Unlocking the Brain: Deana Smith on How LearningRx is Changing Lives in Jacksonville

Welcome to Hometown Jax, the podcast where hosts Aaron Bacus and Jason Kindler sit down with local business owners and community leaders to uncover their journeys, challenges, and impact on Northeast Florida. Each week, we highlight the people behind Jacksonville’s growing economy — the innovators, dreamers, and everyday workers who make this city thrive.

In this episode, Aaron sits down with Deana Smith, Executive Director and Operating Partner of LearningRx Jacksonville Beach, to explore how brain training is revolutionizing how we think about learning and mental performance. Deana dives into neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to change — and how her center helps children and adults strengthen their cognitive skills, overcome ADHD, dyslexia, and memory challenges, and unlock their true potential. From the science behind brain function to her own personal journey as a mother and educator, this conversation reveals how a new approach to brain health can create lasting change for students, families, and even seniors.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;14;29
Unknown
Where are your hosts, Aaron Backus and Jason Kindler? We like to sit down with our guests to hear their journey, their challenges, and how they impact the local community. So grab a seat. Tune in and let's get inspired by Jacksonville's everyday workforce. Welcome to Hometown Jacks.

00;00;14;29 - 00;00;30;09
Unknown
Dina Smith, it's great to have you. Erin. Back is. I'm so happy you're on the podcast. Thank you. You brought your notes, man. This is going to be serious today. I had some notes I want to tell you. I tell you I'm new to Jacksonville. Okay. Okay. Well, your credentials are amazing.

00;00;30;10 - 00;00;49;04
Unknown
I was spending some time on your website. I'm so interested to get into this, because I know a lot of people out there are going to be interested. I know a lot of parents are going to be interested. So let's get into it. Let's get into it. You are the executive director and operating partner of learning all of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach.

00;00;49;05 - 00;01;11;15
Unknown
That's awesome. So there are franchises. They are a franchise. Oh yes. And there was a learning hour in Jacksonville, not in Jacksonville Beach. I don't know exactly when, but over probably ten years ago. Okay. And my sister, and my brother in law, they're my business partners. Okay. And so this is a family. Family business.

00;01;11;15 - 00;01;43;24
Unknown
I like the faith based business. Awesome. Awesome. So, board certified cognitive specialist. I had to read that. Yes. That sounds very smart. Are you very smart? I would like to say that my IQ is very high. Yes. My emotional intelligence is just. I am smart. But I'm not someone that has, spent ten years in college.

00;01;43;26 - 00;02;02;09
Unknown
Well, how did that how do you go about getting that degree? Is that a that's a graduate after that is. Yes. Okay. It's more of like a certification. Okay. Have to, you know, take classes and, and get certified in a specific area, which is the cognitive the. Where'd you go to school? I went to school in South Florida.

00;02;02;11 - 00;02;30;24
Unknown
Okay. Broward College and Nova Southeastern University, and my background is education. Okay. So were you a teacher? I wasn't sure, yes. And then, I got into grant writing. I've always worked with children in some type of shape or form. That's always been my passion. Is like a working in a serving model. And, And you know, caring for helping.

00;02;30;26 - 00;02;57;17
Unknown
Psychology was something that I studied a little bit, but I didn't, you know, go that direction. So, cognitive specialist in psychology. Yes. Different, right. Yes. Okay. Yes. It's it's different. You're working with with the, you know, the neuroplasticity of the brain both ways. But psychology is more of I like to call us a a root cause or bottom up approach, if you will.

00;02;57;19 - 00;03;29;23
Unknown
Because what a psychologist is doing more or less is giving you coping mechanisms. Right? That's what I was going to say. You're right. You're more prevention that's do this not over prevention. But like before they issue the issue and then psychologist is after the issue. Right. Or I can go hand in hand. A lot of our students are seeing, you know, in tandem a psychologist or another therapist or like you said, after, you know, those coping skills can be very helpful.

00;03;29;26 - 00;03;49;21
Unknown
And talking things through getting out, trauma, all that kind of stuff for sure. But we're looking at really seven essential, cognitive skills that we all need to have our brain working, you know, in sync. Well, let's let's get into those. I want to talk about you a little bit. So about me. Where'd you grow up?

00;03;49;22 - 00;04;10;08
Unknown
Miami area that you say? Oh, well, I'm from Coral Springs. Okay. I grew up in Coral Springs. I was born in New York. And I just moved from Atlanta, Georgia. Okay. So I've been around, I have lived in Colorado, and I would say the majority Coral Springs. Okay, excellent. And I saw you had three kids.

00;04;10;10 - 00;04;32;08
Unknown
Oh. The kids. I have two adult sons. One's 26, the other one is 24. And, I have a daughter who is in ninth grade. Excellent, excellent. Awesome, awesome. I have three kids myself. Two are adults and one still in high school, so. Oh, so you get that high end enough? Yes. Yeah, that's a different ranges there for.

00;04;32;08 - 00;04;47;24
Unknown
Yes. Figure things out, you know. Yes, absolutely. It is. And she's my you have boys, girls, two boys and one girl. Oh. Same thing. Okay. Yes. I always wanted a daughter. I had two boys, and then I got my daughter. There you go. Yes.

