Neuron Learning

"The Brain That Changes Itself" and Autism

Here is a very interesting review on "The Brain That Changes Itself" and Autism.

"The whole book is terrific, but it was Chapter 3: Redesigning the Brain that really captured my attention. This chapter focuses on research carried out at the University Of California in San Francisco (UCSF) around children with language and learning disorders. Professor Michael Mezernich and his team are the brains behind Fast ForWord, a plasticity-based  children’s’ computer game that’s designed to improve auditory processing, attention and memory through a series of seven carefully targeted brain exercises. Although Fast ForWord was not specifically developed for children with autism, the researchers have found that many children on the spectrum also benefit from it, with the program not only alleviating their language issues but also helping them to become more connected socially."

Click here to see the full review

Autism Eye: New Autism Magazine

Autism Eye is a new independent magazine. It has a fresh outlook and is written by journalists who are parents of autistic children. Click here to see the Website

There is an in-depth review of the experience of UK based autistic children with Fast ForWord.

The first print edition is published in February and the website is very promising.

 

Autism Research Site

Here is a great site on Autism Research

Autism Research Institute Click here to see the website

This is what they say about Fast ForWord

Fast ForWord. This computerized tutorial program has received much publicity over the past two years. Fast ForWord utilizes seven games which are designed to train the brain to process sounds more efficiently and rapidly. The Fast ForWord program has a unique ability to alter the length of the speech sounds so that the child can more easily recognize the sounds. As the child successfully performs the tasks within the games, the speech sounds are gradually shortened until the child can process these sounds in real time. Fast ForWord games are designed to teach perception and identification of phonemes, discrimination between phonemes, auditory memory skills, and word and sentence structure processing.

This is what they say about Fast ForWord Vs Earobics. OK its in French!

Les techniques d’intégration auditive assistées par ordinateur donnent également des résultats tangibles. Elles incluent les méthodes Earobics (http://www.cogconcepts.com/) et Fast ForWord (http://www.fastforword.com/). Ces programmes sont intéressants pour les enfants atteints d’un retard de langage et de difficultés de discrimination auditive des sons. La méthode Earobics est beaucoup plus abordable (moins de 100 euros) mais semble également moins efficace qu’un programme Fast ForWord (généralement plus de 1 000 euros). Certaines familles commencent par un programme Earobics avant de passer à Fast ForWord.

See full article here

Get on Google Translate!

E-School Article on Autism and Early Diagnosis

The US National Science Foundation has awarded $10 million to a conglomerate of research universities, headed by Georgia Tech, to develop a computer screening system for earlier autism diagnoses.

The article goes onto say "While these programs might provide help for children who have not yet been diagnosed, school districts and autism awareness groups are finding new ways to provide appropriate instruction to those already struggling with the disorder.Marty Burns, a speech, language, and communication pathologist, tested the program Fast ForWord as part of a research trial in 1996. The software exercises parts of the brain’s left hemisphere that are responsible for auditory processing."

“[It helps children] hold sounds in their mind and listen to language, remember what they’ve heard, and be able to start communicate more effectively—and then from there, learning how to read,” Burns said.

Fast ForWord users generally gain about two years in receptive language age, sometimes in just eight to 10 weeks.

“That’s remarkable, because there’s nothing else I’ve ever used that you can get that great of an improvement in receptive language skills in that short a period of time,” said Burns. “It also helps that their ability to remember things, so they can function better in a classroom.”

The software is not intended as a curriculum replacement, but rather a tool that lets students with ASD participate more in regular lessons.

“It’s designed to improve what we call brain fitness, as opposed to teaching content,” Burns said.

She gave an analogy of having students try out for a football team. “You could teach them football, or you could improve their fitness and strength and agility and then teach them football,” Burns said. “Fast ForWord products build brain capacity and efficiency, so they actually are helpful with any teaching because they’re targeted to improve the learner’s ability to learn in general.”

