Smarter | LearningRx Blog

Dan Hurley is the award-winning science journalist who, last year, wrote The New York Times article "The Brain Trainers" in which LearningRx was featured. His latest book, Smarter, has just been released. In the book, Hurley takes a look at the science and the methods associated with what he calls the "new field of intelligence research." In the process, he devotes six pages to describing his visit to a LearningRx center and his conversations with various parents and students.

His observations are fascinating. After a couple paragraphs in which he points out the need for more published research (he also seems to find it odd that LearningRx is organized as a franchise, "like MacDonald’s"), Hurley dives into talking about two of LearningRx’s most important distinctives: the one-on-one training model, and the dramatic results experienced by LearningRx clients.

Hurley seems impressed with the one-on-one approach that LearningRx takes to brain training, observing that it offers definite advantages over digital products when it comes to motivating students and helping them persevere

But where this journalist really begins to shine is in telling the stories of the LearningRx parents and students he interviewed. He quotes parents saying they tried everything else under the sun, but nothing worked until LearningRx. He describes real-life gains, including making honor roll, better performance in marching band, increased confidence, and getting off ADHD medication. He tells the story of one teenager who, since LearningRx, got a job promotion and even landed his first girlfriend. He quotes another teen who says her grades shot up, her memory is better, and even tough classes are easier. He quotes a dad who says the cost of the program was a financial strain, but that it’s made a change in his son and that if it gives him a leg up in life, "you can’t put a price on that."

Hurley also talks about the pre- and post-testing LearningRx does conducts on every student, and the fact that there is extensive pre- and post-results on more than 30,000 students. He also writes about Dr. Oliver Hill’s independent study of LearningRx results, and how those findings support the claims that LearningRx makes.

He adds that, searching online, he found a handful of complaints about us, but not that many, really, considering the number of franchises we have. He goes on to add, "But the families I spoke to all had positive stories, many of them insisting that traditional tutoring had been of little benefit but that the exercises practiced at LearningRx, as odd as they seemed, had made a major difference."