00;04;48;08 - 00;05;08;21
Unknown
Worked in the public school system. Then I started doing before. And after school grant program. Yeah. Grant writing. Okay. Summer camp programs in South Florida. And that was amazing. That was, about 12 years of my my life.

00;05;08;21 - 00;05;37;05
Unknown
In Georgia, I came into, functional neurology. Okay. Which, a doctor friend of mine was a functional neurologist. And what is a functional allergist? What? Functional neurologist is basically usually a chiropractor. That's usually their background. But, clinician that is working with alternative, ways and treatments and their interactions with the brain.

00;05;37;05 - 00;05;37;20
Unknown
Right.

00;05;37;20 - 00;06;01;07
Unknown
So they're working with that neuroplasticity. I'll probably say that a million times, I guess, but it's just so important. It's something not everybody. I'm. What is that? What is that? The neuroplasticity is the ability of of the brain to change. Interesting. At any age change meaning learn or like completely change your behaviors, right? Yes. Wow. Absolutely. We have.

00;06;01;09 - 00;06;28;09
Unknown
The brain is almost like, putty. You can form new neural pathways, right? We have these neuro pathways or going back and forth, back and forth, talking to each other. Constantly. Right. And sometimes, you have a real strong connection. Like a Wi-Fi connection. That would be like a 5G brain. Good example. Right. And then other times you can have these, like, amazing strengths and other weaknesses and certain parts of your brain.

00;06;28;16 - 00;06;31;11
Unknown
And then you could have signals that are just being missed

00;06;31;11 - 00;06;52;22
Unknown
and certain areas could just not be performing at your full potential. Right. And there are ways to organically improve that. Yes. So it's it's well, don't they always say like you're only using, like 20% of your power? Is that literally true or whatever? Yeah. Yeah, it's the brain is.

00;06;52;25 - 00;07;20;09
Unknown
So we don't do any preventative measures for the brain. I think we are about. I went to, the convention a couple of years back, and, they were saying that we're about 40, 40 years behind in brain health, 40 years in brain health. Meaning like what would be like what happens? Sure. So we're like, in we're heart health was in the 1950s for the brain.

00;07;20;10 - 00;07;43;25
Unknown
And so people do not go seek help. We don't do any preventative measures. We just, you know, we have memory loss. You have a headache. We do it when we have the physical symptoms. We don't really foster development of the brain. Like, kind of working out your brain. Yes, exactly, exactly. So, doing that will give you.

00;07;43;25 - 00;08;06;07
Unknown
I mean, your IQ can be super high, but are other areas of your brain, you know, you can have a child who is A's in everything, but in one area they're failing or, you know, they can't pay attention or can't sit still. There's so many things and a lot of it, just as a parent and you probably know this, it doesn't always make sense.

00;08;06;10 - 00;08;35;23
Unknown
And I think you were asking me about my how I got into this. That was really where my passion started, was for my own children, right? My oldest struggled with ADHD, inattentive. He had some social anxiety and I was really, really passionate about understanding because it didn't make sense to me. You know, when you're pushed with medication and, you know, IEPs and there's all these things, but nothing really

00;08;35;23 - 00;08;41;08
Unknown
it's like you're told, this is it, your child, like it doesn't do.

00;08;41;10 - 00;09;02;21
Unknown
It doesn't define at all none of these diagnoses. It's not really doesn't seem like it's really hitting the root cause. So the problem is right. Right. It's a very broad term. I'm sure we could all, you know, if you have enough symptoms, you fit into this box, you know, diagnosed or not, brain training is, you know, for everybody.

00;09;02;28 - 00;09;19;16
Unknown
So brain training that is a great word. So I would assume that's probably most of your business is brain training. Training your brain to get better sharper. Do things that it wasn't doing before. Yeah. It's that kind of. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes.

00;09;19;16 - 00;09;29;02
Unknown
So I can give you an example please. So let's think okay. First president of the United States.

00;09;29;04 - 00;09;54;08
Unknown
George Washington. Right. Spell George Washington backwards. Oh, boy. Can't do that. And it's okay. I don't I don't even well, I can, but it may take an hour. Right. But what I want you to do is just feel what that feels like. So you're using all of those essential cognitive skills. The seven that we were talking about before, which is, let's just say your long term memory gives you the ability to remember.

00;09;54;11 - 00;10;13;24
Unknown
Right? That is stored in your knowledge bank. You know, that is the president of the United. You don't have that just there that you long term memory, you probably pictured in your head a vision like backwards like maybe n and that's your visual processing. Then your auditory processing gives you the ability to sound that out right and start thinking, okay.

00;10;13;24 - 00;10;36;06
Unknown
And, and oh, and then we go back and we look at things like our processing speed. That's how fast you're going to process everything on a very like our gateway skills. If you can't even attend that and engage with me, that's attention is a very, very, you know, basic skill. And then we also look at your logic and reasoning.