See the full article Download ESchool101201

See the full article here online

 

Biological changes in auditory function following training in children with autism spectrum disorders

Children on the autistic disorder  spectrum (ASD) often show auditory processing deficits that result in their language impairments.
This impairs their social and communicative abilities, their use of language, social interaction, and imaginative and symbolic play. They can have problems processing speech in background noise. The results of these APD aspects have been well documented and are well known.

The challenge is to improve their brain's ability to process speech sounds aspects such as timing of receptive language, pitch, intonation, and clarity of signal. Then the person with autism or Aspergers can have a lot more effective and easier processing of language. This results in improved cognitive performance, better behavioural aspects and more fluent processing of information.

A study published recently from North Western University assesses the impact of auditory training on auditory function in children with ASD. Brainstem and cortical responses to speech sounds presented in quiet and noise were collected from five children with ASD and six in a control group. The children who completed Fast ForWord training showed the beneficial impact of the use the Fast ForWord program to improve neural activity in subcortical and cortical response timing as well as brain stem activity.
Relative to six control children with ASD who did not complete Fast ForWord, training-related changes were found in brainstem response timing (three children) and pitch-tracking (one child), and cortical response timing (all five children) after Fast ForWord use.

The researchers concluded that these results provide an objective indication of the benefit of training on auditory function for children with ASD.

 

 

 

 

YouTube - Dr. Michael Merzenich on Fast ForWord and Autism

Mike Merzenich in a video on the impact of Fast ForWord on children with autism. He refers to a 100 student case study that showed a positive impact from Fast ForWord on language abilities ( receptive AND expressive) and cognitive skills (auditory skills, to be on task, processing speed and so on), leading to overall gains in communications and social abilities.


YouTube - Dr. Michael Merzenich on Fast ForWord and Autism.

Brain imaging may help diagnose autism

we work with Asperger's and autistic people. Recent research confirms what we have seen; ASD students have slow processing for sounds in brain studies. http://ow.ly/Vd07

By the way we see this in other students with auditory processing issues also. The issues often overlap between APD and Autism (including Aspergers).

The improvements in processing speeds greatly helps their receptive language and of course their expressive language will see significant improvements resulting in social and communication skills gains


Brain imaging may help diagnose autism.

Autism: Language, Cognitive, Behaviour Development

Dr. Michael Merzenich on Fast ForWord and Autism, He explains the reasons why with the development of receptive language and cognitive skills autistic children also improve expressive language, behaviour and social skills.

YouTube - Dr. Michael Merzenich on Fast ForWord and Autism.

Early Signs of Autism

The point is that the earlier the intervention the better. But what early development signs should parents be looking out for?

As Geralding Dawson of Autism Speaks says "What we see in autism may be partly the result of not engaging with the social environment. So if you engage the baby through an intervention, you might prevent or at least reduce the development of autism symptoms."

Among the telltale signs of trouble at 12 months: not responding to one's name; not sharing interests through pointing and eye gaze; lack of joyful expression; an absence of babbling; difficulty establishing eye contact; and staring too long at inanimate objects (see FirstSigns.org )

This is an interesting article and well worth reading

Researchers Find First Signs of Autism Even in Infancy - TIME.

Timing and Autism

I thought this was a very interesting article---especially in light of discussions about whether children with autism/aspergers will benefit from Fast ForWord training, since a large part of the Fast ForWord training involves improving the speed of processing. This reserch indicates the importance of timing.

As one Fast ForWord provider says, "Wow!--This article just screams,
"Consider Fast ForWord for autistic kids!" Not only is there evidence of a
link between auditory processing deficits and autism, but the auditory
processing deficits are exactly the type that Fast ForWord is designed to
ameliorate."

"Timing appears to be crucial. "Children with autism respond a fraction of a second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones,"

"Faint magnetic signals from brain activity in children with autism show that those children process sound and language differently from non-autistic children. Identifying and classifying these brain response patterns may allow researchers to more accurately diagnose autism and possibly aid in developing more effective treatments for the developmental timing appears to be crucial...."

Click here to see the article