Brain Fitness Sherrelle Jiggitts Walker Chief Education Officer Scientific Learning Corporation BC Circle of Learning Fit Brains Learn Better!

Optimal Learning Equation

Two Sides of the Coin Teaching and Content Brain Fitness Return on Investment

Home Built for pattern analysis Built for change

Home Neuronal communication system

Home

At birth, we have an equal potential to learn any language. By 6 months, we begin to build the phonemes specific to our native language based on experience. Language

Home Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children by Betty Hart & Todd R. Risley. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. (1995) (Age Child in Months) Working-class 26 Million Words Welfare 13 Million Words Professional 45 Million Words Estimated Cumulative Words Addressed to Child (In Millions) Language Experiences by Group

Home Research Words Heard per hour Affirmatives per hour Prohibitions per hour High Middle Low (Hart and Risley, 1995)

Home The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Growth (Hirsch, 1996)

Home Perceptual weakness Weak phonological representations Reading, writing, spelling problems Learning and academic problems Struggling students Oral language weakness Dr. Paula Tallal, Director; Ctr. for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Rutgers University Language to Literacy Continuum

Home Improve Perception Sharpen phonological representation Strengthen reading, writing, and spelling Reduce learning and academic problems Successful students Enhance oral language abilities Dr. Paula Tallal, Director; Ctr. for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Rutgers University Language to Literacy Continuum

Home Tallal & Piercy (1973) Nature. Children with language impairment can’t sequence 2 tones at rapid presentation rates

Home Rapid auditory processing (RAP) can be studied in infants born into families with or without a history of language learning impairments A conditioned head-turn procedure is used to reward an infant for discriminating a change in a 2-tone sequence

Home Dr. April Benasich records electrophysiological brain activity (event-related potentials - ERPs) from infants

Home fMRI images of the Reading Brain

Home A Weak Foundation Students often manage to work around their oral language problems and when they develop reading problems, teachers work on reading instead of language. But no matter what approach teachers use, they have limited results because they are trying to build reading skills on a weak foundation of oral language skills.

Home Can you read this? Cdnuolt blveiee aulaclty rdanieg wouthit

Home Now read the following… I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to the rscheearch taem at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Such a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed Typoglycemia :)- Amzanig huh? Yaeh and yuo awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

Home Conditions in the brain are dynamic. They change and “rewire” at any age The brain’s ability to change, or be trained, is known as brain plasticity The brain can change and learn at any age, and certain conditions encourage learning The Learning Brain (Brain Plasticity) Neurons and Synaptic Connections

Home Behavioral Training Jenkins et al (1990). Brain Plasticity is Lifelong Plasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change through experience and learning. Synchronous Neural Activity (Frequency) Competition for Neural Space (Adaptive) Discriminating Neural Activity (Simultaneous Development) Rewarded Neural Activity (Timely Motivation)

Home Brain Science & the Literacy Challenge

Home Brain Science & the Literacy Challenge

Home Independent Published Results Stanford researchers prove effectiveness of Fast ForWord products Average Readers Students with Dyslexia Before Fast ForWord Students with Dyslexia Before Fast ForWord Adapted from Temple et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 2003 Student with Dyslexia, After Fast ForWord Cortical Areas Critical for Reading Brain activation patterns actually changed after using Fast ForWord products After eight weeks students had significantly improved reading performance

Home...Big Changes in Meaning 100 milliseconds Small Changes in Timing

Home Brain Processing Efficiency

Optimal Learning Equation

Home Proven Results Efficient! –On average, students advance their reading skills 1-2 grade levels in 8-12 weeks* Effective! –184 school-based research studies –Statistically significant student gains Enduring! –Proof: rate of learning increase is permanent over time –Assist in closing the literacy gap *50-minute protocol

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