Using the Power of Optimal Timing to Improve the Brain’s Ability to Learn

• December 13, 2011 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Learning is both a behavioral and biological process that is supported by the neurons in the brain over time.

When we learn, our brain cells physically change in response to stimulation, forming pathways to facilitate the connections we use repeatedly. For example, if you meet a person only once, you might not remember their name or recognize their face if you were to run into them on the street ten years on. On the other hand, if you see that person every day for a year, you will likely be able to recognize their face and remember their name much more readily should you not see that person for a long period of time.

Learning processes like these in the brain take predictable, measured amounts of time. While these rates will vary from person to person and nervous system to nervous system, we can depend upon certain relatively constant timeframes for learning and processing an understanding of some of these timeframes can allow educators to take maximum advantage of them. That’s why the Fast ForWord® products function on each of these scales by design, using the power of optimal timing to improve the brain’s ability to learn.

Learning depends upon a specific feedback loop characterized by timing between stimulus, response and reward ^[i]. Here are some of those timescales, along with how Fast ForWord works within each:

• Milliseconds: Auditory processing happens on the millisecond timescale. Fast ForWord helps improves auditory processing rate to ensure that students are able to “keep up” with auditory input such as spoken directions from their teacher.
• Seconds: Reinforcement learning happens on a scale of seconds and is achieved by interacting with one’s surroundings.  The Fast ForWord program’s reward system is based on this time scale, delivering rewards to students at just the right moment to maximize reinforcement learning, helping students get the most benefit from the program.
• Minutes: Our actions change based on how we perceive our surroundings. This kind of adaptation can take minutes. As students move through Fast ForWord exercises, they can see their performance results changing minute by minute. Being able to see such improvement helps motivate students toward greater learning. In other words, as they perceive the positive results of their actions, students adapt and learn to generate more of those positive results.
• Days or Weeks: Consolidation and maturation of memories can take days or weeks. When a student overcomes an obstacle in Fast ForWord, their confidence is strengthened and they not only learn the material, but they learn about their own capabilities and what success feels like. The memories of such experiences and the associated feelings – gathered and built upon over the days, weeks and months – lay the foundation to spur them on to future success. Such success in the classroom can lead to a greater drive to perform well in other areas, such as doing well on a test, winning on the athletic field, or successfully completing that college application.   We cannot underestimate the power of experiencing success and the sensation that it creates.

In the classroom, having an awareness of how long it takes for a student to assimilate and process certain kinds of information can add an entirely different rhythm to our instruction. In having such an understanding of how the brains of our students work, we can time our teaching to optimize learning and help our students achieve maximum success.

References:

[i] Why Time Matters Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center. University of California San Diego

Related Reading:

The Brain Gets Better at What it Does: Dr. Martha Burns on Brain Plasticity

Video Games: A New Perspective on Learning Content and Skills

 

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, auditory processing, brain plasticity, emotions in learning, how children learn, learning environment, motivating students, processing rate, teacher impact, technology in education

Improving Auditory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

• September 8, 2011 by Barbara Calhoun, Ph.D

Summary:  A recent study by Nicole Russo of Northwestern University and her colleagues, published in Behavioral and Brain Functions in 2010, evaluates whether auditory training programs such as Fast ForWord® can alleviate the auditory processing deficits so frequently seen in ASD children.

Russo’s study examines how effectively Fast ForWord could strengthen the auditory processing of speech sounds in similar ASD children. Her team hypothesized that such training would modify the neural processing of sound in children with ASD, and that such children “would show improvement in the neural encoding of speech syllables, including faster response timing, greater fidelity of the response relative to the stimulus, and more accurate pitch encoding over time.” (p. 3)

Results showed that training appeared to have benefited all participants in the experimental group, affecting their neural transcription of speech. According to Russo and her team, “each of the five children who underwent FFW training improved on at least one measure of cortical speech processing relative to the control group, with response timing improving in both quiet and noise for some children.” (p. 13)

Russo and her team were able to conclude that directed auditory training using Fast ForWord shows great promise for improving auditory processing in children with ASD – specifically, those high-functioning children who have hearing in the typical range. 

