CHCS Perspectives Summer/Fall 2013

PERSPECTIVES • SUMMER-FALL 2013 – Page 20 W hen audiologist Nancy Rowe, M.S., was a child, her father taught her to have lunch with at least one interesting person each month. Following that advice, Rowe had lunch with Sarah Wakefield, Au.D., assistant professor in the CHCS’ Department of Audiology, to learn from Dr. Wakefield’s experience. That lunch was the start of the department’s current research study to test Rowe’s NeuroNet Temporal Processing Test (NNTPT), which measures children’s auditory processing skills and temporal processing—the time needed to make a connection between a sound and picture. “I use these tests in my office,” Rowe said. “We would like to develop standard data to be able to apply it to other children and still have useful data.” The NNTPT is a computer-based supplement to Rowe’s program NeuroNet. While a teacher for deaf children, Rowe noticed some children retained information easily while others did not. Looking for a way to make these struggling learners independent learners, Rowe researched neuro- science, attended conferences, and spoke to colleagues in different fields. She eventually learned that when the brain anticipates something, such as a repeating rhythm, it becomes more ready to learn. With this knowledge, she created NeuroNet, which uses movement and rhythm combined with language, handwriting, and math drills to create neural networks in the brain. According to Rowe, “It helps struggling learners become independent learners by creating neural networks that connect hearing, vision, balance, and movement.” The NNTPT starts with a subtest called “cat, dog, cow” in which the child sees a cat, a dog, and a cow, hears the sounds they make, and clicks on which animal makes the sound. Small glasses fill with milk when the child answers correctly. If all the answers are correct, the cow licks the screen in FORT LAUDERDALE AUDIOLOGY NEW AUDITORY TEST CREATED By Keren Moros, M.A. in Writing Student, NSU Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences “It helps struggling learners become independent learners by creating neural networks that connect hearing, vision, balance, and movement.”