00;10;36;06 - 00;10;53;23
Unknown
What is your plan. How are you going to figure out what I just asked you. And then are working memory. Working memory is more of your short term memory, the ability to remember something. You know, if, say you get a code from Google and you need to, you know, entered in, can you remember what those numbers are in that short amount of time?

00;10;53;25 - 00;11;16;15
Unknown
So just giving you an example with that, we use that a lot. But it is it's just so you because you can just feel like you're like, wait, okay. Because that's a new skill. So every time we're learning new skills, if certain areas aren't performing where they should, that can make learning challenging, right? At any age. Right?

00;11;16;19 - 00;11;29;25
Unknown
Right. Yeah. I know what you mean. Because like when you say to spell it backwards, like, it's like it's like the brain just goes. Hold on a second. Right. Never asked me to do that. Like. Right. I got to figure it out. Right, right, right. What are

00;11;29;25 - 00;11;41;09
Unknown
what are some common misconceptions about the field? Like, like when your clients come in to to your office and, like, what are some, some this, like.

00;11;41;09 - 00;12;03;27
Unknown
Yeah. That they don't understand or what they've heard that isn't right. That sort of thing. Right. So, a couple would be a lot of people think where a tutoring center, which you can probably find us if you Google tutoring and are we tutoring in a sense, yes we are. You're going to see improvements in reading and math, right?

00;12;03;29 - 00;12;15;06
Unknown
Which again, varies by each case. But when you have that neuroplasticity of the brain, it does allow you to have change, right? As long as there's nothing interfering

00;12;15;06 - 00;12;28;14
Unknown
with that. So, I'm sorry, what was your. No, no, it's cool, I got it. What are some misconceptions? So one like tutoring that. That's a good point. Like it does.

00;12;28;16 - 00;12;49;15
Unknown
Can you ask me that question again? No. Like, what are some misconceptions about learning. Right. And you mentioned one about tutoring. Right. Tutoring. A lot of people think that we are a tutoring center, which, you know, again, you can Google us and find us, probably under a tutoring. And we are helping you get gains in, in certain skills.

00;12;49;17 - 00;13;12;11
Unknown
But we're not teaching a skill. We're working on the underlying issues like auditory processing, your processing speed. If you don't have logic and reasoning, then you're not going to be able to figure out maybe a math word problem, right? Some kids are really great at reading, but reading comprehension drawing a conclusion that a certain part of your brain.

00;13;12;11 - 00;13;33;08
Unknown
Right. And so we're working on those root causes. And so the misconception typically is that, you know, we're just going to teach a skill. But that's not it. Then they come in and they they look and see what we're doing. And there's all of these games. And you know it's actually really fun. Another misconception is that all brain training is the same.

00;13;33;11 - 00;14;02;05
Unknown
Right. You and I were talking, I think, before you had said there was another center while back yet. So what we look at is the one on one aspect of brain training which we find really important. Because you're getting that immediate feedback, you're getting that one on one attention where it's very intense, right? So we want it to be targeted, automated and intense.

00;14;02;08 - 00;14;20;22
Unknown
And so that is another you know, how long typically is a session is this, that kind of thing. Yeah. That's that's a great question. Typical session is about an hour and a half okay. Three times a week okay. So it's pretty intensive. It is pretty intensive. Yes. What kind of stuff would you do to what like.

00;14;20;22 - 00;14;46;27
Unknown
Well you play. Yeah sure sure. So what can sit for. Well for an example we do things like memory match or colored arrows. Colored arrows would be, you know, your coach is sitting there, they have paper in front of you and you're looking at arrows going in different directions, different colors. This is also helping with your visual tracking, right?

00;14;46;27 - 00;15;08;21
Unknown
Our eye tracking how our eyes are teaming up, working together is very important to have that smooth, fluid movement. But at the same time we're challenging your brain. So if you look at an arrow, you know, you might be okay. Left, right, up, down. You're telling the direction. Then your coach might add some distractions in on that as you engage in more levels.

00;15;08;21 - 00;15;34;02
Unknown
Right. And then higher levels. We also put in a metronome. So you have you've heard of a metronome, right. Remind me please. Metronome is like a beat. Okay. When you're learning drums or, you know, music sports is something like this, right. So as, Yeah. Yeah. So what? That's doing to your brain is sinking and firing neurons basically, like, wake up, join the party.

00;15;34;02 - 00;15;56;03
Unknown
Interesting. And it's getting things to become automated. So it's really working your brain at the same time, you know, what I'm saying is as other areas, so that metronome might be added on. So now you have to do it to a certain beat left right, up down, down, down. Now instead of directions, say the color of the arrow.

00;15;56;05 - 00;16;17;24
Unknown
You know what I'm saying? So it's so the beats helps you. Right. And then the beat. Yeah. Yeah. Do the exercise. Yes, yes. And then we'll do other things like, we have what we call a brainy bag and, and our brainy bag is as a ball. And you could just do things like a cat try to start out and it could beat to the metronome beat, but you might not be able to get that beat at first.

00;16;17;24 - 00;16;39;04
Unknown
So the coach might sit there and just do hand over hand. Is it kind of like the concept, like in business meetings? Like it it's beneficial to stand up and clap or do something while you're learning something. Yeah. Yeah. You just kind of that's and associate it with something. I love that you just said that because movement is very important, right?

