Life After LearningRx – A LearningRx Review

It’s been about a year, plus a few months, since we finished our training at LearningRx.

So what does our life look like now?

I’ll start with Baby Girl.  She was a very struggling reader!  In our year of homeschooling in second grade she was reading at a first grade level.  She wanted to read.  She tried so hard to read, but just couldn’t accomplish the task.  Why?  Our testing at LearningRx showed her executive processing speed (I call it her attention) to be a year and a half behind her age.  At the end of 36 weeks with LearningRx she tested two years above her age.  Now, at the end of her first in school as a second grader she is reading at grade level and loves her books!  I find her in bed at night reading before she goes to sleep!

Then there is Son #1.  He’s our super smart, super athletic, lover of all things football who has been diagnosed with ADHD!  Our first major accomplishment: (and I say this for me as well as for him)….We made it through the school year.  180 days of 5 days a week school!  He made good grades, grew spiritually and is excited about being a “senior” as school next year.  He stepped into a leadership position this summer with his 904 Elite 7on7 football team in the face of defeat at an intense tournament at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fl.  His determination and desire to “leave it all on the field” whether they won or lost was nothing short of amazing.

Here he is making the TOP 15 of all the middle schoolers in the Cam Newton Skills Challenge! SO PROUD!

 

And Son #3.  He’s my steady-freddy.  He did amazing at LearningRx, scored years above his age at the end of 12 weeks and he just keeps on keeping on!  His biggest challenge is overcoming perfectionism.  I just don’t know where he gets that from!  He’s smart, sensitive, witty and has a desire to please those around him.  He is terrific with animals and has a gentle soul.  He enters 6th grade this year!

Still to train is Rocketman, Son #2 and me!

The story isn’t over by any means!!

*Cam Newton Skills Challenge sponsored by Mr. Cam Newton and the Cam Newton Foundation

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


Can LearningRx Work After 50? A LearningRx Review

God brings many interesting people into our lives.  One such person, loved dearly by my entire family, is Ms. Kathy.

Ms. Kathy was a teacher for many years and has her M.ED. in Education and tutoring. Presently, she tutors children in reading, and tests homeschooled students to determine whether their performance is in compliance with state standards.

When Ms. Kathy tested my daughter, Danielle could not even finish the test for the grade level below her grade! When we explained to Ms. Kathy that we had just enrolled Danielle at LearningRx for one-on-one brain training, she suggested we finish Danielle’s brain training first, then bring her back for state testing.

Over the coming months, our progress with LearningRx piqued Kathy’s interest as she listened to me talk about the results I saw in my children.  Since Kathy comes in contact with many children in the course of her tutoring, she was curious whether LearningRx would be a good resource for other families as well. Kathy decided to take the LearningRx brain skills assessment so she would understand the process a child goes through when walking through the doors of LearningRx.  When Kathy got the results of her assessment,  she discovered that she had amazingly high scores in Short-Term Memory, Logic and Reasoning, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing and Word Attack. She was deficient, however, in Processing Speed and Long-Term Memory.

Kathy, 63, looked in amazement at her scores. They pinpointed recent frustrating struggles in her life. Kathy hated that she would walk into a room and forget what she had gone there for. She hated her increasing need to write things down or she would complete forget them.

Kathy decided to try LearningRx’s Max Online program.  Instead of training at the center she would train online at home.  After faithfully spending an hour a day with the LearningRx intensive online program, life took an unexpected turn, and Kathy left the country to spend several months with her daughter overseas.  Once she returned to the U.S. and settled back into a routine, Kathy decided to take a second cognitive assessment to see exactly how much LearningRx was improving her memory.

I crossed paths with her in the parking lot at LearningRx just a few weeks ago as she was going in to take her assessment. She was nervous, and hoped her assessment would show proof of the improvements she felt she was experiencing in real life. I talked with her a few days later to learn that her assessment scores were amazing! Ms. Kathy had increased her Processing Speed by 40 percentile points and her Long-Term Memory by 25 percentile points!  She was so excited!  I knew all along Kathy would do great.  She is a determined and purposed woman with a real zest for life.

I asked her what real life results she was seeing at home.  She said that the biggest thing that she has noticed is that she can find things now.  She had been spending way too much time hunting for things throughout the day. Now she remembers right away where she’s left things.  She is also taking a couple of college courses for recertification and is finding that she has to reread things a lot less and can work through the curriculum in a much more linear fashion.  She also sees a big difference in how quickly she processes information while she is driving.  She foresees a flood of her friends who are sixtysomething flocking to LearningRx once they hear of her experience.

