There’s quite a bit of talk going on these days about the emergence of neuroscience in education. Some people are even talking about a scientific model of education, and not just pedagogy (the method of teaching).

But what is educational neuroscience - are there programs that schools can implement which deliver the principles of this science in a practical way?

The Learning Capacity Podcast has produced a 3 part mini series in which two teachers and a parent tell their stories about how they implemented an educational neuroscience program, and the results they got.

Listen to the podcast

Teachers do much more than just teach - they build student brains. 

This is the message from Dr Martha Burns, professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern University, in a podcast episode on The Learning Capacity Podcast.

Dr Burns discusses the new science of learning, and how it involves educational neuroscience and understanding individual differences in children. 

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

"The latest area that neuroscience is exploring is this whole area of self-regulation, cognitive control", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation about these issues and how the Fast ForWord programs help.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn. 

Here is a summary of her talk:

"Can a student sit still? Can they listen to the teacher? Can they get through an assignment without getting up and doing 100 other things?

"The bottom line of all the research is that autism spectrum is very, very complex. There are probably as many different kinds of autism as there are children with autism spectrum disorders. So it isn't a unified group at all", said Dr Martha Burns in a recent presentation at a neuroscience learning conference in Tuscon, USA.

Dr Martha Burns is a neuroscientist, author of over 100 journal articles and multiple books, and a leading expert on how children learn.

“It would really pain me when I used to listen to my son read and he’d look at a word and couldn’t for the life of him try and sound it out. He just couldn’t do it”.

This is how *Alice described her 12 year old son’s reading before he did the Fast ForWord program.

Her son *Ryan was able to go from a reluctant struggling reader, to a determined flourishing student using the neuroscience based exercises in the program.

Alice used to watch on helplessly as Ryan would struggle with reading and spelling. But she saw how the program took Ryan from frustration to fluency.

Therese is the mother of three boys who go to Narooma Public School, on the NSW South Coast.

She recently spoke with LearnFast about how Fast ForWord helped her youngest son learn better and made his attitude to school much more positive. The results were so good she now has her middle son on the program.

Her youngest (Matt, Year 3) did Fast Fast ForWord in Terms 1 & 2 (2014), and his brother (Joe, Year 4) is doing the program in Terms 3 & 4 (2014).

Why was Matt selected to do Fast ForWord?

Celebrating its 125 year anniversary this year, Narooma Public School, located on NSW’s south coast, has seen a lot of changes since the first students started in 1889. The slate boards and chalk in the classrooms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been replaced by electronic whiteboards, computers and the Internet.

The current Principal and teachers at Narooma have not only kept pace with the changes, but they are leading the way by using the latest neuroscience based educational tools to help their students build their learning capacity and read better.

Thanks to the astounding developments in brain science over the past few decades, we now understand much better how we develop our language and learn to read.

In this video, Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and literacy specialist, discusses the brain science of language, learning and reading. She also explains how neuroscience programs, in particular Fast ForWord, can help develop the thinking and language skills vital for our students success at school.

Key points from the interview included:

• Reading is a language skill
• Parents who reinforce baby babble help them develop language
• Thinking skills (memory, attention, processing speed and the ability to sequence) plus language skills are the foundations for reading & learning
• Fast ForWord can enhance the learning capacity of all students

Fast ForWord programs are proven to develop auditory processing skills. LearnFast recorded a video interview with Devon Barnes, speech pathologist and Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) specialist and asked her explain.

Key points from the interview included:

• Fast ForWord trains multiple aspects of auditory processing including:
  • Auditory discrimination
  • Auditory memory
  • Following instructions
  • Receptive language
    
• Neuroimaging shows physical brain changes after Fast ForWord
• Tests confirm improvements in auditory processing

How can the Fast ForWord program build learning capacity and reading skills for all students, regardless of their ages and current ability?

This short video explains that the neuroscience-based exercises in the patented Fast ForWord programs simultaneously develop thinking skills (memory, attention, processing speed and the ability to sequence sounds, words and ideas) as well as language skills including:

•   Phonological awareness
•  Phonemic awareness
•   Vocabulary
•   Syntax
•   Grammar