Scientific Learning Corp. Co-Founder Dr. Michael Merzenich to Be Featured In PBS Special on Brain Fitness
Neuroscience Principles Discussed in Special Are at the Core of The Fast ForWord® Software Products Used in Education
12/6/07
Media Contact:Jessica Lindl
Vice President of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
(510) 625-6784
jlindl@scilearn.com
Investor Contact:
Jane A. Freeman
Senior Vice President and CFO
Scientific Learning Corporation
(510) 625-2281
investorrelations@scilearn.com
OAKLAND, Calif. – This week, public television stations across the country will air a new special, called "The Brain Fitness Program," that explores the brain's amazing ability to change throughout a person's life. The 90-minute PBS special features the system developed by Dr. Michael Merzenich and more than 50 neuroscientists around the world — the Brain Fitness Program — and airs as part of the December 2007 pledge drive (check local listings) on PBS. Dr. Merzenich, of the University of California San Francisco, has been leading the effort to design the scientifically based set of brain exercises demonstrated in this program.
The special highlights the efforts of Dr. Merzenich and his colleagues to create a system for strengthening the brain and making it perform with more agility, speed and comprehension. The Posit Science Brain Fitness Program is based on a unique, patented methodology that leverages neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to change, adapt and even rewire itself.
While The "Brain Fitness Program" special focuses on the aging brain, the research behind brain plasticity applies to K-12 education as well, and is at the core of the Fast ForWord® family of educational software products developed by Oakland-based Scientific Learning Corp. (NASDAQ:SCIL), a company co-founded by Dr. Merzenich. Scientific Learning's Family of Fast ForWord products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered interventions and intensive exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively.
The Fast ForWord software is based on over 30 years of foundational research and proven results in thousands of schools and learning centers around the world. By exercising processing skills through intensive, adaptive activity, actual physical changes occur in the brain. Fast ForWord products trigger change in the brain and provide an optimal foundation for learning and reading success.
Indeed, a brain-imaging study of dyslexic children at Children’s Hospital Boston found that sound training via the Fast ForWord software can literally rewire children's brains — correcting the sound processing problem and improving reading. The study was published in October in the journal, Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
About Scientific Learning Corp.
Scientific Learning creates educational software that accelerates learning by improving the processing efficiency of the brain. The patented Fast ForWord® family of products provides struggling readers with computer-delivered interventions and intensive exercises that build the cognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord products apply patented technology and validated neuroscience principles of brain plasticity to help children, adolescents, and adults improve processing efficiency and achieve enduring gains. The efficacy of the products and the science behind them has been established by more than 550 research studies and publications. For more information, visit www.scientificlearning.com.
The underwriters: Public Television Viewers and PBS. Producer: Santa Fe Productions. Producers: Anthony Tiano and Lennlee Keep. Narrator: Peter Coyote. Format: CC Stereo
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