OAKLAND, Calif., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Most young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer break. According to the National Summer Learning Association (www.summerlearning.org), research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer. For students who are already struggling or reading below grade level, this retention gap can be seriously detrimental. With summer school and tutoring budgets being slashed in school districts across the nation, it is more important than ever for students to continue learning on their own over the summer, particularly when they are having difficulty in school.

Fortunately for parents of students ages six and up who are reading below grade level, a renowned and proven family of learning products used by professional educators for more than 10 years is now available for home use. BrainPro® Services, an innovative home learning program, incorporates the renowned Fast ForWord® family of products used by 3 million students in 44 countries around the world.

BrainPro® Services combines these proven techniques with the remote support of a highly experienced and trained tutor to correct many students' reading problems by exercising the brain and developing cognitive skills in a fun and engaging way. Effectiveness studies show that the Fast ForWord software used in BrainPro can improve reading skills of some children by as much as two grade levels in as little as 12 to 16 weeks of high intensity, focused student engagement - making it the perfect tool for over-the-summer learning and helping ensure students return to the classroom with their brains as "fit" as possible.

BrainPro/Add One

Developed by educational leader Scientific Learning, BrainPro® Services uses patented technologies that leverage the science and opportunity of "brain plasticity." A group of neuroscientists at the University of California--San Francisco and Rutgers University studied how the brain changes when people learn and what conditions are necessary for learning to take place. They discovered that exercising brain processing skills through intensive, adaptive activity can cause physical changes that enhance attention span, processing speed and memory capacity, improving overall learning ability.

"By regularly exercising mental processing skills to improve brain fitness, children can create physical changes in the brain that result in enduring gains in language and reading skills," said Paula Tallal, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University. "The goal is to create better thinkers who are able to tackle all sorts of subjects and who enjoy school and life-long learning."

The Fast ForWord software used in BrainPro is the most well researched educational software on the market today with more than 220 efficacy studies, and has, until now, only been available in professional settings. BrainPro® is an ideal home-based solution for struggling students whose parents believe their child would benefit from an online tutor to monitor their progress, review results and recommend ongoing strategies to reinforce learning. BrainPro tutors have extensive training and experience in helping children get the most benefit from the proven Fast ForWord products. Tutors monitor students' progress and communicate with parents via email and/or phone calls - providing detailed information on how to help with exercises the student finds more challenging.

Teachers of students who use Fast ForWord products report that they are more engaged, more confident and participate more in class. "Fit brains really do learn better and we can do something about making the brain a child brings to the classroom better," said Dr. Tallal.

For more information about brain fitness and the BrainPro learning service, visit www.BrainProLearning.com.

About Scientific Learning

Scientific Learning provides education software to K-12 schools, educational institutions, speech and language clinics, and learning and tutorial centers around the world. The company's science and technology-based solutions are available in more than 40 countries to help struggling readers accelerate their learning and reach their potential. Scientific Learning delivers successful implementations and predictable achievement gains so schools and providers around the world can focus on the needs of their students.

About Fast ForWord®

The Fast ForWord® family of products from Scientific Learning increases brain processing efficiency through intensive, adaptive exercises that develop and strengthen speed, processing rate, attention, recall, and knowledge--the cognitive skills essential for learning and reading success. Fast ForWord products cover a wider range of skills to improve additional critical language and reading skills such as phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, working memory, syntax, grammar, and other skills necessary to learn how to read or to become a better reader.

SOURCE Scientific Learning