00;16;39;08 - 00;17;01;27
Unknown
Right. We're not meant to sit completely still. One of the hardest functions in our brain is to do that. So you can imagine how that is for our first child in a school setting, for sure. When they're sitting for five, six hours a day, right? We're meant to move. So a lot of times you see kids moving because they're trying to pay attention, but then they get in trouble for that and they don't know how to correct it.

00;17;02;02 - 00;17;23;01
Unknown
Right. Is is the majority of your clients children? Yes. Okay. We do see we see any you know, average age is probably about 5 to 90. Very nice. But yes, the majority would probably be students. And I would imagine with like the growth in homeschool online school, it's giving kids a lot more opportunity to use your service.

00;17;23;01 - 00;17;40;29
Unknown
Kids and parents. Yes. It's not the traditional go to eight hours a day. All I have time is 4 to 8 at night anymore, so it can be more during the day stuff too, right? So we do serve a lot of the homeschool community. Works great with them. But you know, it is more of an after school.

00;17;40;29 - 00;18;03;29
Unknown
So we are open later. And we do have a remote program as well. We do the live training. So you're still getting the one on one session like a zoom, right? We, you know, if you're closer to a center of the center, you know, coming in is is great. But if you can't, you know, we we've accommodated very guys for that.

00;18;03;29 - 00;18;24;10
Unknown
Yes. So we said about three times a week, an hour and a half. How long would you say it would like? You would need to change activity or improve on what you're zoning in on improving. So I would say overall, you mean like their program, how well they're going to be or like I want to improve this function.

00;18;24;10 - 00;18;44;09
Unknown
I think I have a Billy is a parent brings a kid in here that they're not sitting still during class. Right. That's a great question. So like, okay, well it's going to take this amount of time to kind of see. Right. You're looking probably at about 120 hours. Okay. Maybe about six months, 6 to 7 months. So it's a big commitment.

00;18;44;12 - 00;19;12;22
Unknown
It's a it's a yes, it's a commitment. But overall, if you look at like the big scope of things, it's actually a short term commitment for long term gain because this is a lasting change. Another misconception I'd like to add is that the lasting change piece of this interesting. So it sticks. It sticks. Yes, yes. I mean, one I mean, I could tell you, I told you my passion with my own children.

00;19;12;24 - 00;19;36;16
Unknown
My son went to brain training, and it changed his life. Interesting. And I just became so passionate about it. It changed his life, though. What? He was just not able to focus. Right? Very. Just more of, like, the daydreamer over here. But it's easier for him. It was auditory processing. And if anyone would have said that to me, it would have made so much sense.

00;19;36;18 - 00;19;59;07
Unknown
I would be like, go to your room. You know, close the door. Don't forget to close. Like, grab your backpack and sometimes wait, what I just told you, did you know? So hearing checked, get the hearing checked. But no, it's it's how you're processing auditory. How the sounds are coming in. Words can blend. It. You know, a teacher talks too fast, giving directions.

00;19;59;10 - 00;20;27;09
Unknown
My son could. Or, you know, anyone that struggles with that will miss it. So, you know, I really. So what did you train him to be better at that. So working on the underlying issues like the auditory processing, that was, you know, night and day working on, you know, his visual visual system, as I was saying before, how our eyes are teaming up, working together, how we're taking in everything visually, like how you pictured that backwards.

00;20;27;09 - 00;20;31;29
Unknown
Right. Our visual processing is a is a big deal for sure. So working on that too.

00;20;31;29 - 00;20;46;11
Unknown
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00;20;46;11 - 00;21;02;21
Unknown
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00;21;02;21 - 00;21;15;25
Unknown
And then my daughter, when she was younger, she was behind in reading. I didn't see that coming, for a short amount of time, but it really just fell. And it was, again, for her. It was more of her visual system.

00;21;15;27 - 00;21;35;01
Unknown
She went up about, I would like to say eight reading levels. Wow. And then, yeah, she was in second, second grade, and now she's in ninth grade. And I mean, she's been in honors Ela. And that's awesome. Yes. Well, it's funny you say reading. So I wanted to talk. Yeah. Let's talk about reading. Focus on reading.

00;21;35;05 - 00;21;40;24
Unknown
Yes. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I read a lot of well,

00;21;40;24 - 00;22;04;28
Unknown
I read a lot of books of successful people. And man, one common trait is they read a lot. Yes. And I'm not a huge reader. I wish I was. Why is that? Why, other than just gaining the knowledge, it seems like there's something more to it of people that have a a big, thirst for reading, that they really excel in life, right?

00;22;05;02 - 00;22;33;20
Unknown
Because reading, when you're in school and school, you know, school is foundational. But think about every when you start, you make this change, you're learning to read and then you're reading to learn. Everything becomes reading to learn. So as you were saying, like, you know, you don't love to read, why don't you love to read? Because it makes me go to sleep.