Kathy is my first friend who is over 60 and a graduate of a LearningRx brain training program.  I am so excited to have played even a small role in her new relationship with LearningRx.  Since she has discovered what LearningRx can do, she refers many of her tutoring students to LearningRx, too.  LearningRx brain training is proving to be a blessing not only to me and my family, but now Ms. Kathy, her friends, and the struggling students she works with now and in the future, too!

(Read the beginning of our family’s LearningRx story here! Our daughter just tested and her scores were amazing!!  I can’t wait to tell you about each our three children’s progress!!)

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


Mom’s Night Out


One Mom’s Journey from Self-Doubt to Hope and Solutions (and Chocolate!)

After successfully homeschooling her daughter from Kindergarten through 9th grade, Elizabeth discovered that her daughter was struggling with her schoolwork.  It was the first time ever!

It seems a common thread among homeschool moms to question our decisions when we hit a bump in the road.  The questions buzz like a swarm of bees.  “Did I do something wrong?” “If she were in public school would she be struggling like this?” “Did I choose the appropriate curriculum?”

I think, for most homeschool moms, our default mode is to question ourselves when we stumble.  However, looking back on my own homeschooling adventure I believe there is always a purpose in the stumbling.

Elizabeth began to search online for answers. That’s where she learned about one-on-one brain training at LearningRx. When I met Elizabeth at the LearningRx center in Jacksonville, FL I was touched by their story.  Many people have never even heard of brain training, but Elizabeth could see right away that it held the solution to whatever her daughter was facing.

I had the privilege of meeting Elizabeth on her first day at the center.  Her daughter was shy and a bit nervous as they waited for their trainer.  I encouraged them both by sharing that one of my children had been skeptical about brain training as well.  All it took was one day of training, however, and he loved it!

Toward the end of that same week I met Elizabeth in the lobby once again.  I asked how the week had gone.  She told me her daughter enjoyed it and was excited to return.  When Elizabeth had realized her daughter was struggling, she was naturally concerned. Now—just a few weeks later—this mom was filled with hope and anticipation. In fact, as we talked, she was smiling as she popped a Hershey’s Kiss into her mouth.

Now that’s happiness!!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


What goes on behind the doors of LearningRx?

There are so many wonderful things that happen once you enter the doors of a LearningRx center.

Upon Graduation at the Jacksonville Center your hands go here:

These little guys cover the walls in the waiting room…..

As I sit and look at these I ask, “How can these be all over the internet, not just the walls?”

Since we homeschool we are at the center early and it is often a little quieter when we are there.  But after school?  It’s a hub of activity as kids are bussed in, moms bring kids in, parents talk in the waiting room or use the computers in the back.  Information flows like a stream.  I love all the activity and the one-on-one time I get with other moms.

I met another homeschoool mom this week.  Oh, how we need to encourage one another!  So much weight we carry upon our shoulders!

This month we are planning a MOMS NIGHT OUT at the Jacksonville center.  I can’t wait!  Here is their Facebook page!

Have a blessed and brainy day!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


A beautiful picture of what LearningRx has done in our lives!

She falls asleep reading now!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


I’m Published! Happy Dance…..

After working with the corporate marketing team at LearningRx we’ve finally gotten their cover for the next issue of Life Changing.  I’m excited on so many levels.  It’s the first time my photography has been published in a magazine, our family’s story is exciting and I believe in my heart of hearts LearningRx can help strengthen anyone’s cognitive thinking skills.  I am passionate about them, passionate about what God is doing in my life as it relates to LearningRx and passionate about the difference it is making in the lives of my children.  #3 Son just finished his first 12 weeks and will take a break while #1 Son finishes his 24 weeks and Baby Girl begins another 12 weeks concentrating on reading.  Did I tell you she has decided to skip her reading books and now concentrate on reading “My First Encyclopedia”?  She’s pronouncing words like “cold-blooded” all by herself.  I am super-thrilled for her.  She also gets to train with her favorite trainer, Renee, again!  And I am learning how to train her at home as well.

The last few weeks has held much sorrow for our family as dear friends have lost loved ones.  The presence of death around our family has had both my husband and I in constant prayer.  This ray of light (LearningRx) among the sadness we are sharing with these families is truly a gift.  I look forward to what God has planned for our family and LearningRx.  Jumping for joy!!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


Tough Questions. Tough Answers.

