Ankeny’s Learning Rx Works to 'Train the Brain'

When Amber Gustafson’s son, Justin, was born, she knew there was something different about him.

Justin, now 8 years old, was always a unique kid, his mother said. But as he grew older, he began to develop behavioral and social problems causing him to severely struggle in school. Justin’s school couldn’t give him the help he needed and neither could his doctor nor a child psychiatrist.

“From the test he was given, we found out Justin had profound ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder),” said Gustafson, whose family lives in Ankeny. “A million different things can cause it, but until you figure out what it is, you can’t get to the bottom of it.”

Enter Learning Rx, a business with centers in both Ankeny and West Des Moines.

“We discussed different types of therapies, medication and talked through all the different options with our psychiatrist,” Gustafson said. “He’s the one who referred us to Learning Rx, so we went there.”

and its employees – referred to as “brain trainers” – focus on teaching kids and adults alike to learn facts and other information in a way that allows them to remember it for the rest of their lives.

“We help people with their cognitive skills and try to make their lives a little easier,” said Maria Stines, center director at Learning Rx.

The franchise business is located in several states. David and Bernadette Nadler opened a center five years ago in West Des Moines. Two years ago, they opened the Ankeny center.

Learning Rx caters to people of all ages. Parents tend to bring their young children in, Stines said, if they notice the children doing poorly in school. The center also works with individuals with learning disabilities such as ADHD or autism.

Stines said they also will work with those suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

“We’ve helped someone before who had a brain hemispherectomy, which means half his brain was removed,” Stines said.

Learning Rx also helps senior citizens who want to improve skills such as memory.

The program is different than typical tutoring, Stines said. Learning Rx’s brain training program focuses on enhancing and improving certain areas of brain functions, thus improving a person’s IQ and ability to retain facts, numbers and other information.

“What tutors do is work on the knowledge bank (portion of the brain), such as completing homework and taking a test,” she said. “We attack the root cause.”

The root cause, Stines said, is the brain’s inability to store different information. But that’s exactly what Learning Rx focuses on changing through learning exercises that force the brain to better focus, Stines said.

“We can increase cognitive skills so the only way an individual will lose what they learn is through a brain injury,” she said.

Learning Rx’s programs are tailored to each individual, typically lasting between 12 and 24 weeks.

When Gustafson brought her son to Learning Rx, Justin was given the Woodcock Johnson test to measure his cognitive ability. The results showed he had problems in executive function and auditory processing.

“(Auditory processing) means his hearing works just fine, but the words go in, get all jumbled up in his brain and he can’t put those words into thoughts or memories,” Gustafson said. “Imagine trying to teach a child phonics when they don’t understand that letters make sounds.

“It literally went in one ear and out the other.”

Justin was put in an “intensive” program, Gustafson said, held one hour per day, four days per week. He went for more than 20 weeks.

Combined with other therapies, Justin eventually made progress.

“I think it really clicked in my brain the day I could sit down and have a conversation with him and he would remember things like what he did in math class, what he read about,” Gustafson said. “Before Learning Rx, he was locked away in his own mind – they helped take down those barriers.”

Gustafson said Justin’s program was expensive, but she looks at it as an investment, like braces or other forms of therapy.

Learning Rx’s programs are growing in popularity, Stines said.

“We rely a lot on our people to spread the word,” she said. “They come see us after they spend all this money on tutoring, on medication that doesn’t work.”

The most rewarding part is seeing the success of people like Justin who come to Learning Rx, Stines said.

“I’ve seen so many kids and adults that struggle when they don’t have to,” Stines said. “This is an answer to it.”