Brain-Imaging Study Shows That Fast ForWord Educational Software Improves Reading
12/10/07
Media Contact:Jessica Lindl
Vice President of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
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Jane A. Freeman
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Scientific Learning Corporation
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Oakland, Calif. — Dec. 10, 2007 — A brain-imaging study of dyslexic children, led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Dartmouth College, in collaboration with MIT, found that sound training via Scientific Learning Corp.'s (NASDAQ:SCIL) Fast ForWord® software can literally rewire Children's brains — correcting the sound processing problem and improving reading — in eight weeks of daily sessions. The Fast ForWord family is a series of educational software products that accelerates learning by developing the student brain to process more efficiently.
According to the study, published online in October in the journal, Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, children with dyslexia struggle to read because their brains are not properly wired to process fast-changing sounds. The idea that they may have an underlying problem processing sound was introduced in the 1970s by Paula Tallal, Ph.D., of Rutgers University. The study"s first author, Nadine Gaab, Ph.D., of the Developmental Medicine Center Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Children's Hospital Boston, along with John Gabrieli, Ph.D., Grover Hermann Professor in Health Sciences and Technology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and Elise Temple, Ph.D., of Dartmouth College's Department of Education, used functional MRI imaging (fMRI) to examine how the brains of 9- to 12-year-old children with developmental dyslexia, and normal readers, responded to sounds both before and after using the Fast ForWord Language software.
Gaab first tested how the Children's brains responded to two types of sounds: fast-changing and slow-changing. The sounds were not language, but they resembled vocal patterns found in speech. As Gaab watched using brain fMRI, the children listened to the sounds through headphones. In the tests, typical readers used 11 brain areas more extensively when processing fast-changing sounds as opposed to slow-changing sounds. In contrast, children with dyslexia did not show these differences; they used the same brain areas to the same degree to process both fast- and slow-changing sounds. After eight weeks of using Fast ForWord the brains of the children with dyslexia changed to processing more like normal readers.
“This study offers hope to parents and educators searching for effective solutions to help children with dyslexia overcome reading difficulties,” said Robert C. Bowen, CEO of Scientific Learning Corp. “Through independent research at thousands of schools, clinics, and learning centers around the world, we know that the Fast ForWord family of products actually builds the learning capacity of the brain and demonstrates proven and enduring effects on a wide variety of student populations. It's very rewarding to see the results of the scientific research and to see the difference that Fast ForWord software can make in children's lives.”
About Fast ForWord Products
The Fast ForWord family of products consists of scientifically proven intervention programs that apply neuroscience principles to build the fundamental cognitive skills required to read and learn. The products work by improving the brain's processing efficiency — how the brain functions to support learning and intellectual activity, including memory, attention, processing rate, and sequencing — with intensive exercises that adapt to each student's level.
About Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Children's Hospital Boston today is a 377-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Children's also is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit: www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.
About Scientific Learning Corporation
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 and www.brainconnection.com, or call toll-free 888-452-7323.
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