00;22;33;22 - 00;22;57;21
Unknown
But I'll listen to the podcast for hours. I love that, but right there, there's something there. Because in your like, you don't realize that it's just not fun to read, right? But it's. And I'm not going to try to, you know, say what it is or isn't. But typically what we see is one of those skills, right? Your eyes are probably fatiguing and that's why you're tired.

00;22;58;28 - 00;23;21;07
Unknown
You know, your your eyes can go and fixate too long on one word. They can regress. You like my daughter? You might be reading right till, like, you don't know any different. It's just not easy for other people. It's so easy. And I get that because I never love to read. I didn't like reading at all.

00;23;21;10 - 00;23;43;09
Unknown
Because it was so fatiguing to me. But once again, that's the beauty of the brain. It can change. And then when that opens up and it changes, learning becomes faster, easier and independent. That's a really good way to put it, because I mean, you know, and reading is so important. I mean, I just think it's a game changer for so many.

00;23;43;10 - 00;24;12;00
Unknown
It is. Right? It's almost like you really need to figure out how to like it. And it's also interesting because you said a lot of like, really, you know, successful people. And so people that love, love to read a lot of times, again, that's a certain area of the brain. Are they fact seekers? Right. And in certain areas are performing, you know, their logic and reasoning could be up here and, you know, so there's certain areas you're seeing that they're really good at.

00;24;12;00 - 00;24;35;07
Unknown
We all have the ability to reach whatever our full potential is. Right. And that's really what brain training does. And it's going to target getting you to reach your full potential. Well, here's an interesting question. You know, obviously with the rise of technology, I want to talk about that. Like we don't write very much anymore. It's not anything.

00;24;35;10 - 00;24;57;07
Unknown
Yeah. Do you think that that is just as important as reading and that's something we're missing the boat on? I think that I do. Have you ever read the book like. Well, we're just talking about reading it. Let me know. There's a book called Glow kids. Okay. It's a great book. It's talks about screen time and what it's doing to our brains.

00;24;57;07 - 00;25;22;20
Unknown
And, I mean, it's it's like one of those things where there's so much good in it. We have so many amazing things that are fingertip. But what it's also doing is it's giving us this instant gratification. It's filling that. So it's you'll see kids that are so like their behavior becomes it's like withdrawal when you take them off because they're swiping, swiping, swiping.

00;25;22;22 - 00;25;43;29
Unknown
And we do that. We all do it right. We don't like something. We move on, we move on, we move on. But that's causing us to be impulsive. That's causing us to have, that that feeling of. Right. So when you take it away, it's it's a withdrawal feeling. It's also not giving us the organic experience to develop.

00;25;44;01 - 00;26;04;02
Unknown
And, and what that would be is really through all of our senses. That's like, you know, that's foundational to a very lower part of the brain. Our senses are starting to give us, right? When we're we're young, our sense of touch, our sense of smell, all of that interest plays a part, you know, in then higher areas. Yeah.

00;26;04;08 - 00;26;24;15
Unknown
That's taking away that natural. Like if you're outside playing, you can get the sensory input that you need. Right. The dirt, the smell, the when you feel it, you're getting all your senses filled. But when you're on a too much screen time, whether adult or child, it is hindering for sure. And screen time could be a whole podcast in itself.

00;26;24;15 - 00;26;50;10
Unknown
So. Oh, right, right. But the yeah the I is yes, I, I do think traditional methods. Yeah. In person you know face to face writing paper to pen. I do think that's important. The good old fashioned writing. Yes. No cursive though, right I love do we have to write cursive? No, but I do like cursive. Yeah. No, I think that's a really good point.

00;26;50;12 - 00;27;15;19
Unknown
So I read that you have learning plans for ADHD, dyslexia and autism. Which I thought it's really interesting talk about talk about that a little bit like so you have autistic clients, dyslexic clients. How do you, how do you help them. It's awesome. So so again the client comes in diagnosed or not. You know we're looking at symptoms.

00;27;15;19 - 00;27;40;28
Unknown
You know, that's usually how someone will seek us out their experiencing symptoms. A lot of times it can be homework time struggle. Right. So taking a typical 30 minutes or whatever it's taking for hours right now it's affecting the entire family and the dynamic. Right. Because it's stressful. Some parents are working now. They got to sit home and it's like another job to get their kid to engage to do more work.

00;27;41;00 - 00;28;11;03
Unknown
So working on all of, all of that with students that again diagnosed or not so dyslexia it it's a diagnosis for challenges in reading. So we're working on the seven essential core cognitive skills that you need for to be a successful reader. So we're looking at doing an initial assessment and figuring out what are these areas.

00;28;11;03 - 00;28;38;19
Unknown
And then we tailor the program, to that specific, you know, student's needs and stuff. So if let's just say, you know, and let's just go to the high achievers, because that is another thing. Your kid can be straight a Einstein and still need brain training because it's when you're performing, when any area of your brain is performing really high.

00;28;38;21 - 00;29;01;08
Unknown
We're looking at a gap. What is the gap? We we don't want gaps, right? We should have balance, right? We should have again, the smooth neuro pathways going back and back or back and forth. Back and forth. So when we have a child that's performing like as a 16 year old and they're 12, there's probably going to be some kind of gap.