Taken from LearningRx  National Edition 2009:

Italics are mine.

Our doctor diagnosed my son as ADHD and prescribed medication to control behavior.  My heart breaks at the thought (as did mine).  Do I really have to drug my child?

Probably not.  In a society where a large percentage of students significantly under-perform, seemingly easy solutions are a temptation.  “Should I medicate my child?” is a question on the mind of parents nationwide and is most often asked by parents of children tagged ADD/ADHD.  There is a growing field of cognitive brain training researchers investigating alternatives to drugs for ADHD.  In almost every case, learning skills testing reveals that these children have “cognitive deficits, specifically in working memory.”  Weak cognitive skills often mean they can’t pay attention long enough for good academic performance.

Researchers have explored methods to train the brain and impact weak learning skills.   In one case, a number of ADHD students underwent 5 weeks of specific stills training and afterwards, 60% no longer fit the label.  These results point to the possibility of overcoming lifelong learning hindrances in an extremely short period of time with the right mental skills training.  Why wouldn’t everyone do it?  The investment in cognitive skills training is “not easy for a time-crunched society and far more laborious than popping a pill.”  Althought maybe not as easy as taking a pill, the benefits of overcoming skill weakness and building advanced learning ability are worth the short-term effort.  Which is exactly what our family is doing and seeing significant results after a 24 week program!

(Response compiled from Gunjan Sinha, an award winning freelance science and medical journalist.  Specific citations are derived from Training the Brain:  Cognitive Therapy as an Alternative to ADHD Drugs, Scientific American. July 2005)

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


LearningRx on Youtube

I recently received a newsletter from LearningRx with this great link that is similar to the attention arrows I had you practicing earlier.

Check it out and let me know how you do.

LINK to LearningRx

and here is an excellent example of what we do at LearningRx.

Check it out!!!  The director at this LearningRx tells what we do better than I can and you get to see children at work!!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


LearningRx Results That Astound…

If you follow my blog at all you know I’m totally sold on the brain training we do at LearningRx.  My children are progressing daily in the tasks they are able to preform.  One of the most important areas of our lives that cognitive brain training has affected is in the confidence I see in my oldest son.  He was diagnosed with ADHD last year.  We increased his medicine to the point that we felt he was able to concentrate and focus.  But after 14 weeks at LearningRx we are now decreasing his medicine.  I believe this is happening because he is learning how to concentrate and focus through his own abilities now, separate from his dependence on the medicine.  We’ve already cut his dose once and plan on doing so again next month.  It is wonderful to see him blossoming as he gains confidence in his own skills and his own strength.  I hope that one day we will be free from the medicine and he will be relying on his own God-given abilities.

This special child of mine was born on Christmas Day.  And I have always known God had great things planned for him.  LearningRx is opening doors in his mind, building his confidence and strengthening his character.  I love to see him going head to head with his trainer now as he is at the stage of trying to beat her at the games they play.  He has come so far.

I’ve seen his ability to stay focused and get his school work done at home go through the roof.  He is now doing twice as many math problems in a day (20) and memorizing two times the vocabulary words that he was previously.  That is 20 per week….spelling and vocabulary.  When he asked me why I simply told him he was able to do more than he even can imagine.  And the switch has been great.  He’s even begun to talk about what high school might be like.  He’s never wanted to go to school before but as his confidence builds so does his willingness to try new and different things.  Do we still have bad days?  Sure. Don’t we all.  But overall life is changing for the better at our home and my children are beginning to find joy in learning.

As for my youngest….she is reading up a storm and well into second grade work.  At the beginning of LearningRx she was reading at a K5 level.  Now she reads the Christmas cards we receive in the mail, the cereal box, the signs on the road, the things I type.

I’m amazed and forever grateful for the changes LearningRx is making in my kids.  It’s not tutoring, it’s not school, it’s exercising the brain so that it can hold more information, access more information, process more information and be 10 times smarter than mom!!!  (Yikes, that’s kinda scary!)

I thank God for leading us to LearningRx for the road He has set before us!

My goal now is to be able to translate into words what the centers do for children and how to let moms know there is an answer out there.  LearningRx opens doors for children that are otherwise closed.  I want the world to know!

 

To read more LearningRx reviews and stories from other parents visit: http://www.learningrx-reviews.com/


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