This language training program became known as Fast ForWord. Then, through different levels, the youngsters move up to normal speech. Many of the children Mathews sees have attention deficit disorder. Some have delayed learning problems. They all have difficulty hearing and processing sounds, called phonemic awareness.
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language.
The children who have problems with reading have difficulty hearing the difference in these speech sounds, so they often can't differentiate between such words as cat and rat, or letter combinations with different sounds, such as yacht and choir. Seven audio-visual animated computer games help the youngsters through these obstacles. Mathews has found that not only does Fast ForWord help children with their reading and auditory difficulties, it also improves their spoken language skills. Each of the games has various skill and conceptual levels. This allows children to advance to hearing and understanding the sounds heard normally.