Can you remember what you did last Tuesday? How about what you ate for dinner last night? If you struggle to answer these questions, don’t freak out, you’re not alone. The brain is immensely powerful, but sometimes our expansive list of tasks and priorities can make us struggle to answer even the easiest of questions. Doctors have been studying the brain for centuries, and a passionate group of doctors worked together to launch a nationwide organization dedicated to helping individuals strengthen their brain and memory through a comprehensive training program, and it’s found its way into Arkansas.
The brain training facility, called LearningRx, is currently located in Springdale and Fort Smith. The facility works one-on-one with clients of all ages and walks of life who desire to strengthen their cognitive thinking skills, whether it be students wanting to speed up their homework time, having difficulty focusing or comprehending their reading, or enduring the process of overcoming a brain injury.
“When you feel that difference in your capacity to learn and manage information, everything changes. It’s not just about a specific outcome measure. Executive function dramatically improves as a result of building cognitive skills, like time management and organization. It completely changes the path that the person is on,” said Dr. Janissa Jackson, owner and center director for LearningRx’s Arkansas locations.
Janissa, a decorated clinical psychologist who has led her own practice since 2005, operates the Arkansas locations alongside her husband, Justin. The Jacksons planted the first LearningRx in Fort Smith, and, in 2024, launched the Springdale location. The Jacksons also have plans to open a location in Rogers or Bentonville in the spring.
“I’ve been a clinical psychologist for 20 years now in private practice, and I specialize in formalized diagnostic testing for things like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc. For me, I got to a point where I was discouraged with labeling things when we didn’t have solutions. Working with LearningRx has become a beautiful partnership where I can now offer solutions to the patients that I serve,” Janissa said. “I also signed on because the program has 17 peer-reviewed studies, so there’s heavy neuroscience behind it. Otherwise, I was not putting my name on it.”
While the brain training sessions are effective in aiding students in their schoolwork, LearningRx is very different from a typical tutoring program, which primarily focuses on reteaching information. The training sessions are designed to help the brain retrieve information effectively and to improve skills such as short-term memory processing speed, attention, focus and auditory processing through online and in-person exercises with a brain trainer.
Additionally, LearningRx offers coaching to parents and guardians that helps provide them with the skills to help patients show off their changes in cognitive skills outside of their time at LearningRx.
“We have regular reviews and we are consistently challenging parents through weekly letters and reports to raise the bar for their students. Parents provide a ‘wish list’ of the real world areas that they want to see changes in with their child or adults that do it for themselves, and then we push that. If parents don’t raise the bar, then it’s hard to see the changes,” Janissa said.
When the bar is raised and the patients commit to their time at LearningRx, changes in cognitive skill levels are clear to see. Once a patient completes the program, they are asked to return again one year later for a test to evaluate their cognitive skills levels. Patient retention levels are in the 97th percentile, according to Janissa.
These consistently positive results are allowing the brain training facility to grow its presence throughout Northwest Arkansas. Since its establishment in Springdale, LearningRx has connected with several schools in the region and has become a “common referral” for individuals in need of stronger cognitive skills.
If you consider yourself to be someone who would benefit from stronger and faster cognitive skills, the brain trainers at LearningRx are excited to work with you, no matter the stage of life you find yourself in.
“We have professionals doing our program because they want to enhance their cognitive skills or stay at the top of their game. At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of taking that leap and coming in and meeting me and having a cognitive skills assessment. Students and adults alike get really tired of working around weak cognitive skills. It’s really a lot of fun when they sign on and we get to help them take their brains to a new level.”
When you feel that difference in your capacity to learn and manage information, everything changes.