“On top of all the amazing neuroscience that is embedded in the program, a major reward for William is that he learnt to apply himself to his learning and that hard work and perseverance is necessary to achieve results.”
William is 5 years old and recently completed a 3 month Fast ForWord cognitive training program.
Why did you decide to try Fast ForWord?
I first heard about Fast ForWord in the book The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. William doesn’t have a learning disorder and I was very curious to see if this program could still benefit him. I am interested in neuroplasticity and am always looking for ways to boost my son’s learning. William was at the younger end of his Reception/Pre Primary class this year– 4 years old going on 5 – so we wanted to give him a boost to help him accelerate his reading wanted to give him the best start possible to Year 1 next year.
What did you like about the program?
Fun and Engaging: The program provided a different, fun and interactive way for William to learn and improve his reading skills. I sat with William most sessions and was amazed at how quickly you can learn the new skills and tap into what the program is trying to teach.
The exercises are fun and really rewarding, which helped William associate good feelings with learning. I think this is very important for his future learning. The program was a really great way to consolidate and enhance everything that William has been learning in the classroom.
Consistency – The program has quite an intensive protocol of 30 minutes 5 times per week.
We enjoyed this feature and used it as a tool to teach William that persistence and perseverance equals results. William learnt that if he wants to improve a skill, regular practise is important – it can’t be a one-off thing, it takes persistence and determination.
I feel this has also helped him prepare for test environments in later school years. When he answered incorrectly, we used this opportunity to teach him that it’s ok to make mistakes but to not let this distract him – it’s important to not focus on errors but instead keep moving forward.
How did you motivate William to keep him engaged?
William is pretty self-motivated but simply, I just didn’t give him the choice we said “this what you have to do”.
Sitting with him helped keep him focused and motivated. We used the motivation checklist, and this really helped him maintain his motivation as he was really determined to get the rewards we’d set for him.
As a parent you do not need any special skills to sit with your child to help them – just sitting there in a support role to tell them they are doing a good job and help to keep them focused and help re-focus when needed is a huge help to your child.
What results have you seen?
William’s teachers have commented on his motivation and determination to do his best – we feel that the program has helped with this.
Yes, the program was hard work, but hard work is always worth it. On top of all the amazing neuroscience that is embedded in the program, a major reward for William is that he learnt to apply himself to his learning and that hard work and perseverance is necessary to achieve results.
We feel very confident for William as he goes into year one next year.
– Monique, William’s Mum
