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Other ParticipantsBesides our first, we have had other students show clear gains in their ability to function but who showed no measurable gain in test scores. Many of the students we see are very bright, capable students who earn good scores on pre-testing in spite of their obvious language-based learning problems. It seems that some students have learned to compensate well enough for their learning problems that they can earn good test scores, but on a day-to-day basis really cannot keep up with their peers. Given a fairly high pre-test score, it is unlikely that we will be able to show substantial gains upon post-testing. However, like our first client, parents are reporting that they see significant gains in daily functioning and in self-confidence. Our Youngest ParticipantOur youngest client is a boy we saw just before he entered first grade. In kindergarten, he came home upset because everyone else in his class was already beginning to read and he was not catching on. We saw him over the summer for Fast ForWord. During the course of therapy, we clearly identified the fact that he had ADHD in addition to his language-based learning problem. His parents started him on medication and he has benefited substantially from that. By the time he entered first grade, he was able to learn to read. By this time, his reading seemed to come so naturally that he looked like every other normal child who enters first grade. We believe that we prevented his need for years of special education. A Couple of Off-Site ParticipantsTwo clients we worked with in home sites had their therapy disrupted by events in their families or by illnesses. One student took a little longer to complete the program than anticipated, and the delay meant that he was still working on Fast ForWord when his family had to move. What with moving their household and him starting in a new school, they had to suspend Fast ForWord because they were too tired to do it along with everything else, too. Even so, his parents are enthusiastic about the progress he made. Another student suffered from "swimmer's ear" off and on during the course of Fast ForWord. Although it is unclear why this should be so, many people around the country are reporting that getting swimmer's ear seems to make it difficult for students to work as successfully on Fast ForWord. There were several interruptions to her therapy for this and other causes. In addition, we provided Fast ForWord mainly at a "home site" for this family. They live more than 150 miles from Billings. By the time we finished with this student, though, she had made powerful gains in her scores on the Test of Language Development (TOLD-I: 3) and even better gains on the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination Test (on the Noise subtest, pre-test: 18th percentile rank -- a "marginal" score; post-test: 68th percentile rank -- a solidly "average" score). Her mother wrote that she "has made good improvement over the school year. It started out slow and by the end her report card was great. ... I have noticed an improvement when she reads to me. She will still be in chapter and resource next year, which I think she needs... ." Her mother shared with us her report cards:
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