Undoing Dyslexia via Video Games
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Kids L-O-V-E video games. Learn 2 Focus’s Hawaii clients with dyslexia not only enjoy but benefit tremendously from Fast ForWord. Learn 2 Focus is the only off-site provider of Fast ForWord in Hawaii. We work with families on the Big Island, Maui County, Kauai, and Oahu.
GamerPsychologists and neuroscientists are using new techniques to identify the source of language and reading problems such as dyslexia in the brain and create innovative new therapies to significantly improve children’s language learning and reading.
The video training program, called Fast ForWord, provides intensive, highly individualized cross-training across a large number of attention, processing, cognitive, linguistic and reading skills, all of which are vital for academic success. For example, in one of the games, a child earns points by distinguishing the sounds “ba” from “pa.” When a child masters the task, the game adjusts its playing level so the child is challenged on a more advanced level the next day, all while being monitored via the Internet by a professional. Other games are designed to improve the speed of brain processing and also train children in the rules of English grammar. The result: Treatment effects that formerly required years of intervention are reduced to a few weeks.
A groundbreaking 2003 study using functional MRIs by Elise Temple, PhD, of Dartmouth University, with Tallal and other colleagues showed changes in brain function in children with dyslexia after using the computer program. The study found increased activation in multiple brain regions during phonological processing, as well as significantly improved language and reading.