00;29;01;08 - 00;29;25;16
Unknown
And it could just be one area. So our high achievers, we see a lot of kids that are just they have a very high IQ as well. It's kind of just dispels the myth. Another myth I would say that, you know, your brain and your kid and that just has the problems, whether it be in school or whatever, like, no, there's another bucket of kids that are doing really good and want to do even better or fill the gap, like you said.

00;29;25;16 - 00;29;45;29
Unknown
Yes. And usually those kids struggle with things like anxiety, right? Because they're they put a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect. And a lot of times those specific students, you know, you can play a board game with them. They have to win all the time, and if not, they'll have a meltdown. So, you know, there's there's just certain it's just amazing.

00;29;45;29 - 00;30;08;11
Unknown
So diagnosed or not like ADHD, we're working on why why is a child not able to pay attention. Like I was telling you, with my son, auditory processing was his big why there was other areas as well. But working on all of those things is going to create, a brain that has that ability to engage more and on the autistic.

00;30;08;11 - 00;30;42;01
Unknown
So yes, like, I mean, you know, there's some incredible things that they can do, like when it comes to brain and functionality and memory and things that people that aren't autistic can't do. It's pretty amazingly, and that is something to eat. We're talking about myths and everything is not understanding, you know, or thinking because a child presents. They could be, you know, presenting in certain areas that they are developmentally delayed, you know, emotionally, whatever that looks like.

00;30;42;01 - 00;31;15;21
Unknown
But other areas of their brain are performing so high, you know. So again, you have that gap right? And looking at a child with autism, it's just such a broad spectrum as everyone knows. But that label doesn't define anything. I have seen children that have made tremendous gains interesting with autism. Let's and working with the neuroplasticity. Well it's funny, you know, I go back to reading and what I see a lot of biographies appeal successful.

00;31;15;24 - 00;31;47;14
Unknown
Another characteristic is that they're on the spectrum. Right, right. Very successful people. Yeah. Whatever that achieve amazing things have some level of being on the spectrum. Right. Which is really interesting, isn't it? Because again, think about the gap piece of that. Right, where certain areas are just over, like typically the fact seeking logical side of the brain that doesn't always get maybe when you're being sarcastic or jokes.

00;31;47;17 - 00;32;12;03
Unknown
Right. So, you know, sometimes you'll see people that, have a very high IQ, but maybe their IQ is not as high. So it's just about finding what that is. What area are they struggling in? And working on that and just exercising it? The brain's a muscle. That's awesome. You know, you work it out, and that's what we're to work out for the brain.

00;32;12;05 - 00;32;38;07
Unknown
That's awesome. I know we talked a little bit about offline about your founder, Doctor Gibson, started this in 2002. So learning has been around since 2002. The principles and the techniques. Yes. That's pretty amazing. That's a long that's a long running business. Yes. One of the reasons that I really loved, you know, becoming a franchisee with learning our acts.

00;32;38;09 - 00;33;08;23
Unknown
One we're in 48 countries. Wow. Yep. We're called Brain Arch. So are they the same principles? Really? Since the protocol? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's interesting. And the other is the research. And then I brought you. I saw that on your website. You love this book. Like, it is just for me as someone that, you know, has worked in this industry, when I was looking at this, there's, you know, a lot of places claim, you know, research and study.

00;33;08;26 - 00;33;39;01
Unknown
And to me, it's impressive to look at peer reviewed. And then we're looking at controlled not controlled randomized. Now like all different studies. And, and then their studies on pretty much everything. They're studies on our assessment process or studies on our programs. Like if you look at our, our read our program, you can see the gains, right of, of children.

00;33;39;01 - 00;34;00;11
Unknown
There's an average gain of, you know, about four years. Wow. You look at our program math, our X, think our X, all of these programs are in there. Then you can also look at by age, you can look at by diagnosis. You can look at ADHD and see the gains. So there's so many wonderful studies in there that again.

00;34;00;11 - 00;34;21;15
Unknown
And then for adults for seniors traumatic brain injury we don't even talk about we do take a lot of veterans. Wow. And you can see the brain imaging in the study. They do the you know, the MRI. Yeah. That's really intra imaging. Yeah. No, I spent some time on your website and there's lots of articles, backing up all the stuff you're talking about.

00;34;21;15 - 00;34;43;02
Unknown
So, that's really cool to see. Yeah. Flip flipping it. I saw an interesting quote on your website kind of going back to school versus this program, and it's kind of interesting and said it's not the school's job to make sure your child has the skills to learn. And honestly, they're not equipped if your child does not have does have cognitive weakness.

00;34;43;07 - 00;35;08;14
Unknown
The school's role is to impart knowledge, just like they wouldn't expect you to provide glasses if your child had a vision. Issues. Schools are not set up to address cognitive defects in a targeted way, which I think is absolutely right on. Like you can't look to the school to solve all of the problems. It's it's more just, like you said, a place to learn.

00;35;08;14 - 00;35;31;12
Unknown
So if you have problems, you need to go. You need to get more help. Yeah. An IEP is, you know, individual education plan or a 504. They're going to give you accommodations. That's what you get with school. You get accommodations. Right. And that's the best as a former educator that they can do. Correct. There's nothing negative because they can they can accommodate everything.

