord trains multiple aspects of auditory processing including:
    • Auditory discrimination
    • Auditory memory
    • Following instructions
    • Receptive language
  • Neuroimaging shows physical brain changes after Fast ForWord
  • Tests confirm improvements in auditory processing
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Eight Tips to Help Your Auditory Processing Disorder Child at Home

How can you make life easier for your child with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) . In this video interview Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and APD specialist gives eight practical tips for parents.

Some of the tips from the interview are:

  1. Reduce your child’s frustration by being understanding and compassionate about their difficulty.
  2. Make sure you have your child’s full attention before you speak to them.
  3. Have your child face you when you speak to them.
  4. Keep instructions short
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How Can Teachers Detect Auditory Processing Disorder in the Classroom?

What are some of the signs teachers can recognise that may suggest that a student has auditory processing disorder?

LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) specialist to answer this question, and recorded her answers in a video interview.

Key points from the interview include advice that teachers should look out for students who:

  • Have delays in responding to questions
  • Often misunderstand what the teacher or other students say
  • Are behind others in reading and spelling
  • Have difficulty understanding jokes or sarcasm
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How Can I Help Students with Auditory Processing Disorder at School?

One of your students has an auditory processing disorder. You know this because they have had a diagnosis by an audiologist or speech pathologist. Or perhaps you suspect that a student has this disorder because you observed their symptoms in the classroom.

Is there anything you can do to help them?  We asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and auditory processing disorder (APD) specialist for her advice.

Key points from the interview included

  • Seat the student closer to you
  • Try to make the classroom quieter
    • Put rubber tips on the legs of chairs
    • Use cork or cloth boards to absorb noise
    • Carpet is great if you can get it into the classroom
  • Check often that they understood what you have said
  • Use multi-sensory instruction whenever possible 
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Fast ForWord Builds Learning Capacity and Reading Skills

Learning CapacityHow can the Fast ForWord program build learning capacity and reading skills for all students, regardless of their ages and current ability?

This short video explains that the neuroscience-based exercises in the patented Fast ForWord programs simultaneously develop thinking skills (memory, attention, processing speed and the ability to sequence sounds, words and ideas) as well as language skills including:

   Phonological awareness
  Phonemic awareness
   Vocabulary
   Syntax
   Grammar

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Cam’s journey - A 9 year study of the benefits of Fast ForWord. Part 1, 2 & 3

Cameron didn’t like school - sound familiar?

How can you change that – especially if there is an underlying blocker to learning ?

This blog includes Part 1, 2 and 3 of Cameron’s journey from age 10 being diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and how he has used Fast ForWord to help himself overcome the challenges of this disability, graduate from high school and start his TAFE studies.

Also included is his television interview from the Channel 7 Sunrise Program.

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Background noise and students with Auditory Processing Disorder

Many people find it hard to hear what someone else is saying when there is a lot of background noise. But if you have Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), background noise can be even more of a problem.

LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and Auditory Processing Disorder specialist how explain how background noise impacts people with this difficulty.

Key points from the interview included:

  • Students with APD are disadvantaged in noisy classrooms
  • Background noise interferes with learning
  • Reducing noise in classrooms will benefit all students

Watch the video interview: 

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11 behaviours that separate Auditory Processing Disorder from ADHD

Do you have a child who has trouble paying attention?  Has anyone suggested they might have Attention Deficit Disorder (commonly referred to as ADD or ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

You won’t know for sure unless your child has an assessment by a trained professional.

What you should know, however, is that ADD/ADHD is often mistaken for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD).  

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Dyslexia – Where to Get Help

DyslexiaHow does a parent or teacher decide where to get help for dyslexic children? How do you sort effective treatments from those that make confident claims to cure dyslexia?

LearnFast asked Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and dyslexia specialist for her advice.

Key points from the interview included:

  • Remedial teachers, educational psychologists, and speech pathologists may be able to help.
  • Neuroscience programs, such as Fast ForWord, can treat underlying processing deficiencies in the child’s brain.
  • Best to combine neuroscience programs with good one to one therapy and instruction.

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What is Dyslexia - How do I know if I have it?

