Volume 21, Number 2
March/April 2005
Can Brain-Based Software Help Kids Read Better?
A randomized study challenges the claims of a popular reading program
by Elizabeth Barrett Kidder
Can instructional software based on brain imaging help struggling students read better? That’s the hope of school administrators who invest in cutting-edge computer programs like Fast ForWord (FFW), a highly respected family of reading-intervention programs distributed by the Scientific Learning Corporation (SLC) and used by more than 120,000 students in the United States. To answer this question, Princeton University researchers Cecilia Elena Rouse and Alan B. Krueger recently conducted a randomized study of the effectiveness of reading intervention technology, using FFW as the subject.
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