NeuroLinks or Fast forward?

SorGold

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 1:16 pm

amother wrote:

I've just recently joined Imamother and I'm so glad to see this conversation and join in it. My 11 year old son (then 10) has gone through the Neurolnks program last year. We finished in June of 2015. He really struggled with a lot. He had trouble focusing and was almost incapable of Reading and writing. He had zero motivation at that point, was having trouble socially, and was a very unhappy child. I had heard about Neurolinks from a friend of mine whose child had gone through the program in Lakewood with amazing results. We are from Brooklyn and therefore we went for an evalution to Neurolinks in Willliamsburg. The program director, Yehudis Klein gave us an extremely clear assessment of our son and his underlying processing issues. The first thing she told us was that she can assure us that the permanent frown on our son's face will iyh be replaced with a smile! That was actually the first change we started seeing in him a couple of weeks into the program! As we went further along in the program we were seeing gradual changes in each of the areas we had wanted help for. Bh my son has come a verrry long way. He is a focused individual. His reading and writing are up to par. He's doing well socially and is happy and motivated. He's learning Gemara now and comes home with great marks on his tests each week. My husband works in the administration of my son's yeshiva and he bumped into the principal last week. The principal told him with tears in his eyes "I've never seen such a transformation in a child in all of my years as a principal'!!!!!
From my experience, if You do an eval on your child and they're a candidate for the Neurolinks program, GO FOR IT!

Sounds like an advertorial.

debsey

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 1:22 pm

SorGold wrote:

Sounds like an advertorial.

Yep! When I see peer reviewed research published in a reputable journal, I'll believe it. Until then, all the amothers with all the colors of the rainbow can shill all they want. What's sad is that some people will shell out money for this, which just goes to show how desperate people are.

momesq

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 2:21 pm

I posted a year ago with my question and never got an answer. My DD is almost 11 and is a very social and well liked child. Outgoing and fun and confident. Only problem is the she reads on a 2nd grade level. We did vision therapy, Ot, pt, private tutoring, p3 etc. she has no diagnosis bh. No one can figure out why decoding and reading Hebrew and English is so difficult. She loses focus due to how difficult reading is. But there's no add or processing issue here. Anyone have a child like this go thru any of these 2 programs? Anyone have any other ideas of how to get her reading under control?

debsey

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 2:25 pm

momesq wrote:

Has she been evaluated by a reading specialist? Not a BOE eval, a really good reading specialist like Draizy Zelcer or Helene Ribowsky?

debsey

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 2:45 pm

momesq wrote:

No. I was relying on the BOE so I wouldn't have to shell out the big bucks. I don't want to go to someone who benefits from their evaluation. Do they sell their wares after the evaluation or all they do is evaluations?

I don't know about Helene. Draizy definitely does reading tutoring after the evaluation, but that's why most people go to her, they want the therapy. You're looking into two programs that expect you to shell out mega-bucks for interventions that are not proven. Programs like Orton Gillingham and reading specialists have been around for years! I'd rather go with interventions that have been demonstrated effective, personally. NeuroLinks and FastForWord both "evaluate" you and then sell a product as well.
Depending on where you live, I'd suggest getting recommendations for a really good reading specialist, and get to the bottom of it.

momesq

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 2:52 pm

That's why I haven't gone for evals for any of those programs including ortongillingham ( although one of the tutors we used was trained and used that method)!because they would for sure say that they could help. Just like vision therapy was supposed to help. So I need someone who does only evaluations and that's all. And just a reading evaluation. I'm not looking for a neuropsych evaluation either. Any ideas of a reading evaluator in the NY/5ts area?

amother

Yellow

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 4:04 pm

As an SLP with 10+ years experience, I would venture to say your DD falls into a category of children who just have reading difficulty along the lines of what is known as dyslexia. Such children have normal intelligence but brain image studies have shown brain image differences in certain lobes of the brain during reading and auditory/visual tasks.
Research (as scientific, peer reviewed studies) has shown that repetitive, intensive, and structured, phonics programs do indeed work. Post tx brain imaging studies do indeed change with such instruction. Orton Gillingham would be an example of such a program that is well-known.
I am not familiar with neurolinks or fast forward. Do they include intensive phonics instruction?

boymom

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 4:11 pm

im responding to your question without reading through the thread....

before you look into any program, please please please find out if anyone has success with these programs. I recently heard from 2 people in the education field- a principal and an evaluator who said they have seen plenty of kids going to these programs but have not yet seen any success.

debsey

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 5:22 pm

momesq wrote:

Being "trained in" Orton Gillingham and being a certified evaluator and provider are two different things.
In the Five Towns, you do have the option of going to Lindamood-Bell, which has a proven track record.
My point is - please save yourself time and money and do the proven interventions first!

amother

Yellow

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 8:23 pm

amother wrote:

momesq, as ive written before, my son struggled with reading a lot. Hes reading on grade level now. Weve tried all the conventional methods discussed above with no results...

Did your son have difficulty with decoding, comprehension, attention or retell? They are very different areas
Your son may have been in the exact ategory of those who could be helped, but it is by no means a cure all.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 8:38 pm

well he had a very hard time reading correctly and fluently. if you pinned him down and pointed to one specific word and made him read it he was able to read it correctly. but without guidance he would just go from word to word and misread most of them. he didn't have trouble decoding officially just poor visual memory so he had no recognition of words.

amother

Yellow

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 8:43 pm

amother wrote:

Ok so lets say your child struggled with reading because of poor visual memory, how can someone recommend this program to help a child with decoding or comprehension based reading issues...
Testimonials are not enough (even if they were indeed true) because they do not say who exactly was helped and who wasnt.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 8:56 pm

that's why every mother needs to do her research and do what she feels is right for her child.
during our weekly sessions, I met up with plenty of parents in the waiting room. there were people of all ages, genders, and communities. they all came to address different issues. there was a lot of positive going around. that's why I don't think our story was an individual story.

I think we need to make one thing clear on this forum. its a conversation between mothers looking for help for their children. what good will it do anyone when individuals providing different therapies try to knock a mothers personal success story??? you have different methods to suggest? good. you have a positive or negative experience with a certain program? good. what is this constant putting down mothers that have truly tried their best?! and why persuade deperate mothers against something that has worked for many people?? am I getting something wrong here????

amother

Yellow

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 9:08 pm

Because it strange that you are one of the only ones who has posted positive long term results.

Because it is strange that you bumped up all the neurolinks posts.

Because you are new to imamother and this is what you decided to share as amother.

Because you didnt start your own post offering help and advice for other mothers who can contact you.

You may be a legitimate, regular mom with a story to share, but to us readers, it just seems out of place.

das

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 9:30 pm

amother wrote:

BECAUSE! I am over the top with my sons success and remember clearly the frustration of before and wanted to share.
If you choose to question my legitimacy that's your choice.

Thanks to all those for the warm welcome on imamother:)

Why not offer other members the ability to contact u? You can prove your legitimacy, they can gain from your experience, everyone wins.