“Dyslexia” is a term used widely, and often not very accurately, to describe a range of reading difficulties. Because parents often struggle to know whether their child’s difficulties with learning to read are related to dyslexia, LearnFast recorded a video interview with speech language pathologist and dyslexia specialist, Devon Barnes and asked her to explain dyslexia.

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New Patent for Fast ForWord learning capacity & reading program

Scientific Learning Corporation, developers of the Fast ForWord programs has been awarded another patent. This takes the total patents to more than 80 for their neuroscience based programs which have been used by over 2 million students around the world.

This latest patent adds further recognition to the 18-year history of invention and innovation by the scientists at Scientific Learning Corporation.

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Use it or Lose it? – Why the benefits of Fast ForWord are long lasting

Does a child need to keep doing Fast ForWord exercises to continue to get the benefit of the brain training?

No, children don’t have to keep doing the exercises to maintain their improvements in learning reading and self confidence. The benefits of Fast ForWord are long lasting after the exercises are completed.

Research, and reports, from parents and teachers of children who have completed the Fast ForWord program, confirm that the gains made from the exercises are permanent.

Children typically complete the Fast ForWord programs appropriate for their age and development in 3 – 5 months. During this time they work on exercises that strengthen the cognitive and language skills that are essential for learning and reading.

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Dyslexia is Not a Disease: Its About Brain Organisation

Interview with Dr Martha Burns, international dyslexia expert

As anyone with a ‘dyslexic’ child, student or family member will probably know, “dyslexia” is a term used widely, and often not very accurately, to describe a range of reading difficulties. To get some clarity about dyslexia, what exactly Dyslexia is, and the issues for parents and teachers of dyslexic children, LearnFast recorded a video interview with Dr Martha Burns, international dyslexia expert.

Key points from the interview included:

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Improving Student Learning Capacity - for better student outcomes

Today's classroom is more academically diverse than over. And even though schools offer a variety of programs and resources some learners continue to perform below grade level. So how can teachers accelerate learning for every student? It all starts with the brain.

With help, students can strengthen foundational learning pathways in the brain. Dramatically increasing their capacity to learn. That's exactly what Fast ForWord does. Quickly transforming students into better learners across all areas of study.
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The Arrowsmith Program and Fast ForWord

The 60 Minutes program on Channel 9 (Australia) on Sunday June 1, 2014 included a segment about the Arrowsmith School, and featured some children from the 35 Australian families currently at the school in Canada. 

The Arrowsmith program was developed by Barbara Arrowsmith- Young and uses the principles of brain plasticity to improve the learning abilities of children with a range of learning disabilities including dyslexia.

Families who have gone to the Arrowsmith School report very significant improvements in their children. If your child has a severe learning problem, they may be able to be helped by the Arrowsmith program.

Right now it is necessary for them to go to Canada because there are very few places in Australia and New Zealand where the program is available. Of course this involves considerable cost/financial sacrifice and potential disruption to their families as one parent usually accompanies the child to Canada.

An alternative for families contemplating relocating to Canada for the duration of their child’s attendance at the Arrowsmith School is to consider Fast ForWord, a brain plasticity program that improves learning capacity for all students, including those with severe learning difficulties.

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How strong is the link between Auditory Processing Disorder & Dyslexia?

Parents of children with dyslexia can be overwhelmed by conflicting advice about how best to help their children.

Often well meaning friends and others professing to have a “cure” for dyslexia can confuse parents anxious about their child’s inability to read as well as other children of the same age.

Fortunately there is a lot of well conducted science now available to inform us about how to improve the learning outcomes for those with dyslexia. The scientific research is clearly indicating that there is a strong link between many children’s poor auditory processing skills and their struggles with reading, including dyslexia.

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Could Auditory Processing Disorder be the Reason your Child is Struggling to Read?

Is your child having difficultly learning to read? Is he or she reluctant to read?   There are a number of reasons why some children struggle with reading, even with the best teachers and diligent, encouraging parents.

Maybe you have had his, or her, eyesight checked. No problem there. (Of course children with poor sight, or other visual problems like inability to track their eyes from left to right across a page will not find it easy to learn to read. And you need to have any visual problems treated as a very first step to help them).

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