It is estimated that between eight to ten percent of school-age children in the United States live with one or more learning challenges. Leaders in the fields of cognition and education report that learning and attention issues are not the result of low intelligence, poor vision, poor hearing, or laziness.
In fact, studies show that children with learning and attention differences are as smart as their peers and can achieve at high levels. But because these children learn and process information differently, their brain skills must be taught and trained differently.
Children with learning challenges consistently display issues and setbacks in one or more areas of learning, like reading, remembering, or comprehending information. And if not treated correctly, these challenges are likely to follow them into adulthood. Symptoms may change over time but learning challenges do not go away with age.
However, with one-on-one brain training, it is possible to help children (and adults) overcome their learning challenges. And this is precisely what Dr. Ken Gibson embarked upon when he decided to delve deeper into brain training to help people who were struggling to read or learn.
Dr. Gibson began his professional career as a pediatric vision specialist. However, his passion for helping struggling patients learn faster and easier prompted him to spend several decades developing programs to measure and train core cognitive skills. During this period, he trained more than 1,000 professionals in the fields of education and psychology on how to use his brain-building techniques to help their own clients.
In 2002, Dr. Gibson founded LearningRx to make brain training accessible to more families. Today, LearningRx is the largest one-on-one brain training company in the world with approximately 60 Centers in the U.S. and 95 locations in 40+ countries around the globe.
Practice Leads to Perfection
Research indicates that struggles with thinking, learning, reading, memory, and attention are often caused by one or more weak brain skills. There are seven core brain skills that everyone needs to learn successfully. Those skills include: attention, long & short-term memory, processing speed, logic & reasoning, visual processing, and auditory processing. LearningRx tests and trains all seven.
They begin by giving every client a one-hour Brain Skills Assessment to understand why they are struggling.
Once the Assessment is completed, and the weak brain skills are identified, clients are paired with their own personal brain trainer to target and train those weak skills using a series of intense (but fun!) mental exercises that work on the way the brain thinks, learns, reads, and remembers. Each 60- to 90-minute brain training session is conducted a few days a week, in eight months or less, depending on the program.
Clients can meet one-on-one with their trainer at a LearningRx Brain Training Center or, can choose to be tested and trained remotely, from the comfort of work or home.
As LearningRx reports, there are two parts to smart. The first part relates to how well a person’s brain grasps new information and how well their brain processes and stores that information for future (and frequent) use. The second part relates to what a person knows and their ability to retain and retrieve the information their brain has stored, where and when it is needed.
LearningRx trains and strengthens cognitive skills, which makes brain training different than tutoring. Tutoring re-teaches information a person may have missed the first (or tenth) time it was delivered to them. There are many tutoring businesses but few options for parents who want to address the processing side of learning and performance. And LearningRx, by far, achieves the best brain training results.
Taking the Legacy to New Heights
As the CEO of LearningRx, Kim Hanson is carrying forward the legacy of her father Dr. Gibson. She grew up surrounded by her father’s groundbreaking work in cognitive training and was one of his first students and cognitive trainers. In 2007, Kim and her father co-authored the book, Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in Your Child, which is now in its third edition.
Before joining LearningRx, Kim worked as a second- and fifth-grade schoolteacher at several inner-city schools in Nashville, Tennessee and Minneapolis, Minnesota. A graduate of North Central University in Minneapolis, she is also Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) Certified.
She began her leadership role with LearningRx in 2004 as an Executive Vice President and was named Chief Executive Officer in 2017. Her career passion is to help professionals, educators, and parents learn more about cognitive skills training and the dramatic results it can have on real-life performance.
Beyond the workplace, Kim enjoys mentoring high school and college students as they consider and identify their future career options. She is also a vocal advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).
Kim is married to Dr. Wayne Hanson and together they are busy raising their four children: Lily, Zac, Max, and Gracie. In her free time, Kim loves creating custom pottery for family and friends and watching football—she is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan.
Reaching Out
LearningRx’s scientific research and clinical studies are unparalleled in the education franchise industry. Their pioneering methods have been used in clinical settings for over 35 years and have been subjected to peer-review in more than a dozen scientific journals.
And because their results have shown real-life transfer effects among their clients—like having greater confidence and setting loftier life goals—owning a LearningRx franchise has become all the more appealing to those seeking a business opportunity that is truly life-changing.
LearningRx franchisees come from a broad mix of backgrounds and industries, including: former educators, business professionals, stay-at-home parents, as well as physical therapists, psychologists, and speech and language pathologists. As Hanson enthusiastically explains, “They’re all passionate to bring the life-changing power of brain training to their communities; they get what we do and get really excited about it.”
Most successful franchisees have the skills needed to consistently plan, market, and network in their communities. They confidently recommend LearningRx programs, manage their finances and staff, and deliver excellent customer service. These owners are persistent, collaborative, and enjoy working with people. They tend to be risk-takers, have a strong sales and networking mindset, and are capable of creating and implementing detailed business and marketing plans.
Training the Forces
Once approved as a franchise owner, LearningRx franchisees attend eight days of intensive training at LearningRx’s world headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, followed by two on-site visits that focus on sales and operational support.
Hanson personally travels to each owner’s Brain Training Center to conduct a ribbon-cutting ceremony. New franchisees are enrolled in first-year coaching that focuses on the marketing, sales, financial, and operational aspects of the business. Coaching is conducted by LearningRx’s experienced support team that have a combined 22 years of experience running and supporting LearningRx Centers.
LearningRx ensures consistent results at each Center by training its franchisees on LearningRx’s proprietary processes which include standardized, sequential brain training procedures that are customized to meet each client’s needs. Their programs use a Trainer Management System that digitally guides each trainer through a succession of brain training procedures based on each student’s progress.
Franchisees attend an annual convention for continued education along with periodic webinar training. Hanson adds, “We evaluate Center performance using standardized Cognitive Skills Assessments for each client. Our Centers achieve outstanding client results and celebrate high Net Promoter Scores on final client surveys.”
Pacesetting Technology Keep Franchise Owners on the Cutting Edge
In addition to its engaged franchisees, advances in technology have helped LearningRx grow and bring about positive changes in every region of North America. They developed a robust and propriety Client Management System called the LearningRx Hub that allows for centralized reporting of client data, testing results, and Center financial performance.
An online brain training program called BrainSkills is used to supplement its one-on-one training and is especially effective at helping clients’ attention, hand-eye coordination, and processing speed. Every Center has the ability to serve clients both in-center and remotely through videoconferencing. This has allowed Centers to serve clients from anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. Virtual Training proved vital to LearningRx clients who were able to begin or continue brain training during the global pandemic, when most citizens were restricted to locally enforced stay-at-home mandates.
Expanding Their Horizons
LearningRx has trained over 109,000 clients to date. Its goal is to train 300,000 clients by the end of 2030. The team wants every parent and every adult to learn about the life-changing power of one-on-one brain training. Internationally, LearningRx programs are marketed under the brand name, BrainRx.
“We plan to expand our U.S.-based LearningRx franchise and our BrainRx international licensing opportunities. LearningRx is not just for kids. Our recent research on mild cognitive impairment and traumatic brain injury has shown fantastic results. We look forward to helping more adults who struggling in life – to make remembering, processing, and performing easier and faster,” concludes Hanson.”