CLINICAL PROFESSIONALS

Why become a Fast ForWord Authorized Practitioner?
 
Through the training course, professionals learn how to incorporate Fast ForWord within their own practice and to compliment the other services they offer. Individuals completing the training course are recognized as UK Fast ForWord Authorized Practitioners of the Fast ForWord family of products, and become part of our international referral network.

The training course assures that you have the understanding and tools you need to effectively integrate Fast ForWord into your practice. Ongoing support is offered to Authorized Practitioners through professional conferences, online resources, telephone support, email communications, and one-on-one consultations.

What is an Authorized UK Fast ForWord Practitioner?
 
An experienced Speech/Language Therapist, Audiologist, Psychologist, Dyslexia Teacher, Learning Specialist or Educator may qualify as a UK Fast ForWord Practitioner. It is then necessary to complete a one-day training course where you will learn the science behind the programme, eligibility requirements and implementation and interpretation of results.

Contact us now to learn how to expand your practice and offer your clients an efficacious language-learning programme that is based on solid scientific evidence.

Who should attend a UK Fast ForWord Practitioner Training Course?
 
The training course is open to all professionals who wish to broaden or improve their clinical effectiveness. Those with degrees in the health, therapeutic, education and psychology fields are welcome. Fast ForWord is particularly beneficial to people with auditory processing deficits, Dyslexia, Language-Learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is also helpful for foreign language speakers and young children who are at risk for language-learning impairments.

Options for Professional Training
 
Training courses are held regularly throughout the UK. Check our website to find out the next training course being offered near you, and register online.

Innovative Therapies also offers customized training courses tailored to the unique needs of the facility, organization or school. Contact us to request information about a local area training course.

ABOUT Fast ForWord IN THE UK

Fast ForWord is the first scientifically proven training programme that helps people achieve improvements in speech/language and reading skills in just 6-8 weeks. Fast ForWord products are based on over 30 years of research into the way the brain learns the language skills that create a strong foundation for reading and learning. Dr. Paula Tallal and Dr. Michael Merzenich, neuroscientist, found that acoustically altered speech sounds help people differentiate phonemes, and that specific computer exercises utilizing this patented technology can help them develop a wide range of critical language skills including phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, working memory, syntax, grammar and other skills necessary to learn and to improve expressive communication and reading.

Fast ForWord products include several individualized, adaptive training programmes that make unprecedented use of the latest multimedia and Internet software technology to address the underlying causes of these language-learning impairments and have been described as "aerobics for the brain." These are intensive, computerized programmes that require that participants work 90-100 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 6 to 8 weeks. They are designed to help people speed the rate at which their brains can process the phonemic elements of speech, which then enhances one's ability to communicate and read. They have been beneficial to people with dyslexia, autism, auditory processing deficits and specific language disorder in addition to other language-related impairments.

Fast ForWord products are intensive programmes whereby the participant works 90-100 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 6 to 10 weeks on these extremely beneficial computer exercises. It is precisely this intensity of the programme (in addition to its other principles of neuroplasticity) that has contributed to its great success rate. As a computerized, internet-based programme, it is possible to run the programme in the clinic or at home under the guidance of a certified Fast ForWord practitioner.

Fast ForWord has realized great success in the United States, where it has been available for seven years. Beginning in June 2003, for the first time, we started to bring the Fast ForWord products to the UK in a much larger way by training therapists and other professionals to administer the programme themselves with their own clients in the UK. This represents a great opportunity for therapists to expand their practice by offering this very beneficial treatment to clients in their own practices as hundreds of practitioners are doing in the US.

THE UK Fast ForWord PRACTITIONER TRAINING COURSE
To be able to administer Fast ForWord in the UK, a professional must qualify and train as a UK Fast ForWord Practitioner and then must purchase the products in “packages” from Innovative Therapies, PC, which include license access and consultancy services.

To qualify as a UK Fast ForWord Practitioner, a professional must be an experienced Speech/Language Therapist, Audiologist, Psychologist, Dyslexia Teacher or Learning Specialist. It is then necessary to complete a one-day training course. During this course for UK Fast ForWord Practitioners, professionals will learn about the science behind the programme and the many research projects studying its efficacy. New practitioners will also learn about each of the Fast ForWord products; their component tasks will be demonstrated, and the specific goals addressed by each will be explained. Candidacy and implementation of each will also be covered, including all aspects of in-clinic and “off-site” administration of the Fast ForWord family of products.

Check our website to find out the next training course being offered near you, and request a registration form via email.


ADMINISTERING FAST FORWORD™ in the UNITED KINGDOM
After completion of this course, the UK Fast ForWord Practitioner will be able to begin offering the Fast ForWord products. New practitioners must work with at least 1-2 participants in a direct one-on-one situation before administering off-site programs. In order to administer the programs to her/his clients, a practitioner must purchase a Fast ForWord “package” from Innovative Therapies, PC or one of its agents. A Fast ForWord package includes a client’s license to access one Fast ForWord programme, plus daily consultancy services from Innovative Therapies, PC. These consultancy services include:

• Consultation on client candidacy based on test scores/parent questionnaires
• Daily reports of client’s progress
• Interpretation of reports/progress
• Consultancy on strategies to help client on exercises within the programme that are particularly challenging to that individual
• Consultancy and support in marketing and outreach

In consideration of the UK Fast ForWord Practitioner’s increasing experience and knowledge with the programme over time, the fees for packages reduce with increased number of packages purchased/clients served per practitioner.