I attended a seminar last night given by Learning RX: http://www.learningrx.com/help-for-tbi-recovery.htm

It was very interesting and looks like it has potential to help rebuild cognitive skills. The speaker said that if a client is referred by a doctor, they typically waive the initial assessment fee. He also said that their services can sometimes be covered by insurance.

The activities we did in the seminar worked specifically on retraining divided attention (multi-tasking) and working/short-term memory.

Has anybody tried anything like this? How was it?

I looked into it. It is a recent franchise opportunity that makes some very broad claims. They are advertising on TV here in Idaho. Their focus appears to be the learning disabled.

On their web site, they claim <LearningRx training adapted to TBI sufferers literally rebuilds the brain’s neural connection network. Carefully crafted training exercises stimulate new connections that bypass the damaged areas of the network and restore normal or near-normal brain function. >

I read through the research they claim to support recovering cognitive functions after brain injury. The claims are quite sketchy. They show 2 soldiers with TBI of unknown level. The results after LearningRX brain training shows improvements in some areas. They do not report on all of the areas tested by the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities. More importantly, there is no mention of a control group.

Many of the exercises will cause improvements just due to the training of the brain that benefits everyone. In other words, if the improvement by those with a TBI improve is the same as those without a brain injury, is the improvement ' recovery' from the brain injury, or just general cognitive improvement due to an improved processing and focusing skill set?

I am not saying it may not be helpful. I am just pointing out that the two well scientifically researched programs, Lumosity and Posit Science, do not make any claims of recovery from TBI.

I would be surprised if any health insurance company would pay for this program. The trainers are not required to be licensed in any form. They just follow a protocol taught by the Franchise Corporation.

I am surprised the assessment of a TBI subject can be done by an unlicensed person. The assessment appears to be a diagnostic procedure restricted to medical or other licensed therapy professionals.

If anyone has the money to spend, it does not sound like it will hurt. Be cautious about signing any minimum level of treatment contracts. The exercises may be overwhelming.

These brain training systems are beneficial for those who have lazy minds and need to learn better focus and processing. There are books and work-books that can be inexpensively purchased to do many of these exercises.

Those with undiagnosed learning disabilities or in school systems that have failed to serve the students' learning disabilities may benefit most.

Hi,

I work for LearningRx and help with research. We started working with TBI about four years ago by giving a scholarship to a soldier who had lost his ability to read, had severe working memory and focus issues. We were not sure how our training programs would do but were pleasantly surprised with the results. His improvements were so great compared to what his buddies with similar TBIs were getting with digital training and speech therapy that we were approved to work with soldiers here in Colorado Springs and bill TriCare. A couple years later I headed a pilot program at Fort Lewis with 15 soldiers that had TBI, you can find results on that pilot under our results page. I am currently in the grant writing process to go through a independent validation of TBI soldiers against the current gold standard, but of course studies take time and the independent researcher I am working with thinks it will be about three years. We do have pre and post results on over 60 TBI students that went through training around the country. Two independent researchers are currently going through those results. After talking to soldiers and other TBI students I can tell you that this type of intense training made a drastic difference in their ability to focus and remember things. I have been told several times that after a TBI people feel like everything is foggy, after LearningRx training that fog went away. We have also seen great improvements for stroke victims.
The programs that we have can help anyone improve their memory, focus, speed etc. so whether they have ADHD, an LD or TBI the training can help improve better cognition. I always liken it to going to a personal trainer in the gym, no matter what your fitness level you know that the personal trainer could help improve your muscle tone after so many hours and weeks. LearningRx is like circuit training for the brain with a very good trainer guiding you through the process. Workbooks and digital (most digital) will never be intense enough to get the large results people are after.

Tanya Mitchell,

Where is your control group in your research? And the groups doing workbook and digital training?

The one advantage your system has is the discipline to keep at it. Scheduled sessions and paying for those sessions makes a big difference in outcomes. So does the personal interaction.

