Our wise speech therapist (the one who administered Fast ForWord to LuLu last winter) recommended that we buy a software called BrainBuilder by Advanced Brain Technologies. Like many things in our hectic life, this recommendation got pushed aside until I uncovered it several weeks ago at the end of her post-therapy report.

BrainBuilder is based on Sequential Processing, which is our ability to receive, hold, process and utilize information in an orderly way. Just knowing that much you can see why BrainBuilder might be a good tool for those with auditory or language processing deficits.

Robert Doman, Jr., the founder/director of the National Association for Child Development is considered the leading innovator in neurodevelopmental research and is the creator of BrainBuilder, as well as the co-creator of The Listening Program.

Sequential processing, according to Doman, utilizes short-term memory and is essential to all learning, especially to verbal communication. The goal of BrainBuilder is to improve visual and auditory sequential processing. It does this through a series of games that increases your ability to remember digits presented visually or auditorily. The rule of thumb is that children should be able to recall a digit span equivalent to their age up to age 7, and that the average adult’s digit span recall is between 7-9.

If your child has been evaluated by a neuropsychologist, they may have been given a digit span test (the WISC-R has one). In LuLu’s case 3-4 digits is her top score. BrainBuilder starts off with an attention exercise and then base line auditory and visual exercises. From there, you can do the exercises for the recommended 10-15 minutes a day and try to increase your level. Both LuLu and I have been at it for the last month or so. Each one of us has only come up one level. But for LuLu, I’m questioning whether her increased interest in reading (and ability to comprehend) has anything to do with this daily exercise.

I’m particularly interested in the association between improved digit span memory and behavior. It’s the same argument that other brain-based interventions make – that if you increase a child’s ability to understand and process the world around him, his frustration levels will be lowered and he will be able to communicate more clearly with the world – and behaviors will decrease.

We haven’t seen a huge improvement in behaviors; but academically her ability to remember facts and her reading interest are both on the rise.

The booklet that comes with the software says:

Sequential auditory and visual processing provides the basis for cognitive sequential thought and thus the framework upon which many mental functions are based. For example, a 10-year-old with the processing skills of a 5-year-old can be expected to display thought patterns and behavior typical of a 5-year-old, which will profoundly affect his or her family life and peer relations.

I know that in LuLu’s case, she does function much more like a 3-5 year old than like her chronological age of 11 in terms of thought processes, behaviors and socialization. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a steady increase in these areas as well?

Related Blogs:

I Never Heard It Before

The Listening Program, Part 1

The Listening Program, Part 2

The Listening Program, Part 3

We’ve Started FastForWord, Part 1

We’ve Started FastForWord Part 2

Fast ForWord Results


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