Accelerating Young Minds and Special Education
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Accelerating Young Minds benefits diverse learners in Special Education

While the basic skills developed by the AYM curriculum are very important for younger students in general education, it is even more so for special education students of all ages. Not only is the content important, but the rich multimedia format in which the information is delivered is highly effective for all children particularly those in special education.  Computer-based cognitive training has been scientifically shown to help develop attention, memory, language and executive function. Gains made using cognitive training programs have also been shown to be widespread and long-lasting. Our programs were originally developed to address the common problems associated with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia but it is now apparent that they have much broader applications.

AYM Elementary Data Charts

The unique data collected by the program is particularly powerful for special education teachers and therapists because it can detect underlying deficiencies in auditory processing, visual processing, language processing and social cognition/communication that may be contributing to learning disabilities in school.

AYM programs can support IEP goals in the following areas

  • social skills
  • communication skills
  • engagement in developmentally appropriate tasks
  • motor control
  • cognitive skills
  • academic skills
  • sensory-perceptual skills
  • skills for success in accessing the general curriculum.

AYM serves both as a learning tool and an assessment tool that collects data on student performance in:

  • language development
  • perceptual abilities
  • social behaviors
  • fundamentals of literacy and numeracy.

AYM offers a Multi-modal Learning Environment

The AYM programs are brain-based, meaning that they are designed around the way the brain is attracted to and retains new and useful information. Handheld devices and computers provide the unique capability of an interactive, multi-modal learning environment. Students learn through seeing, hearing and reading simultaneously. Involving multiple senses in this way results in better retention and recall. Moreover, when neurons in distant regions of the brain “fire together” or get activated simultaneously, they are said to “wire together”- building long-range connections. These long-range neurological pathways are vital for complex functions such as language, self-regulation, and decision-making. The interactive nature of the program combined with its ability to offer one-on-one, direct, guided instruction, adds further effectiveness as a teaching tool, especially for special education.

This type of multi-modal or multi-sensory learning has been shown to be more effective than text-based sequential learning.  In AYM programs 90% of the stimuli presented are real-world natural pictures, sounds, and voices which is scientifically proven to be superior to cartoon/virtual stimuli.