00;35;31;12 - 00;35;55;09
Unknown
Right. It's not there will be people. Right, right. And so that is, you know, something that is not known a lot of time. And what else is not known. The teachers don't know. So we do go to schools. We partner with a lot of schools. We do presentations. We do teacher workshops on how to so the teachers can understand.

00;35;55;09 - 00;36;15;24
Unknown
Because when I understood this, it's almost like all of a sudden this light goes off in your brain and you're like, oh my goodness. You know, like I had this whole behavior system set up, you know, and this kid, his certain sensory system was very low. Kid needed to move, you know, like, and, taking points off, taking away recess.

00;36;15;27 - 00;36;38;12
Unknown
And this kid that's actually doing this kid more harm than good, it's not helping. Right. So we do workshops, we try to educate the educators. Because again, it's just not you don't learn about neurology for sure. And the neuroplasticity. So, you know, giving them tools and, you know, just making them more aware. Right. It's a nice partnership.

00;36;38;12 - 00;36;57;27
Unknown
It's a great one. Absolutely. Yes. It gets you kind of changing gears a little bit more. Again, what do you feel about like the brain training apps and the things that you on the phone are they, are they gimmicks? For the most part or do they actually I mean, my wife does one every night, like she does some sort of brain training.

00;36;57;27 - 00;37;21;11
Unknown
She swears. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think they're gimmicks. I don't know, like, you know, to speak to a specific one. If it's a video game and it's claiming something again, there's aspects of that that probably aren't amazing. As long as you know you're not tied to a screen, I think that in person is great.

00;37;21;13 - 00;37;44;09
Unknown
Because you're getting, again, that real organic effect. But yeah, the apps that they come out with, I think that, you know, they're fun and they can be helpful, engaging, engaging. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure. Well, I thought it was interesting that you mentioned older clients to come in, memory loss. Right. Which is really cool that you're thinking about that, like.

00;37;44;12 - 00;38;11;14
Unknown
Yeah, that's not it. Like, you can work to try to help that. The brain's an amazing place. Absolutely. And even better, you can prevent that. Not, you know, to some degree, genetics always play a role in everything, but we get a lot of parents of students, younger students, who their parents are in for dementia or Alzheimer's.

00;38;11;14 - 00;38;29;10
Unknown
So they're like, what can I do? Like, I want to prevent that. That's in my genes. I want to prevent that from happening. Or maybe they feel themselves slipping a little bit. Yes. Okay. Yes. Man, that is really a cool thing to be able to address that. Because man, how many times you did do you think that you don't have anything to do?

00;38;29;10 - 00;38;49;27
Unknown
Well, right. You're telling me you can do something? You can. Yes. Just look into neuroplasticity. It's fascinating. That's how the brain can change. That's interesting. So I'm a kid that is, graduated college, and I'm really interested in what you're talking about. What would you what would you recommend? Where do I go? What do I do?

00;38;50;03 - 00;39;07;20
Unknown
Do I do advanced studies? Do I get into something like you're doing? Do I go be a teacher? What do I do? Oh, you mean to become like I can just the brain. I'm interested in this field of cognitive brain function. Yeah, that's what we're. Where should I go? So you've already gone to college? Well, what you're doing is I'm out of high school.

00;39;07;20 - 00;39;27;07
Unknown
I'm. Oh, you're at a high one of your really smart kids. And I really and know that I want to talk to learn about the brain. Yeah. I mean, you can you can do a bunch of stuff. I mean, you can. We get a lot of, brain trainers that are psychologists. You know, that's what they're the field they chose or exercise science.

00;39;27;10 - 00;39;51;16
Unknown
You know, the chiropractic field is a good one as well. Like, it's interesting to tie that together to me. Yeah. I was chiropractic because it to this because it so certain chiropractic practices. Right. And they vary. You know it's not just about cracking the back and all of that. Think about like vertigo. There's certain like in your inner ear.

00;39;51;18 - 00;40;11;22
Unknown
Right. There's a maneuver that you could do which typically doesn't require any cracking. But you can move the, the way that they show you to do. I can't think of the name of the procedure, and they can manipulate it so that the little crystal, like in your ear canal and all that can. And I've had that done to me and it's amazing.

00;40;11;23 - 00;40;40;11
Unknown
Wow. So certain chiropractors are like functional neurologists as I was speaking to before. They're looking at the brain and alternate ways to work on that. Right. So it's typically a non-medical approach. But working on and everyone's practice can be different. But chiropractors typically, you know, are looking at other alternate ways. And that's what this whole field of brain training is.

00;40;40;11 - 00;41;04;06
Unknown
It's an alternate to things like medication. So if you went to school to be a chiropractor, yes, this would kind of be an offshoot of that, maybe. Or that's where it's kind of I don't know that a doctor of chiropractic, I shouldn't say that because they. Yes, yes. In a sense, yes. To own a brain training center.