 

Content:  This study was published in Behavioral and Brain Functions in 2010 and was done at Northwestern University by Dr. Nicole Russo and her colleagues.   It evaluates whether auditory training programs, such as Fast ForWord, can alleviate the auditory processing deficits so frequently seen in children with autism spectrum disorders. Children with autism spectrum disorders or ASD demonstrate impairments in their use of language for social and communicative purposes.  These impairments are typically apparent prior to three years of age.

There is emerging evidence that the neural encoding of speech sounds may be impaired in some children with autism spectrum disorders leading to atypical auditory brainstem responses to speech sounds and difficulties processing speech-specific stimuli such as detecting speech in background noise. 

Since the Fast ForWord products provide auditory training including listening and sound-sequencing exercises, as well as exercises on auditory attention, auditory discrimination, phoneme discrimination, and memory, Dr Russo and her colleagues were interested in investigating the impact of the products on children with ASD.

High-functioning children with ASD who had participated in an earlier study were invited to partake in this one.   The children all had a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.  They had typical peripheral hearing, average mental abilities and average or near-average language scores.

Eleven boys with an average age of 9.2 completed the entire testing protocol and met the criteria.   The children were then given the option of taking part in the intensive auditory training. Five children opted for the training and formed the experimental group.  The other six children who opted not to take part in the training were willing to take part in the post-test and formed the control group. There was not a significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, IQ, or language ability.

Students in the experimental group used the intense intervention: the Fast ForWord Language Series which entailed the Fast ForWord Language product for an average for 20 days followed by Fast ForWord Language to Reading for an average of 32 days.

Auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and Event-Related Potentials (ERP’s) were recorded from both groups.  These tests measure the size and the timing of electrical activity that occurs in the brainstem and brain in response to a sound.  In this case, the sounds were synthesized vowels that were heard in the presence of background noise, as well as in quiet.  Auditory brainstem responses are subcortical events occurring less than 10 ms after the stimuli is presented while  event-related potentials are cortical events occurring a few hundred milliseconds after the stimuli is presented.  Both ABR’s and ERP’s measure the aggregate response of neurons and neither requires active involvement by the participant. 

Due to the small number of participants, and the variations between them, the analysis involved defining a “typical change” as the average change for students in the control group plus one standard deviation, and defining a “significant change” for one of the participants as a change that was more than the control’s change plus one standard deviation. 

The researchers were particularly interested in subjects that had two or more measures with significant change.  All five students improved more than one standard deviation on at least two tests. The researchers concluded that there is Initial evidence that directed auditory training may improve auditory processing in a specific population of children with ASD – specifically high-functioning children with ASD who have hearing in the typical range.

They also concluded that computer-based training may benefit some children with ASD by acting on biological processes.

Read the complete report on this research at the link below:

Nicole M Russo, N., Hornickel, J., Nicol, T. Zeckler, S. Kraus, N. Biological changes in auditory function following training in children with autism spectrum disorders. Behavioral and Brain Functions 2010, 6:60.

Related Reading:

Understanding Autism in Children

Language Skills Increase 1.8 Years After 30 Days Using Fast ForWord

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: auditory processing, autism, brain training, learning disabilities, processing rate, video

2011 Virtual Circle of Learning Customer Conference

• August 25, 2011 by Pam Combs

Customers, mark your calendars!   This year’s annual Scientific Learning customer conference, the 2011 Virtual Circle of Learning, will take place on November 4, bringing together Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant product users from across North America. Circle of Learning participants will get to hear the latest in brain research and learn practical applications that will benefit students immediately. 

This year’s Circle of Learning will be a 100% virtual event.  It will include the same caliber of comprehensive content and keynote speakers as in our past on-site conferences, and we’ll be actively using social media to connect participants before, during, and after the event. 

The Circle of Learning agenda features three engaging keynotes—including the ever-popular Eric Jensen (Teaching with Poverty in Mind) and Scientific Learning’s own Dr. Marty Burns (Motivating our Coaches and Teachers) and Andrew Ostarello (The Story of Data).  Breakout sessions follow, addressing the importance of attention skills, memory, processing skills, and sequencing skills, as well as a special breakout session especially for tech team members. 

