Murphys, CA…Mind Matters, is pleased to announce that the innovative collaboration with the Vallecito Unified School District to bring Fast ForWord to Hazel Fischer Elementary and Michelson Elementary was a success. Mind Matters, while known for it’s services targeted to individuals living with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADD/ADHD, also offers extensive services for learning disabilities, reading remediation, and dyslexia. Mind Matters has addressed these disabilities and disorders with solutions that utilized progressive neuroscience, evidence based, computer programs to meet the increasing needs of the community. One such program that has demonstrated measurable success and a lasting positive impact is Fast ForWord.

Fast ForWord, created by Scientific Learning, was developed by scientists Michael Merzenich, William Jenkins, Paula Tallal, and Steven Miller. Their studies in the progressive field of neuroscience opened the door to a collaboration that proved that the underlying cognitive processes that influence speech and language problems could be identified—and permanently improved. This research and understanding is what lies at the foundation of the Fast ForWord program.

The program looks simple at first glance, like a fun video game with sounds and bright graphics, but each task has a goal and purpose beyond entertainment. The game, calibrated to each participant’s specific needs, engages them based on initial assessments and through the activities retrains the way their brain is mapped. The hand eye coordination combined with the audio components (as well as other elements) open up the neural pathways for more successful audio/visual processing and sequencing. A very neat observation is that the children are also having fun! And the results are astounding.

In a relatively short amount of time, six to eight weeks, with a frequency varying from 25 – 90 minutes per day, two to five days a week, participants usually display improvement in auditory processing speed, working memory, listening comprehension, and other brain functions. In addition to the measurable gains in language (up to 3 grade level improvements), it is often reported that children who have completed Fast ForWord are better able to interact with parents, teachers, and peers.

New language skills often empower children to participate in the world with more ease as their overall communication skills ( listening, thinking, reading) are improved. They are more likely to participate in group or class discussions and social activities. “ I have seen great improvement with my student who has participated. She is more confident in offering answers during class time, especially around work in Phonics and Spelling. In the past, she would never raise her hand and offer answers and now she can be seen daily providing correct information for the rest of the class. I would love to see a continuation of this program in schools” States Rebecca Cavagnaro, 3rd and 4th grade teacher at Hazel Fischer Elementary.

While the program has proven to yield strong positive results, even with the expansion of it’s offerings at the clinic, Mind Matters identified that there was a greater need still unmet and devised a plan to do something groundbreaking: Involve the schools and collaborate at the origin of this need. “Mind Matters has been using the Fast ForWord program for years. However, the program is expensive to run, costing between $1395 and $2000 per child, and while the clinic has partial grant funding available, many students, due to many reasons ( timing, scheduling, transportation etc…), are not able to participate. Thus we saw a need to broaden our reach. We thought, well, if the students can not come to us, then we will go to them. That is how the idea started and we just ran with it.” States Doctor Ryan Thompson, CEO and Medical Director of the Mind Matters Clinic.

This type of pilot program involving a public collaboration with a local school district was an ambitious goal. Cheri Tichenor, the lead Educational Support Specialist at Mind Matters was up for the challenge and took it head on. Her years of experience as a teacher and her relationships in the community proved to be an asset. After some dialogue and footwork, the idea was welcomed with open arms in the Vallecito Unified School District.
Lead by Cheri, the efforts and passion of the Mind Matters staff attracted the support of a local community foundation that took the dream to the next level and funded it. Thanks to this initial grant funding, the pilot program and it’s collaborative vision was realized.

The first in the session was run at Hazel Fischer Elementary School in September 2014 followed by Michelson Elementary School in March 2015. The primary focus of Mind Matters was to address the concerns of the teachers and the needs of the students by working together. This open dialogue created the space to devise a program that would fit the school’s needs and requirements while truly supporting the students at their level.
What emerged allowed for Mind Matters to bring Fast ForWord to the school and run it on site during school hours. This, while it sounds relatively simple, this is something remarkable. The fact that the children could continue their training during a school period removed barriers to participation. Another remarkable element of the program is that it was offered at no cost to the school or to the student.

Each child that was identified as a potential participant, demonstrated the most need and completed a comprehensive series of tests in audio visual processing, sequencing, as well as reading and comprehension. The results allowed for the program to meet the children at their specific level of attention and then were tested once at the midway point and finally at the end of the session. The program was a soaring success. All students showed marked improvement in their academic performance, reading and comprehension levels, as well as class participation and overall processing improvements. At the end of the sessions, the results were shared with the school and the family along with “next step” recommendations and explanations of the meaning of the findings.

There was such great excitement when the program launched in both locations but unfortunately, the program could only accommodate 8 children in each session. As such, only the children with the greatest need were accepted into the program. “We do not want to see children fall through the cracks as they are struggling in school” says Cheri as she hopes to be able to offer the program again.

The Vallecito Unified School District Superintendent, Don Ogden, fully supports this idea and wants to see it be implemented. “The Vallecito School District is very thankful for the collaboration with Mind Matters. The students that have had the opportunity to work with the Mind Matters staff have demonstrated tremendous academic growth in a very short time. Additionally, our teaching sta