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SCIENTIFIC LEARNING PICKS EIGHT
ADVISORS
June 17, 1999
Hoping to increase its own understanding of today's critical special
education issues, a company that has made its living helping students read is turning
to a group of experts. Scientific Learning Corp. has brought together
eight professionals in education,
neuroscience, behavioral science, health and public policy to
serve three-year terms as advisors.
By forming the new board, Scientific Learning Corp. hopes to "create
a stimulating and provocative forum for ideas across a wide spectrum
of activities related to our company's mission," Scientific
Learning CEO Sheryle Bolton said in a statement. "This advisory
board will provide us with counsel on matters relevant to ongoing
research and development of our neuroscience-based products."
Scientific Learning developed a series of training programs called
Fast ForWord for students with language and reading problems.
The computer software-based programs are available for use by
students and teachers in private and public schools, clinics and
home school settings. Fast ForWord uses adaptive, interactive
exercises involving acoustically modified speech and speech sounds
to stimulate rapid language skill development. The CD-ROM and
Internet-based program assists students with language comprehension,
phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, auditory processing
speed, working memory, syntax, grammar and sequencing, the company
says.
With input from the advisory board, Scientific Learning plans
to continue to develop Fast ForWord and explore the creation of
other learning assistance programs. "All the members of this
advisory board share our commitment to employ the scientifically
validated methods that we now have to address the language and
reading problems among these children," Bolton said.
On the board:
Pennsylvania-based LD teacher Joan Elizabeth Baldwin,
recipient of the 1999 Outstanding Educator of the Year Award from
the Learning Disabilities Association of America and the Pennsylvania
Learning Disabilities Association's 1998 Outstanding Educator
of the Year Award.
Dr. Charles I. Berlin, Lousiana State University Medical
School professor of Otorhinolaryngology and Physiology and director
of the Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory of the South. He is
also a founding member of the Advisory Board to the National Institute
of Deafness and Other Communications Disorders.
Dr. Fernando A. Guerra, director of health for the San
Antonio Metropolitan Health District and clinical professor at
the University of Texas in the Department of Pediatrics.
Alan T. Olkes, founder and chief of school operations
for Cambridge Academies, a private school and charter school management
company. He is also a former Dade County, Fla., superintendent
of schools.
Dr. Alba A. Ortiz, professor in the Department of Special
Education and director of the Office of Bilingual Education at
the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a member of the
National Education Research Policy and Priorities Board and a
past co-chairwoman of the Exceptional Needs Standards Committee
for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
National-Louis University Professor of Educational Leadership
Charles R. Thomas, a former assistant superintendent of
the Illinois State Board of Education. He is also a former superintendent
of North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 and North
Chicago Elementary School District 64.
RAND Senior Advisor for Education Policy P. Michael Timpane,
a past vice president and senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching. Timpane is also on the boards
of the Children's Television Workshop, the Southern Education
Foundation and Jobs for the Future.
Octavio J. Visiedo, an educational consultant with OV
Educational Concepts and a former Dade County, Fla., superintendent
of schools.8
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