Please plan to join us for this once-a-year, not-to-be-missed customer event!          

Oh, and did I mention that it is FREE?!

Related Reading:

Students who Struggle in the Mainstream: What their Homework Patterns May Tell You

Implementation Fidelity: Maximizing Your Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant Investment

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Categories: Brain Research, Education Trends, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Reading Assistant, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: attention, cognitive skills, education conference, memory, processing rate, Scientific Learning events, sequencing, technology in education, webinar

Calculating a Response to Dyscalculia: What to Do When Your Child is “Number Blind”

• June 23, 2011 by Cory Armes

Do you know any children or adults who struggle with math?  Perhaps they have difficulty with basic math skills and seem unable to understand what math process to use with which problem.  Maybe they are unable to organize objects in a logical way or have difficulty with measurement of either time or money.  If you know people with these types of struggles, they may have dyscalculia.

Dyscalculia, also called “number blindness” or “numerical blindness,” is a learning disability that inhibits a person's ability to use and have a proper sense of numbers.  Literally meaning “bad counting,” dyscalculia is estimated to impact three to six percent of the population so is just as prevalent as dyslexia but often goes undiagnosed since those with this disability often excel in reading and other subject areas. 

Many people believe that math can be a difficult subject to teach or that some students just don’t “get it”.  But for those who truly have dyscalculia, it is not about how the subject is taught; it is a lack of number sense.  Two main areas of weakness may contribute to this learning disability: visual-spatial issues and language processing difficulties.  With visual-spatial weaknesses, the learner has a problem processing what the eye sees so he or she may have difficulty visualizing patterns or parts of a math problem.  Making sense of what the ear hears is the issue with language processing weakness which leads to a hard time grasping math vocabulary and building on math knowledge since there is a difficulty in understanding what the words represent.

Identification of any learning disability requires a trained professional who can evaluate a student to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses in learning.  An in-depth assessment compares what the student’s expected level of performance is to what he or she actually can do in areas of mathematical skill and understanding.  It also is helpful for at least an overview of this information to be shared with the student (especially the strengths) since knowing how you learn best is a good way to help students learn to compensate for difficulties and to build academic success and confidence.

So what can be done for those who have dyscalculia?  The first step is for parents, teachers and other educational specialists to use the evaluation results to develop strategies to address the student’s math skills.  Some will benefit from additional tutoring that adjusts the learning pace and focuses on specific areas of difficulty with repeated reinforcement of key skills.  For those with visual-spatial weaknesses, using graph paper can be helpful for organizing ideas and for those with language processing issues, clear explanations and frequent checks for understanding are important.  And, as with most students with learning disabilities, having all of the needed materials and working in a place with limited distractions is always a good idea!

As with any learning disability, the earlier that the dyscalculia can be identified and remediated, the greater the chance that your child will stay on track or stay motivated to catch up.  Talking with your child’s teacher is the best place to start so make that call or, if the teacher has contacted you, be open to their concerns.    As your child’s advocate, you can help make the difference in gaining access to the right resources to help your child work through learning challenges and achieve academic success.

Want more information on dyscalculia?  Here are some online resources:

What is Dyscalculia?

Number Blindness – More Common that Dyslexia

Dyscalculia.org

Related Reading:

What is Number Sense and How Does it Relate to Math Skills?

Do Teachers Give Students Math Anxiety?

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Education Trends, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, auditory processing, cognitive skills, learning disabilities, math, processing, processing rate, remedial education, struggling students

Individualizing Instruction Through Understanding Different Types of Learners

• June 14, 2011 by Terri Zezula

For an educator, getting to know each learner is like experiencing a new book. Every child—every mind that comes into the classroom—represents a new discovery with every turn of the page, their own way of seeing and experiencing the world, and they each bring a unique library of experiences, hopes, fears and dreams.

Now, while that makes for a poetic discussion about the wonderful variety among students, it also makes for a practical challenge in helping every one of these individuals achieve their greatest potential. How can an educator present information such that all of these learners—with all their different world views and brain wirings—will get the most out of the school experience?

