Fast ForWord is a computer-based reading program intended to help students develop and strengthen the cognitive skills necessary for successful reading and learning b
Scientific Learning Corporation
Research
The research literature on Fast ForWord was reviewed by
What Works Clearinghouse
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is a digital library of educational research which focuses on evidence-based education.
A 2006 report described that many researchers perceived the WWC to be passive cataloger of available research. In contrast to th ...
, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s
Institute of Education Sciences
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. IES' stated mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice ...
. Positive effectiveness ratings and improvement indices were found for alphabetics, reading fluency, comprehension, and English language development.
However, the quality of evidence included in these reviews has come under criticism, as it included reports that had not undergone peer review and that were produced by the company marketing the intervention.
A 2011 systematic review that focused on high-quality randomized controlled trials did not find any positive benefit of the intervention.
However, an official response by Scientific Learning Corporation pointed out that the five studies included in the review only examined cases where Fast ForWord was poorly implemented and cited other peer-reviewed research studies that found that when properly implemented, Fast ForWord does produce significant impacts on student learning.
Fast ForWord's claims of rewiring the brain have also been scrutinized, alongside other brain training programs, for their veracity. One criticism was published in a 2016 article, which questions brain training programs in general. It noted:
In response, Dr. Henry Mahncke (one of the authors of a study that the 2016 article cited) pointed out many issues with the article, including basic factual errors, author bias, and problematic methodologies.
The scientific community continues to research and debate the efficacy of various approaches to
neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of Neural circuit, neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that diffe ...
-based brain training.
History
The Fast ForWord products evolved from the theory of a number of scientists, including
Michael Merzenich
Michael Matthias Merzenich ( ; born 1942 in Lebanon, Oregon) is an American neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. He took the sensory cortex maps developed by his predecessors (Archie Tunturi, Clinto ...
, Bill Jenkins,
Paula Tallal, and Steven Miller. This team started the Scientific Learning Corporation in 1996. The company created Fast ForWord.
The theory was that some children who have language and literacy learning difficulties may have problems rapidly processing sounds, a following theory that cognitive training can improve auditory processing, and a final theory that this training will generalize to improve learning skills beyond those in the training tasks.
References
External links
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Software for children
Learning to read
Brain training programs