The Fast ForWord program at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center, is designed to encourage reading comprehend in learning delayed students. The program consists of two sections of eight students each, with each session lasting about one hour, and the total program lasts about fifty four days, when a new group of students begins the program. They age range of students varies from kindergarten to high school, with the majority of students being of middle school age.

The program utilizes, the Fast ForWord reading comprehension program, in conjunction with interventions by Speech Language Pathologists. Each student has an individualized program which is coordinated with their level of ability. As each individual student’s ability change during program, the program changes with them requiring more demanding tasks to be completed before progressing to the next level.

In addition to maintain appropriate behavior within the classroom a reward system is utilized in which a student upon earning a weeks, worth of “green faces”, a marker indicating good behavior, that student is then allowed to pick a prize from a bin that is in the classroom.

Week 1 January 12-16

            This week the fall session returned from winter break. This group of students is continuing their work from when they began the program in mid November. The students are split into two sections the Early Group running from 3:00 to 4:00 and the Late Group running from 4:00 to 5:00.

            With in the Early Group several of the students present with behavioral problems that require intervention. However, the majority of the students only require mild redirection to maintain them on task.

            One student arrives significantly early to class everyday, arriving at 2:00 instead of 3:00. This was not planned, as the program these sessions are an after school program and this student’s session does not begin until 3:00. Several inquires have been made to parent to try to rectify the situation however, a solution was not possible and discussions are currently ongoing as to the solution of what will be done during the students extra hour of attendance.  

Week 2 January 19-23

            This week a decision was made to make the early arriving student into a “classroom helper”, it was hope that this would motivate him to become involved in the program as he dislikes participating. His tasks were discussed with him and he will now be responsible for three major tasks when he arrives at the center. It is also hoped that these tasks will encourage cooperation with the other in the classroom, most significantly the authority figures with the room. This students presents with symptoms ODD in addition to learning delays, which require one on one attention during the program.

            Further more several of the students reached new levels within the Fast ForWord program. This means that each student that has reached a new level receives a marker on the Wall of Fame. Additionally it required the creation of a new Daily Log sheets and Weekly Score sheets for the students to keep track of their new games.

Week 3 January 26-30

            Modifications to the early arriving student’s tasks have been made in reaction to several behavioral outbursts. The motivation of being a classroom help did not create a significant enough stimulus to encourage him to complete his tasks with age appropriate behavior. In addition these behavioral outbursts resulted in his inability to receive a prize as he did not earn the required “green faces”. This resulted in destructive behavior on his part in which he destroyed several worksheet packets that he had been working on and then retreated to a corner in the room in an attempt to avoid further Fast ForWord activities.

            During the student’s outburst, he attempted to gain the attention of the others in the room by shouting loudly and rudely from the corner of the room. After several fail attempts to receive attention for his misbehavior, the student was encouraged to return to his computer, after the student not been “out bursting” for a two minutes. The student returned to his computer and was praised for returning to the task at hand.

Week 4 February 2-6

            The modifications to the early arriving student’s tasks have be revised for a second time. He is now assigned thee task to complete each day. He must turn on the computers and log into the Fast ForWord program for each student. He must assist in placing snack. To reinforce learning listening skills and direction following ability I have him first retrieve the required number of juice boxes, after I have him the ability to choose either apple or orange juice. After which I describe the location at which he is to place the juice box. This same process is repeated for whatever the snack that day is as well. His third task is to complete correctly 2 questions on his worksheet packet for that day. He is allowed to complete the tasks in any order and when he completes the tasks without any behavioral outburst he is then allowed to use the remaining time, until the rest of the students arrive, to play games.

Week 5 February 9-13

            There were no significant problems this week. Several of the students again moved up levels in there respective activities, including the student who was presenting with behavioral problems, that had been discussed previously. This required the creation of new Daily logs and Weekly Log sheets. In addition the classroom and classroom activities were given a Valentines Day twist. The new look excited the students which demonstrated itself with significantly higher achievement ratings then the students usually accomplished.  

Week 6 February 16-20

            The sessions for Fast ForWord began to wind down this week as the end of the program is nearing. Two of the students have reached the highest levels of the Fast ForWord program and are not likely to return for next fall session. Participation in the up coming spring session, which will begin March 2^nd, is not possible as the opening slots within the group are already being filled up and the parents are encouraged to enroll their child into another program, such as Language to Literacy, to allow the student a break and change in routine, and then if the desire start again in the fall.

Week 7 February 23-27

            This week involved post-testing for all students. Each student received the PAT and students that excided that operational ranges for the PAT received the CELF or SDRT. The PAT is the standard and preferred test for the Fast ForWord program. However, due to its norming at age 11, the age at which all skills that it tests for are meant to be acquired, other tests are sometimes required.

These tests measure changes in phonological awareness and required the whole week to complete for all the students. In addition to testing this week was also used to prepare for the next group of students and to set up final reports so that once testing was completed the data could be easily entered into the template reports and then sent out. A copy of the reports is kept on file as well as being sent to the teachers and parents of the students who took part in the program.

At the end of this week the room was broken down all charts and information on the fall group have been removed and replaced with new information on the in coming students that will be in the spring session. All the slots for the spring session were not filled as of this date leading to a small class size at the beginning of the program.

Week 8 March 2-6

             The new spring sessions began this week with the same time sections at the fall session. The students are split into two sections the Early Group running from 3:00 to 4:00 and the Late Group running from 4:00 to 5:00.

            There are several empty slots in both sessions one in the early group and three in the late group. In the late group two of the students present with symptoms with the autism spectrum, one of those presenting with additional behavioral problems. Both required strong redirection to maintain on task during the course of Fast ForWord activities. In addition both of these students despite being in the Late Group, arrive at 3:15. This interruption creates a significant distraction to the other students, as well as their activity during the forty-five minute wait until their session begins. Since there are not two free computers the two students that arrive early are unable to begin the program when they arrive, though the parents have been contacted about the early arrival of both students it seems to be unlikely that a change will occur.

Week 9 March 9-13

            One of the students in the Early Group left the program; this allowed the two students who were in the Late Group to move into the Early Group. They now arrive at 3:00 and participate in Fast ForWord activities with the Early Group. The parents of the student who left the program gave no indication as to why they desired to stop attending the program, and expressed no interest in begin the program again in the fall.

            In addition the three previously open spots in the Late group have been filled, but the two slots left by the two students that transferred from the Late Group to the Early Group have not been filled.  

Week 10 March 23-24

            The method of prize reward for earned “green faces” has proven ineffective for the student with symptoms of both autism and behavioral difficulties. A decision has been reached to create a unique system for her, in order to maintain her on task and to minimize outburst of aggressive behavior.  At her computer station a Velcro chart has been created. She begins each day with three yellow stars, each time that she breaks a classroom rule she has to remove one of the yellow stars and replace it with a red “X”. If she losses all thee yellow stars she is unable to earn a green face for that day. This system creates a more rapid feed back on her behavior which she requires. In addition it allows her to see what the direct consequences of her actions are rather then waiting until the end of class to determine whether or not she has earned a green face. In addition to chart at her station used to remind her of her actions during class she is also given a color in sheet at the end of class. This sheet has to faces, one happy and one sad, at the end of class she is allowed to color in the happy face if has a star left or a sad face if she does not. This sheet she is able to take home to show her parents, which in addition to providing a tactile reward for good behavior, also functions as a method of keeping  her parents informed of her general day to day behavior, when they are not available for discussions.

 This is the last week to complete my practicum hours, however I will be continuing at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center through the rest of the spring and  summer program.