Researchers have generated multiple models of the mind, each providing its own way of understanding how we can conceptualize and leverage learning differences in the classroom. Such categories are simply ways for us to classify students and ensure that we are reaching every one as effectively as possible.

All these models strive to answer one single question: How does each individual learner experience and process the world around them? Academics have spent great energies on unlocking these secrets and developing models of how we learn. A quick trip through just a few of these theories (and there are many other theories out there) gives us an idea of the breadth of ideas posed by experts of note since the 1980s:

• David Kolb described four types of learners: convergers (who develop abstract concepts and then actively experiment), divergers (who experience the world and then reflect on their observations), assimilators (who develop abstract concepts and then observe and reflect), and accommodators (who experience the world and then actively experiment).
• Honey and Mumford labeled learners as activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists.
• Anthony Gregorc described how people perceive the world in two ways (concrete and abstract) and order the world in two ways (random and sequential), and developed a model with four learner types based on the possible combinations of these qualities.
• Fleming’s model described learners as visual, auditory, read-write or kinesthetic, classifying learners by the kind of information that they most effectively assimilate.
• Howard Gardner described eight different “intelligences,” including linguistic, logical/mathematical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist.

 

In looking at these frameworks as a group, they all converge in certain ways and diverge in others. But one element remains consistent throughout, and that is the motivation for having them in the first place. There is a clear practical need for such frameworks in the classroom. Education is not a one-on-one teacher/learner proposition. As much as we would like, we as educators simply cannot provide fully individualized instruction for every student in a classroom of twenty or thirty.

The art and science of classifying how the human brain processes and learns is and will constantly change as we discover more and more about how the brain works. Whichever model or models are applied in the classroom (and again, the best educators will have a deep enough command of each of these models to leverage the best of each), it is up to educators to ensure that each learner is developing and cultivating the same set of core, fundamental cognitive skills: memory (the ability to store information), attention (the ability to focus on tasks and filter out distractions), processing (how fast a student can perceive and manipulate information), and sequencing (how accurately a student can order information).  These four key cognitive skill sets, when developed together, have been demonstrated to improve learning and reading. Thus, any teaching we do based on learner classifications must support the development of these skills.

That said, if these classifications add power and efficiency to the way we impart these skills to our students and classes, then we should make use of them as much as possible. In the end, any tricks we can use, any knowledge we can leverage, any technique we can employ—if the research demonstrates it to be effective—represents a valid bit of knowledge that we can use to help our students succeed.

Learn more about the four essential cognitive skills of memory, attention, processing, and sequencing. For further reading:

Kolb, D. A. 1984. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Honey, P & Mumford, A, (1982). The Manual of Learning Styles. Maidenhead, UK: Peter Honey Publications.

Mills, D. W. (2002). Applying what we know: Student learning styles. Retrieved May 22, 2011.:

Gardner, Howard (1983; 1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York: Basic Books. Second edition published in Britain by Fontana Press.

Related Reading:

Inspiring Students to Dream, Learn and Grow

AMPing Up Our Teaching to Increase Intrinsic Student Motivation

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: attention, cognitive skills, how children learn, Innate abilities, learning environment, memory, motivating students, processing rate, sequencing, student growth, teacher effectiveness

Increasing Our Alertness to Caffeine Use in Ourselves and Our Children

• March 18, 2011 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Whatever your personal opinion of that daily coffee or diet soda might be, we as a society—not just as individuals, but as a whole society—have made the use of caffeine into a daily ritual. For some it is an approved indulgence. For others, it represents an absolute need.

While this is obviously a problem amongst adults, it represents adverse example-setting when practiced in the presence of children. Every time we pull through the drive-thru for that daily double-mocha, every time our children hear us say, “I need a diet soda,” we send a message to our charges in the back seat that this is a necessary part of our daily, adult lives.

That stage is being set, so let’s take a step back and look objectively at this habit of caffeine, both in ourselves and our children.

Make no mistake: caffeine is a drug. As a psychoactive compound, this stimulant blocks the action of adenosine and adenosine receptors. Essentially, caffeine binds to adenosine receptors in nerve cells, but it doesn’t slow down the cell’s activity; instead, it speeds it up. Also, while adenosine opens blood vessels, caffeine causes them to constrict.

