The First Story

Our First Participant

Our first student was a boy who was referred mainly because of reading problems. He had been in special education for reading since first grade. We accepted him as a client, despite his average looking pre-test scores, because it was clear from his history that he would be a good candidate. He was a student of superior intellectual abilities, but his family very clearly described the kinds of problems that Fast ForWord addresses. It was evident that his superior abilities allowed him to mask the actual problems he was having.

One of the amazing things about him is that he was able to figure out a way to produce nearly error-free responding to the Fast ForWord games, almost from the first day. At a cost of tremendous care and effort, he was able to get through the games and derive almost no benefit from them. When we caught on to the way he was compensating for the difficulty he was having, we were able to coach him to stop putting so much effort into compensating, to relax and look at mistakes as an important part of learning. This led to an immediate drop in his scores and he was rather upset. Over a period of weeks, though, he found his skills improving so much that he was able to get through the games almost effortlessly. He did not need to compensate anymore. Listening skills that are automatic for most students were now automatic for him, too.

Immediately following Fast ForWord, we post-tested him, and his scores actually went down! It turned out that before therapy, this highly competitive student had been very anxious about making any mistakes. After therapy, he became more able to accept the fact that he will occasionally make errors, so he went into post-testing a little more relaxed than he was during pre-testing. We had to counsel him again: he had become a bit too comfortable with making mistakes!

He completed Fast ForWord in late July 1997, and the post-testing results showed no gains in scores. However, by August 1997, his mother was noticing substantial practical changes. She wrote that he had "come such a long way in such a short time." When he returned to school in September, he was doing much better. His mother sent the results of a group achievement test for reading, noting that out of a class of 22 students only three students scored higher. His first midterm report showed him getting an A+ in reading. His teacher wrote: "We have begun reading out of a novel - Wow! His confidence is sure evident and his reading is great. I am so pleased with his progress! He's done a great job adapting to spelling and language in the regular classroom. He works independently and does all assignments that other 4th graders complete!" His mother described him as "happy and confident," noting a change in his confidence in speaking out in class to answer questions."

The following year, in May 1999, he finished the year earning a final grades of A in every subject, including reading. His mother wrote: "He is so proud of his straight A's in the fourth quarter! He made astounding progress this year. He's reading the new Star Wars books for pleasure, and tells us about each chapter. He's also trying to study Bible stories in preparation for confirmation classes. He also likes to read the paper and Newsweek, and then asks us questions! Can you tell, I'm just a little proud? I believe that in the long term your program worked!!"

We have noted similar results with other clients. Our first client was as successful as he was because he is highly motivated, hard working, and has a very supportive family. However, he was hard working before he went through Fast ForWord. If hard work were all it takes, this child would have been a straight-A student from the time he entered school. It is evident that he really did have a disability and that we were able to help him to overcome it. It is clear that Fast ForWord was the key he needed to unlock his potential.

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