Australian Students Improved Literacy Skills Using Fast ForWord, Study Finds
Randomized Control Trial Shows Students Made Significant Testing Gains
2/17/07
Media Contact:
Mary Anne Petrillo
Director of Marketing
Scientific Learning Corporation
(510) 625-2218
mpetrillo@scilearn.com
Investor Contact:
Jane A. Freeman
Senior Vice President
Scientific Learning Corporation
(888) 665-9707, ext. 5526
investorrelations@scilearn.com
OAKLAND, CA - 2/17/2007 - Academically struggling students in Western Australia who used Scientific Learning Corporation's (NASDAQ:SCIL - News) Fast ForWord® software intervention in a school setting made significant improvements in their literacy and language skills, according to a new research study.
The study found that, on average, students using the Fast ForWord products made significantly greater gains on a battery of literacy and language tests than students in a comparison group that remained in the standard curriculum. Students who used the Fast ForWord products also improved their standing with respect to their peers on nationally normed tests, most notably an improvement on literacy skill moving from the 12th to the 25th percentile following the use of Fast ForWord software.
"The gains these students made are very exciting and gratifying," said Robert C. Bowen, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Learning. "These results confirm and extend the findings of prior studies around the world and support the use of the Fast ForWord products to strengthen students' foundational cognitive, linguistic, and reading skills, allowing them to benefit more from the classroom curriculum."
The study used a randomized control trial (RCT) experimental design. RCTs are considered one of the most powerful research methods for providing scientific evidence. This RCT study included 144 students between the ages of 5 and 14, attending four primary schools in Western Australia. All study participants had been identified by classroom teachers as having difficulties in language, literacy, auditory processing, attention, and/or behavior. Half of the participants used the Fast ForWord products between either February and April or May and July of 2006, while the other half served as a comparison group.
Two Australian-normed standardized tests were used to evaluate outcomes: the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4th Edition-Australian Standardized Edition (CELF-4) and the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy (QUIL).
About Scientific Learning Corporation
Scientific Learning produces the patented Fast ForWord® family of products, a series of computer-delivered intervention products that build learning capacity by developing the neurocognitive skills required to read and learn effectively. These foundational skills are built through a series of brain-based exercises that create fast, effective, and enduring results. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscience and cognitive research, the Fast ForWord products use patented technology and applications of validated neuroscience principles to help children, adolescents, and adults build the language and reading skills widely recognized as the keys to all learning.
The exercises align with the scientifically based reading-research guidelines and the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The efficacy of the products has been confirmed by more than 200 independent research studies.
For more information about Scientific Learning and its products,
visit our Web sites at visit our Web sites at www.scientificlearning.com and www.brainconnection.com, or call toll-free 888-452-7323.
See all press releases