On the “positive” side, the immediate effects in humans range from enhanced cognitive performance (Smit and Rogers, 2000) to auditory vigilance (Lieberman et al., 1987) to improved reaction time (Durlach, 1998; Lieberman et al., 1987).[i]

But on the “negative” end of the spectrum, it causes high blood pressure, increases heart rate, disrupts sleep cycles, and negatively impacts attention spans.

As the body becomes habituated to the drug, it compensates for these effects, and begins to require more caffeine to function at normal levels. One study showed that children aged 9-10 who regularly drank two or fewer cans of cola a day were less alert than their non-indulging counterparts.[ii] In short, the more caffeine we take in, the less of its effects we experience, and the less we are able to function at normal levels of alertness.

Aside from the stimulant nature of caffeine, we cannot ignore how it is delivered: children and adolescents primarily get caffeine doses through drinking soda and energy drinks. During their most formative years, they are repeatedly exposed to and conditioned to the paring of sugar and caffeine. Interestingly, Robinson and Berridge refer to sugar as a “natural reward” that “activates similar reward pathways as drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, amphetamine, and nicotine.”[iii]

So along with decreased brain function, these habits can potentially contribute to life-long afflictions like diabetes and obesity.

Lastly, let’s add to this the fact that childhood and adolescence is the fastest stage of brain development. At this time, proper sleep and nutrition are critical elements in laying the foundation for future brain health and fitness. The consumption of caffeine and sugar undermines both.

We know the habits that contribute to a healthy life. Maintaining good nutrition, getting the right amount of sleep and staying away from drugs are all key lessons that we want our younger generations to internalize. How can we help make that happen?

As challenging as it might be, might we consider starting with ourselves, ditching the daily double-mocha and diet soda, and taking the first step toward leading by example? By becoming more aware of our own habits, maybe we can begin to help our children take positive control of their own.

References:

[i] Temple, Jennifer L. (2010) Caffeine Use in Children: What we know, what we have left to learn, and why we should worry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2009 June; 33(6): 793–806. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699625/

[ii] Heartherley, S.V., Hancock, K.M.F. and Rogers, P.J. (2006) Psychostimulant and other effects of caffeine in 9-11-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 47-2, 135-142.

[iii] Robinson TE, Berridge KC . The psychology and neurobiology of addiction: an incentive-sensitization view.

Addiction. 2000 Aug;95 Suppl 2:S91-117. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11002906

Related Reading:

What Every Parent Should Know about Their Baby’s Developing Brain (Part 2)

Adolescence: What’s the Brain Got to Do with It?

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Family Focus

Tags: brain development, childhood obesity, cognitive skills, development, health and well being, nutrition, processing rate, sleep

Intensive Intervention Tier 3: What leads to the need?

• January 20, 2011 by Terri Zezula

To start talking about intensive intervention tier 3 in the Response to Intervention Model, I want to start by asking you a simple question:

Are you having chicken for dinner tonight?

You probably can’t fathom how fast your brain arrived at the yes or no conclusion that popped into your head. And yet, to process that one sentence, your brain had to think through seven words, eleven syllables, 19 to 21 phonemes, 35 letters and three distinct “e” sounds. And your amazing brain did all that, sequencing the concepts, drawing on your memory and formulating an answer, in fractions of a second.

The reason your brain was able to perform such an incredible feat is because you have the foundational knowledge -- and the countless neurons in place and linked up in your brain -- to process that information. Those connections are the result of years of language acquisition and learning, the majority of which happened when you were less than four years old.

We are born with the natural ability to acquire language and speech; it is the first test of our brain’s capacity to learn. When we speak and read to infants and young children, we are helping to establish that linguistic foundation, teach speech, develop vocabulary and impart those essential skills. Reading is a different story. Written language must be taught and learned; that’s why we focus on reading skills so heavily in preschool and kindergarten.

But what happens when children don’t get that essential exposure to language early on? What if a child experiences chronic ear infections in his first four years? What if her parents work long hours and don’t read to her often? What if a child does not receive that essential early language stimulation?