00;41;04;09 - 00;41;30;16
Unknown
Not you know, you wouldn't go to school to be a doctor of chiropractors, you to be a brain trainer per se. But you can do that in your practice. So, if you, if you want to get into this field, you know, just neuroscience, neuroscience, that's the key word. Neurology and is that, is that lead up to like brain surgeon kind of thing too, or.

00;41;30;20 - 00;41;58;17
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. I mean if you want to. Yes. That's a whole other that. Yes. Yes. But completely different because one is medical and one is non-medical. Right. So I think exercise I want to say exercise science is probably, a field, you know, that we get a lot of brain trainers from. But you can always you can go to school, you know, for business and decide your trajectory to be completely different.

00;41;58;17 - 00;42;19;25
Unknown
And so you can always just, you know, get into this. We provide very complex training for our coaches because you can't really go to school to be a brain trainer, right? Like, hey, I want to be yeah, you can take this path or this path, but, a lot of times, you know, you just kind of run into it.

00;42;19;25 - 00;42;47;17
Unknown
So and then the protocol is so specific that it's, it's a very there's, you know, online classes and modules that everyone has. What are you looking for when you want to hire a brain trainer like a prior educator. Yeah. No. That's a yep. Prior educators we love we love, you know, a lot of OTS or, you know, someone who went to school thinking they might want to be a not an occupational therapist.

00;42;47;20 - 00;43;11;19
Unknown
Okay. We've had pets, physical therapists, speech therapist, psychologist. Anyone who's a doctor I don't think is going to. But, I mean, doctor of education. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, we always I say that and then I have to stop and think. I've had people in the past who, you know, they've retired and they're still passionate.

00;43;11;21 - 00;43;30;20
Unknown
And that is something right there that we're passionate. That is what I look for in a brain trainer, for sure. You are passionate about something and you get it if you get this, like we call it, we have parents that just get it, they get it, and they're going to do everything that they can because they believe in what we're doing and they understand it.

00;43;30;27 - 00;43;51;18
Unknown
So we try to help the parents to understand this because their home environment matters as well. Sure. We want to give them, you know, as much as we can to help them foster future development of the brain. Well, I mean, it's it's it's a great point you made up, you know, in the beginning, like we're probably just in the beginning of really learning about the brain.

00;43;51;18 - 00;44;14;03
Unknown
We are, even though your company's been around for a long time. I mean, it just it just it seems like we're just now I don't know what the word is. Maybe scratch society's getting interested in it more, and they're like, oh, wow. Like, the brain can really do a lot more. Right? Because we've had this surge of physical health eating things like that.

00;44;14;03 - 00;44;48;16
Unknown
Yes. Yeah. Let's work our way up to the brain. That's probably the most important place. Yes. Because the more testimonials you get in, the more awareness. And that's really what you know, what I want to do is spread awareness about that, because I didn't know that as a parent. I didn't know that as an educator. So helping teachers, if I can help a kid that's in a classroom and sitting there like to me, there's there's nothing better than giving a parent hope, because hope that's also backed up with results.

00;44;48;19 - 00;45;12;00
Unknown
Because, you know, a lot of times you just you don't know what you don't know, and you think that that's all that there is and there is a way it's like holding this car, you know, this. I like this car. Very cool. This being our brain, right. Analogy, filling this with water, if there's a little hole, could be the tiniest hole in this cup.

00;45;12;02 - 00;45;35;29
Unknown
And I'm pouring more information into the brain and flowing water into this cup. Right. So instead of keep doing, like, top down things, teaching the skill or teaching the skill, let's try to do this make things. I'm going to actually go down to the root cause of this and improve that. So that's how then you can, as you were saying before, go get a tutor, you know, then we can work on the skill.

00;45;36;01 - 00;45;58;02
Unknown
But we do also work on the skill. Like I was saying, we have certain programs that will work on the skill. At the same time, we're working on the underlying issue. Well, doing. And this was amazing. Thank you. Learning our accent. Jacksonville Beach. Yeah. Serving everyone from our kids to our elderly or someone that just really wants to improve their brain function.

00;45;58;02 - 00;46;23;07
Unknown
And man, there's a lot of science behind this. And there is you could make the debate. It's probably the most important thing you could do. So yes, our brain health, it's just it's you could just tie it to to everything going on that needs to be improved. Our mental health, there's just so going in there to solve the the problem the not necessarily the the issue, the symptom.

00;46;23;12 - 00;46;41;27
Unknown
Right. The symptom. Exactly. That's that's the right word. Instead of putting a Band-Aid over the symptom, we can actually improve it organically, which is amazing. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, this was amazing. Thank you. I learned something new every day I love it. Yes. And, who knows, maybe I need some great training. I mean, I would love for you to come in for an assessment.

00;46;42;00 - 00;46;47;28
Unknown
I'm not even kidding. But, it was great to have you here. Thank you very much, sir, I think you.

00;46;47;28 - 00;47;02;06
Unknown
The Hometown Jack's podcast is recorded and produced by First Coast Mortgage Funding. Located in the heart of Jacksonville. Do you want to be our next guest? Visit our website at Hometown Jack's podcast.com. We can't wait to hear your story.