Interesting to see a new study from the National Institute of Health in the United States, children who have unusual difficulty understanding and using language made significant, long-term gains in their language abilities after using Fast ForWord® software intervention. About 74 percent of children using the Fast ForWord Language programme made large improvements on language measures - and showed even greater improvement six months later.
The Fast ForWord Language software was one of four intervention strategies examined in the study, led by Ronald B. Gillam, Ph.D., of Utah State University. The Fast ForWord Language series builds foundational reading and language skills while improving memory, attention and processing rates so schools can move elementary special needs and English language learners toward grade level reading skills.
"It is clear that a large majority of the children in our study who received treatment with Fast ForWord Language showed substantial improvements, reversing a long-time trend," said Dr. Gillam. "The results of longitudinal studies consistently show that only about 25 percent of school-age children with poor language skills show significant improvements after two, four, or even ten years of school services. Conversely, seventy-four percent of the children in our study who received Fast ForWord Language had follow-up scores that were significantly greater than their pre-test scores six months after treatment ended. I judge that to be a substantial benefit."
Sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health, the study looked at children, between the ages of six and nine years, who had been diagnosed with language impairment. The Fast ForWord Language intervention was delivered in an intensive, six-week summer program that also included day camp activities such as arts and crafts, outdoor games, board games and snack time. The children used the Fast ForWord Language software for one hour and 40 minutes each day, five days per week.
The children took a standard language test - the Comprehensive Test of Spoken Language - and completed a variety of auditory processing measures at the beginning and end of the program, as well as three and six months afterward. The children demonstrated statistically significant improvement on the auditory processing measures and the language measures immediately after their six-week program. The children showed even greater improvement when their language skills were tested again six months later.
"Educators need to take notice of the growing number of studies like this that show large improvements in language and/or reading skills when children are provided with intensive treatments," said Dr. Gillam. "It's time to change business as usual in our schools. Solutions like this deserve careful consideration."