Early language development is the precursor for reading; without that indispensable input, a child’s brain literally does not learn how to process input correctly. Consider that by the time she is four years old, on average, the child of a professional family has absorbed over three times the number of words as a child of a family of low socioeconomic status. Often, it is these children who end up without the prerequisite language skills and more often than not become struggling readers -- those requiring those tier 3 interventions -- all because of their language foundations.

The great news is that these students DO NOT have to end up out of the mainstream, using valuable tier 3 resources. In the average class, 1 to 5 percent of students do not progress adequately and need intensive interventions. Still, 40 percent of those students who are identified with learning disabilities are simply having trouble reading. If we can bring those students back into the mainstream with proven, scientifically-based brain fitness exercises, we can give them more promising futures as well as free up tier 3 interventions for those students who truly need them.

To learn more about the neurological science behind why these deficits occur in the brain, as well as how we can remedy them, I encourage you to gather your team together over a lunch and watch the webinar, RtI Tier 3 Intensive Interventions: A Neuroscience Perspective. Delivered by Dr. Sherry Francis, it offers fantastic insights to enlighten how we think about these students and their needs and abilities, as well as concrete solutions to help them achieve success.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Trends, Reading & Learning, Special Education

Tags: academic assistance, accelerate learning, below grade level, child reading development, cognitive skills, early learning, how children learn, improving reading skills, intensity, intervention, language learning, learning to read, memory, processing rate, reading intervention, response to intervention tier iii, rti tier iii, struggling readers, struggling students, technology in education, webinar

Brain Research, Learning & Literacy: Webinar with Dr. Bill Jenkins

• May 28, 2010 by Norene Wiesen

In this pre-recorded webinar, "Addressing Literacy Through Neuroscience," Dr. Bill Jenkins discusses brain development and plasticity, takes us on a tour of the parts of the brain involved in language processing, and reviews some recent research findings on language impairment. 

You will learn about the strong correlation between auditory processing and language development, the importance of timing in our perception of speech, and more.

Be sure to take advantage of this unusual opportunity to learn from an expert about what happens in the brain when we learn language, how oral language skills influence learning, and what we can do to help children learn better.

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Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Research, Fast ForWord, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: adaptivity, attention, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, crosstraining, early learning, frequency, how children learn, innovation, intensity, intervention, language learning, learning environment, literacy, memory, motivating students, processing, processing rate, reading intervention, sequencing, technology in education

Brain Fitness Is Not A Game

• April 30, 2010 by Terri Zezula

A recent study on brain video games is causing discussions worldwide on the benefits of brain training and programs developed to improve brain functioning. The study, published in Nature and summarized on Nature News, titled “No Gain From Brain Training,” was conducted with adults, average age 39, who practiced a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks.

These tasks, focused on reasoning, planning and problem-solving abilities, were tests and not exercises intended to improve cognitive skills. While the outcome of the study brings the concept of brain training to the forefront of online discussion sites, it’s important to note that the clarification of brain video games, brain training programs and brain fitness programs and the origins of the research behind the development of these products are critical to the discussions. 

What differentiates the Scientific Learning products from those advertised as “brain video games” or “brain training programs” is the science: decades of research into how students learn preceded the development of our products. For more than 30 years, neuroscientists at Scientific Learning have studied the way the brain learns.

The expertise and collaboration of Drs. Michael Merzenich, William Jenkins, Paula Tallal, and Steven Miller, the founders of Scientific Learning, along with several other cognitive neuroscientists, resulted in the development of a research-based series of products. The Fast ForWord® software is based on the science of how the brain learns and retains information. It utilizes the principles of neuroscience and learning to exercise and develop the brain's processing efficiency, essential for academic learning and reading success.

Brain plasticity research demonstrates that completing learning tasks in a frequent, intense timeframe accelerates learning. Just as exercise promotes physical fitness, exercising our brain improves brain fitness in four critical areas: memory, attention, processing and sequencing.

