Review: Forbrain

Using Forbrain by Sound For Life Ltd has been a fun experience for my family.

I became interested in Forbrain after reading the various purposes for Forbrain on the website.  There are several purposes listed, but the ones that captured my attention for my particular family are improving:

*short term memory
*auditory processing
*sensory integration.

What is it?

Forbrain is a simple headset.

You put it on and talk.

That's all.

The website has lots of information about how Forbrain works here.  The best I can understand is that Forbrain takes the wearer's sound vibrations and sends them through the wearer's bones which increases accurate auditory perception.

For this review I took a number of pictures of the user's manual, but then I discovered that the whole manual is available on the Forbrain website right here.  It's a whole lot easier to click the link and download the manual for personal study than it is to look at my photos!

The first thing I did after opening and charging Forbrain was put it on myself to see what it felt like.

It is incredibly lightweight--there was no pressure on my head at all.  It made me very aware of my own voice--kind of like hearing myself speak into a microphone or talking while holding my hands over my ears.

All of my kids gathered around to have a turn--teens to toddlers.

Everyone liked how it felt to hear themselves through Forbrain.

I had 4 children specifically in mind for using Forbrain:

Beowulf (4 1/2 yrs)--for sensory processing.
Brother (5 1/2 yrs)--for sensory processing and memory
Ladybug (7 yrs)--for memory
Super Star (15 yrs)--for memory.

However, once the other kids saw this group having regular turns, they demanded their rights to wear Forbrain, too!

There is a pdf booklet of specific activities to do while wearing Forbrain, but we opted not to use them.  Instead we took the general instructions to heart and wore Forbrain while we did our usual reading/memorizing/singing/daily school activities.

And honestly, the jury is still out.

Beowulf is a sensory-seeking kid.  He also is sensory-sensitive.  This makes it hard for him to stay balanced.  He spends a lot of time trying to self-regulate, and we spend a lot of time trying to help him.  My hope in using Forbrain with Beowulf was to provide positive sensory stimulation that would allow him to find the balance he needed to keep his words . . . because language is the first thing to go when he is either over- or under-stimulated.

Beowulf loves, loves, loves wearing Forbrain.  He drops whatever activity he is doing and comes running when I call him for a session.  We read stories, do fingerplays, and sing songs together while he wears Forbrain.  He grins every time I turn it on and he hears his voice through the headset for the first time each day.

While wearing Forbrain, Beowulf is able to stay focused on what we're doing.

My hope was that over time the focus he exhibits while wearing Forbrain would extend to times he was not wearing it.  So far, that has not happened, but I don't really feel that 6 weeks is a long enough trial for me to make any statements about how well Forbrain actually works.

Even if he never shows improvement without it on, Forbrain does help Beowulf while he's using it, and he loves wearing it!  Theses reasons leave me inclined to keep using Forbrain for the long haul.

Ladybug and Brother are both learning to read.  Both of them struggle with remembering what they've learned a day or even 5 minutes earlier . . . sometimes even 10 seconds earlier.  They both wear Forbrain while they're doing their reading exercises.  They work on memorizing sight words, playing games, and practicing phonics skills while wearing Forbrain.

I have much the same to say about their experience as I did about Beowulf.
They love wearing Forbrain;  they love to play with sounds while it's on; they have decidedly improved focus while wearing it; and I plan to keep using it because it isn't a separate therapy--it's just part of our usual school day, and school is easier while they're wearing Forbrain.

Super Star has worked for years to memorize the times tables.  She has worked very hard.  We thought that since Forbrain claims to help with short term memory, she could wear it while doing multiplication drills, and hopefully the short term memory help would spill over into long term memory.

However, within 5 minutes of putting on Forbrain, Super Star complained of a headache, took it off, and wouldn't put it back on again.  She reported that she felt dizzy and off-kilter while wearing it.

I wish I could report that she did eventually try again and that she had success, because obviously something was happening while it was on, but my encouragements were to no avail.  Once was enough for Super Star.

My littlest ones--Baymax and Lola--love to wear Forbrain.  They are only 2, which puts them outside the age range for which Forbrain is recommended, but I think that's because they're little, and Forbrain doesn't rest quite right over their tiny ears.  Nonetheless, they climb into the "school chair" next to me and demand their turns to wear it while singing songs and doing fingerplays with me.

I love how they smile when they hear and feel their voices change when I press the "on" button.

And other of my children just get a kick out of wearing it while they talk or read aloud even though they don't have sensory, memory, or speech issues.

I must say that Forbrain has a powerful battery that has lasted a very long time.  I have only charged it once--the initial charge upon opening the case for the first time.  Since then we've used Forbrain for an hour or more each day, 5 days a week, and as of this writing, it is still going strong--that's six straight weeks without a charge!

In addition, it is lightweight and well-protected in its case.  I've thrown the Forbrain into our hiking backpack any number of times because we often school out-of-doors, and it has been completely safe and portable.

To read what other crew members had to say about Forbrain by Sound For Life Ltd click here or on the banner below: