Language-Learning Impaired Children Benefit From Revolutionary New Internet And CD-ROM-Based Training Program

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SAN FRANCISCO, March 27, 1997 -- Thanks to the latest multimedia and Internet software technology, thousands of language-learning impaired children may now experience rapid, dramatic increases in their language abilities. San Francisco-based Scientific Learning Corporation (SLC) unveiled today the only state-of-the-art, Internet and CD-ROM training program scientifically proven to benefit many of the ten percent of all school-aged children who suffer from language-learning impairments.

Using the innovative new Fast ForWord(TM) training program, 4 to 12 year old language-learning impaired children have averaged skill improvements in just 6 to 7 weeks that traditionally take several years or more using previously available methods. The breakthrough program was developed through extensive field testing with more than 500 language-learning impaired children and 60 speech and language professionals at 35 sites, including schools, in the U.S. and Canada. Available now through certified speech and language professionals, the program uses colorful, animated multimedia exercises to retrain the portions of the brain responsible for speech recognition and processing.

Fast ForWord is comprised of seven game-like exercises that develop the various components of language and learning skills using computer-generated artificial speech, digitized human speech and digital tones and sounds. Advanced digital software techniques are used to modify the characteristics of the speech and sounds the children hear as they play the exercises.

One of the main difficulties language-learning impaired children experience is the inability to process and distinguish the rapid elements of speech at the rates they occur in normal speech. Fast ForWord uses a highly sophisticated, patent pending "emphasis algorithm" to modify the recorded speech used during the training. Speech that is processed and played back using the algorithm emphasizes the rapid elements that are difficult for language-learning impaired children to hear and process normally.

For example, many children can not tell the difference between the sounds of words like "dad" and "bad." The algorithm amplifies the portions where the distinguishing sound changes occur - in this case the difference between the "b" and "d" sounds.

The same recorded speech is also slowed down, without any change in its pitch or other characteristics, using digital techniques that are widely used in the motion picture and recording industries. As the child's language skills improve, the recorded speech is sped up and the level of emphasis is reduced until the child is processing and recognizing normal speech.

A proprietary adaptive training component (patent pending) built into the software automatically adjusts the difficulty of the exercises to guarantee maximum progress and learning. Using a complex set of "rules" and formulas, the software analyzes each individual child's progress. As the child uses the software, it automatically customizes its level of difficulty to ensure that the exercises are progressively more challenging, yet makes certain there is a level of ease and excitement that keeps the child engaged. Sound and animation "rewards" for correct responses and processing are used to motivate the child to learn the new skills.

During the program, a child's progress is monitored and analyzed by uploading performance data to an interactive Internet database on the company's Website (http://www.fastforword.com or http://www.scientificlearning.com).

The database contains a continuously updated body of knowledge that is gathered from the day-to-day progress of all Fast ForWord users, and will be shared with other trained speech and language professionals. The same data will also be used by SLC to develop new products and product updates that can be downloaded while Fast ForWord users are online.

Through the Website, speech and language professionals, parents, and eventually children with language-learning impairments also can share training tips and information via dedicated chat rooms and subject forums, download the latest software, link to other related sites, and obtain technical and customer support from the company's staff of experts.

The program's Internet capabilities also mean that training can be conducted at home by parents, and monitored by professionals at the same time. As children go through the exercises and complete their daily uploads, their speech and language professionals can log on and view the their progress and results, analyze their current needs, and supplement their regular learning schedule. Fast ForWord professionals can work with children over a wide geographic area, and one professional can help a number of students at the same time.

"The integrated technologies we are relying on to offer Fast ForWord training today didn't even exist until very recently," said Dr. William Jenkins, SLC co-founder and vice president of development. "Now we are able to offer training with revolutionary results using an ordinary home computer."

Fast ForWord uses the most recent advances in digital audio, multimedia CD-ROM, color graphics, and Internet access to create a product that is not only state-of-the-art, but is engineered to stay that way. As the bandwidth of Internet connections is increased, SLC will be able to offer increasingly sophisticated products that are linked to their databases and software libraries in real time. Future training recipients will be able to reap the benefits of the latest research and software developments on a nearly instantaneous basis.

Scientific Learning Corporation is a privately held firm, founded last year by a group of leading research scientists from the University of California at San Francisco and Rutgers University in New Jersey. Parents, professionals, and schools who want more information about the Fast ForWord program, certification seminars, technical support, or to locate a certified training professional can go to the company's Website at http://www.fastforword.com or http://www.scientificlearning.com, or call 415-296-1470.

CONTACT: Sean McNerney of Geduldig & Ferguson, 212-682-4100