Students in Dublin Improve Reading Skills Using Fast ForWord - Gain An Average 2 Years Improvement

OAKLAND, Calif. - Students at a Dublin, Ireland school who used Scientific Learning Corporation’s (NASDAQ:SCIL) Fast ForWord products achieved significant gains in both reading accuracy and comprehension, according to a new study.

Students aged 7 to 14 years at the SMART Education Learning Centre in Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland, made average gains of 14 months in reading accuracy and improved their reading comprehension by more than 2 years.

Mary O’Dowd, the director of SMART Education, said that the students improved dramatically after using the Fast ForWord products for only 20 weeks. “The students enjoyed the program and the parents noticed big improvements very quickly,” she said. “It’s truly amazing to see such positive changes occur so rapidly.”

“These exciting gains confirm and extend the findings of prior studies around the world that support the use of the Fast ForWord products to strengthen the cognitive skills required to read and learn proficiently,” said Robert C. Bowen, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Learning. “The enduring neurological changes produced by the consistent use of Fast ForWord products quickly increase learning capacity, allowing students to benefit more from classroom instruction.”

The students used the Fast ForWord products for 48 or 50 minutes a day, five days per week over a period of two to six months. Almost all students began participation with the Fast ForWord Language product and continued with a Fast ForWord to Reading product. On average, students used Fast ForWord products for 65 days.

Students had their reading skills evaluated both before and after Fast ForWord participation with the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability: Second Revised British Edition (NARA II).