One of the big changes we’ve seen as LuLu continues to use the Fast ForWord therapy to help with her auditory processing, reading abilities and other language and processing deficits, is that she is more keenly aware of what she’s not aware of. Before, so much information got by her that she didn’t realize in some instances what she was missing. When she did, she reacted with severe frustration.

While she still reacts with frustration, something in this therapy has enabled her not only to be able to understand more, but to be able to speak up when she doesn’t understand something.

Whether you realize it or not, adults talk fast. We talk in our own code, with metaphors and stories that mean nothing to children. Lately LuLu’s new found understanding has been getting a workout at church. As we sat in the back of the church at revival last weekend, she continuously asked me “what is he talking about?”

The concepts were not simple ones to explain…he was talking fruit of the Spirit, the infilling of the Holy Spirit or sanctification. Pretty heady stuff for 10-year-olds. Yet, she calmly requested that I interpret for her, after the service. And she took it all in, once it was slowed down and broken into smaller, more understandable pieces.

And she’s both picking up more things from TV shows, and asking more questions about things in TV shows. She’s decidedly aware of what she’s not able to process. It’s exciting for both of us. Her reading is much more fluent and she understands it better. I see glimpses of her being able to read and do other school work independently, appropriately asking for help.

It has to be the Fast ForWord. Although we’ve done a variety of biomedical interventions to “lessen what’s in her bucket” so to speak, the Fast ForWord is directly changing her processing ability and helping with her working memory.

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