Working the Brain

Juggling breaks stimulate brain activity. The students are on a break as you can see.

In the middle photo I am reviewing results with a student, an ongoing process.

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Kids 'hard and fast' at work.

Hello everybody,

The first week of demos went well and most students have begun their regular exercises on Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant. Even a few parents have been in to the lab, which is always good to see. Listening in to your child's exercises can sometimes be confusing in terms of what the exercises are doing, so I'm posting a couple of websites to visit with videos from Dr. Michael Merzenich and Dr. Marty Burns that talk about neuroplasticity and each briefly touch upon how certain brain exercises (like some you may see in the lab) may help to overcome learning difficulties.

The videos are kind of long (20 & 10 minutes) so you may have to find some time to watch or just watch the videos in chunks. These people are neuroscientists but the 'language' they use is pretty well 'everyday speak' and easy to understand.

http://nouspod.com/learning/27-dr-marth-burns-explains-neuroplasticity

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.html

Fast ForWord Blog

I'm looking forward to another session of Fast ForWord starting next week. We have a tentative schedule set up and all students will have an opportunity to come into the lab for demos and get to know the software and the daily routines.

I'll be adding articles relating to the program as well as posting pictures and announcements as we go, so stay tuned.