In addition, the research is recognized and supported by other scientists in peer reviews from Stanford University, Cornell University, UCSF Medical Center & Rutgers University, and many other top Universities, including a recent study by Dr. Nadine Gaab of Children’s Hospital Boston ((Gaab, N., Gabrieli, J.D.E., Deutsch, G.K., Tallal, P., & Temple, E. (2007). Neural correlates of rapid auditory processing are disrupted in children with developmental dyslexia and ameliorated with training: An fMRI study. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 25, 295-310.)).

Finding the right product to improve cognitive skills can be overwhelming for the consumer. Numerous articles and research studies can be found online that address the interest and concern in this popular field of learning and brain development. In fact, a Google search on “brain video games” resulted in more than 32million hits! Members of the education community, parents and teachers alike, who are looking for programs for their students, should be cognizant of the importance of scientific research.

If a product is touted as “research-based,” what are the origins, extent and validity of that research? Are the products intended to test or improve cognitive skills? According to Dr. William Jenkins, Scientific Learning's Chief Scientific Officer, “a program that is designed to improve cognitive, reading or language skills and build brain fitness is adaptive to the student’s abilities; critical tasks are practiced at an appropriate frequency and intensity; multiple skills are cross-trained at the same time for lasting improvement; and rewards are built into the program for maximum motivation as the student progresses.”

In the study referenced above, “No Gain From Brain Training,” researchers believe that none of the groups who participated in the study boosted their performance on tests measuring general cognitive abilities such as memory, reasoning and learning. Participants in the study were volunteers who were viewers of a popular BBC game show, “Bang Goes the Theory.” The study required the participants to complete tasks for only 10 minutes a day, 3 times a week.

While the study concluded that there is no evidence of “any generalized improvements in cognitive function following brain training in a large sample of healthy adults,” it is a study that leads to more questions than answers. Were the tasks measures of current cognitive skills or were they designed to build upon these skills? The study leads the reader to conclude that these were tests of cognitive ability, not exercises to improve skills. So the conclusion that the programs did not improve cognitive function is baffling. Were the tasks adaptive, motivating, and practiced with intensity and frequency? Was there cross-training on multiple tasks to build cognitive skills? How comprehensive is a study conducted on participants who complete tasks for only a few minutes a week?

Based on the intensive studies done on proven brain training or brain fitness products already on the market that follow the basic principles of clinical trial studies (i.e Posit Science, a brain fitness program for adults), this study is not a strong indicator of the results that can be realized with a true research-based program. Whether programs are defined as brain training or brain video games or tasks designed to test cognitive skills, they don’t necessarily have the intensive scientific research that is the foundation of a proven brain fitness program.

Subscribe to this blog to get new blog posts right in your inbox and stay up to date on the science of learning!

Attend one of our popular webinars with thought leaders in learning. Live and pre-recorded webinars are available. Register today!

Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Fast ForWord, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, accelerate learning, adaptivity, attention, brain plasticity, brain training, cognitive skills, crosstraining, frequency, how adults learn, intensity, learning through play, memory, motivating students, processing, processing rate, sequencing, technology in education

Child Reading Development and Language Skills Webinar

• April 8, 2010 by Denise Ruvalcaba

Updated June 1, 2010

Language learning begins at birth and continues throughout early childhood.  A child’s brain needs plenty of early language exposure to map the phonemes—or speech sounds—of her native language. 

Without a good language background, a child is likely to struggle with reading.  Children who are reading below grade level in the first grade are at risk for remaining below grade level in reading ability throughout their school years, and being poor readers as adults.

Early reading intervention gets better results than remediation provided later in life.  Listen to our pre-recorded child reading development webinar with Cory Armes and Dr. Joseph Noble and find out how struggling students in an Iowa school district boosted their language skills from the 36th to the 59th percentile.

The latter half of the child reading development webinar addresses various funding sources—including Stimulus Package opportunities—that districts can apply for to bring similar results to their learners.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Funding, Grants, and Stimulus, Fast ForWord, Reading Assistant

Tags: academic success, assessments, attention, child reading development, cognitive skills, curriculum, early learning, how children learn, IDEA, increased test scores, innovation, intervention, Iowa, language learning, learning to read, literacy, memory, processing, processing rate, reading intervention, technology in education, title i, vocabulary, webinar