The Posit Science and Lumosity programs are self-disciplined. I have actually complained to Posit that they need scheduling software to prompt the sessions.

Who does the assessments? What qualifications do they hold?

As you said, it is like exercising with a personal trainer. The additional discipline enforced by the trainer makes a big difference. How do the improvements of the TBI subjects compare to the improvements gained by LD and 'normal' subjects?

How do the post LRX scores of TBI subjects compare to post LRX scores of non-TBI subjects?

How do you account for "learning" the exercises? I can drastically improve my Posit Science scores by learning how to do the exercises. The various memory tricks I develop over a few repetitions of the exercises are a big part of my improvements. Personally, I have been encouraging TBI subjects to learn to work-around their dysfunctions. Doing so allow drastic improvement in daily activities.

You said <I am currently in the grant writing process to go through a independent validation of TBI soldiers against the current gold standard,> What is the gold standard to talk about?

You said <I have been told several times that after a TBI people feel like everything is foggy, after LearningRx training that fog went away> This is anecdotal and subjective. The fog is often due to a lack of activity or interaction with life. I can get rid of the fog by walking outside and doing any menial task or even just make a few trips up and down stairs.

My neuropsych scores remained the same over a 5 year period even though my ability to function increased greatly.

I do believe that many cognitive skills can be restored. I have done it over and over in the past 40+ years when I have suffered a minor concussion and decompensation. My digit span can be as low as 2 or 3 or as high as 13 to 18. It depends on many factors. Having the focus skills to use sound memory skills makes a big difference. My strong time is between 12 and 4 PM. As the day gets long, my skills drop again.

I am not saying your system does not work. I am just asking to see some validations of how it shows to work and who it works for.

btw, Most of us do much better when posts have paragraphs of only 5 or 6 lines before a paragraph space. The visual line tracking can be a persistent struggle.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your response and questions.

We did a control group study on reading problem students a couple years ago because an independent researcher asked for it to help with his NSF grant. If we can help a researcher get a grant by doing a control group study, we would certainly do it, but doing our own clinical control group doesn't really make sense.

I completely agree that personal training adds accountability and would more likely get results because students show up to sessions, but in studies with digital programs like posit science (when student do show up) personal training still gets much greater improvements and in many more areas.

We train the directors how to do testing and administrate the WJ3 (cognitive and achievement testing). We have an agreement with Riverside Publishing to use this testing. We do not diagnose, but use the tests to measure the program results. We use the same tests that many brain researchers use to measure interventions. In the 15 years I have been with the company we have used many tests including TONI4, DTLA, LACT, etc.

If you would like to look at the difference between TBI students and other students that go through our training, I suggest you download our 2009 results report. It lists many group of students that we work with including, ADHD, Dyslexia, TBI, and Autism. **.

We have over 70 exercises which are very different from our tests. We do not test the student on exercises to measure the results of our program.

The gold standard right now for TBI soldiers would be the training that Tricare covers, which is speech therapy. The speech therapy would provide different types of cognitive therapy but is not specific.

I understand that losing the "fog" could be seen as anecdotal but I find it interesting. Some of our TBI students have been walking around in a "fog" for years. They had been through speech therapy and digital cognitive training and still had the "fog". It was only after our intense training that they felt it was lifted. I have many comments and testimonials from TBI students. Our student of the year 2010 had a major TBI, was in a coma for 70 days and in the hospital for 340 days. He went to the same TBI treatment center as Gabrielle Gifford. He went through speech therapy and the digital programs. He said that LearningRx changed his life. He has a video up that he created **

I have had a very personal experience with TBI in the last year with a close family member. He was extremely sharp before his infection and months after his infection he still had working memory and executive function loss. I was very worried that he might never come back completely. A couple months ago he started LearningRx training. He is almost completely back. Before training he had good days and bad days, now he rarely has a bad day.

I wish you the best.

Tanya