Amy Bowman knew her eight-year-old son was frustrated. If he had difficulty with his schoolwork, he would shy away from it or give up altogether. His self-confidence seemed to be wavering.
She didn’t feel like the experience he had, as a second grader in public school, was as supportive as he needed. She tried tutors, who helped, but progress seemed to plateau.
When her son entered third grade, she was still looking for solutions. A friend gave her a brochure about LearningRx, a new training center that opened in Lexington in January. The center, according to the research she did, focused on enhancing cognitive learning skills rather than traditional tutoring.
“It was kind of a fluke that I found them,” she said. “It happened at just the right time.”
Opening the new LearningRx Training Center in Lexington was also a “right time” experience for the company’s new directors, Elizabeth and Aaron Zink. The young couple, both in their 20s, felt strongly about the need to help struggling students.
Elizabeth Zink, with a master’s degree in communication disorders, worked in the public school system, juggling a caseload of over 100 students. She found herself frustrated with the lack of time she could allocate to each student. Aaron Zink has a master’s degree in psychology and worked for Goodwill Industries, helping, he said, “to give people the ability to help themselves.”
They met Dennis Anderson last year when the Lexington-based real estate developer was spearheading the idea of opening a center of the Colorado-based franchise in Lexington. He was looking to find “someone who was passionate about working with people,” when he was referred to the Zinks by pediatrician Dr. Michael Simon.
“They are highly educated and were highly recommended,” Anderson said. “And they are really interested in doing something worthwhile with their lives.”
Anderson has his own personal connection to LearningRx. His nephew, who lives in Phoenix, was diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder). When the child was put on medication, Anderson, a pharmacist by training, noted that he struggled from severe side effects, including a lack of appetite and the ability to sleep. Anderson began investigating other options and found LearningRx.
His nephew enrolled at the LearningRx center in Phoenix, where he made steady progress. Today, at age 12, he is off medication, Anderson said.
After this experience, Anderson was determined to bring the franchise to Lexington. “I thought there was a real need for it in Lexington,” he said. “And I thought it would do well in a college town.”
Anderson financed the company and lent his business support and expertise to the Zinks. The Lexington location is on Pasadena Drive, in a center he developed that includes several other child-oriented businesses, such as Gymboree.
Anderson, who runs 35 companies and has been in business for 28 years, said LearningRx is also a good fit for fulfilling the mission of his organization. “Our goal is building a better place to live,” he said. “ It’s all about community.”
The Zinks say that LearningRx shares that goal as well. Before becoming part of the company, they underwent two days of interviews in Colorado Springs, Colo. While they found the company to be a “family-oriented business,” the standards were exacting. When they were offered the opportunity of a franchise, the Zinks underwent two weeks of intensive training.
LearningRx is different from tutoring in that it was developed to train and enhance cognitive learning skills, Elizabeth Zink said. “We train the brain,” she said. “We work to identify the underlying learning problem.”
The first step is an assessment for cognitive skills. Students are assessed using a battery of tests, including the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, a widely used exam. Training is then designed to strengthen the brain’s core mental abilities, she said.
Cognitive skill training strengthens the brain’s core mental abilities, providing the foundation for successful learning, Zink said. If these core skills are not developed, they can create lifelong problems.
According to studies on learning problems, 80 percent of learning difficulties among U.S. students and adults are the direct consequence of a cognitive skill weakness. By comparison, 10 percent are due to poor instruction, five percent to sensory defects such as hearing or vision problems and five percent due to low motivation.
Students are paired one-on-one with a training specialist, Aaron Zink said. These specialists are trained by him and his wife and include teachers and graduate students. The training is rigorous, he said. Almost 80 percent of those attempting to become trainers don’t pass the required cognitive skills test.
Students typically make significant gains in 12 to 24 weeks, Elizabeth Zink said. For example, according to statistics compiled by LearningRx, the average gain for long-term memory is 5.9 years; for processing speed, 2.4 years; and for logic and reasoning, 3.7 years.
Parents are required to be involved in LearningRx training. Parents are trained in home exercises to share with their child and a schedule of home training is established, she said.
The franchise was started five years ago by Dr. Ken Gibson, and there are now over 70 centers throughout the country. The Lexington Center is the only one in Kentucky. The franchise recommends start-up capital of approximately $150,000.
LearningRx has tapped into a built-up need, said Aaron Zink. The center works with a wide variety of learning difficulties, including ADD and ADHD as well as students simply having difficulty in school, he said. In the United States, more than three million students have been diagnosed with ADD.
For the Zinks, the center is their passion. “We see students six days a week,” said Elizabeth Zink. “We love being here. We’re very lucky to be our age and doing this.”
“We’ve learned a lot,” her husband added. “It’s very exciting to find something you can believe in and that you’re committed to.”
Students like Amy Bowman’s son may be their best reasons for these feelings. “I’ve seen a change in his attitude,” Amy Bowman said of her son. “He wants to go — he feels successful when he’s there. I feel competent that it will show as the school year continues.”