Jenny Urch (2:54)

So.

Jenny Urch (2:55)

Yeah, so you've been doing this for 20 years, which means that you were in this field pre iPhone and saw the transition then into that part of life. Can you talk about some of the biggest changes that you've seen over the last 20 years?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (3:11)

You know, it's interesting you say that when I was doing my internship, residency time at Children's Hospital close to my area, the original guideline was from the American Academy of Pediatrics, no more than one hour of screen time per day. And this is in the early 2000s. And I felt like that was a lot, you know, thinking at that time, gosh, I'm trying to get families to limit to one hour. Well, we know today in 2026, it's substantially more than one hour per day. And I think, you know, the. Those guidelines may have shifted over time. I haven't checked them recently, but I've seen this lack of ability to wait, lack of ability to manage time and efficiency and focus because of the inundation of this technology, where it essentially erodes the attention span. And for people that already have a genetic vulnerability to struggling with executive functioning skills and attention and even deeper cognitive skills, it really highlights that struggle when we throw technology time on top, you know, to a high level.

Jenny Urch (4:30)

Yeah. I just read a book by a man named Alex Hutchinson, and it's called the Explorer's Gene, and it's about how, you know, people used to be out exploring the world, Right. When I go across this ocean, what do I find? And how the. The home range of children has shrunk. So, you know, kids in the 1920s, 100 years ago, could probably walk six miles when they were 8 years old. And he gave a story of a specific family where the kid could go six miles. Six miles at age eight, as a third grader, six miles to go fishing to the local fishing home. And then it's just shrunk, right. With each generation. Shrunk, shrunk to where today it's often like, you can't leave our yard. You know, it's not even like you can't go around the neighborhood. You can't even leave the yard. And at the same time, he gave the statistic from the CDC that 48 year olds. The current statistic is 6 hours of screen time a day.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (5:26)

Wow, that's tragic.

Jenny Urch (5:28)

In 20 years, Janissa. 20 years, you said it was one hour and now these kids are on average six hours. The accumulating effects of that just must be tremendous. Yes.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (5:42)

And starting so early, parents are giving the smartphones so early to distract the child so they never have to learn to manage themselves in more challenging situations.

Jenny Urch (5:56)

Right?

Jenny Urch (5:57)

Yeah. Okay, so then talk about you are helping families, then with the.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (6:02)

The.

Jenny Urch (6:02)

Then what? The now what? You're helping homeschool families, you're helping public school families. And you talk about how the dining room table can be the place where there's just a lot of battles. And we're talking about reading, we're talking about tension, learning differences, even concussions is one of the things I read on your website, which is interesting because I did talk to a man who, like, he had gotten a lot of concussions in football, and he, he is in this, like, really poor health as an older adult, and he related a lot.

Jenny Urch (6:32)

Of it to that.

Jenny Urch (6:32)

And you're also helping adults, adults with memory decline and dyslexia and ADHD and same thing if they've got brain injury. So can you talk about learning rx?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (6:42)

I can. And this is one of the new loves for me from a career standpoint. I, I got a bit discouraged in my clinical practice because while I think that diagnostic testing is important, it's important to understand that lens and view your child correctly of what they're really struggling with. Labels aren't very effective if we don't have good solutions to go along with those. It's just not very meaningful. So for me, I was a bit discouraged with the status quo. It seemed to me that the solutions out there were only working around the difficulties in the brain. And through newer research, research in about the last 20 years about neuroplasticity, we know now we can improve where the, the source of the struggle is. So that's what I'm truly passionate about. Because what underlies that difficulty with learning and reading and math, or what underlies those executive functioning skills is cognitive weaknesses. And this is a program I was excited to partner with because we can strengthen those cognitive weaknesses. You know, whether it's a memory Issue, attention, processing speed. These have been walls that kids have been hitting up against and adults throughout time, and they're only heightened now with the influx of technology. So I had this dream of thinking about all the kids for years and years I had treated. And they spend their childhood and relearning things over and over again, sitting at the table in conflict with their parents, struggling. And it scares parents when their kids aren't learning. The stress just goes through the roof and it becomes their daily routine. That things take three to four times as long. And I wanted that kid to learn, encode it and go outside, go play, treasure those childhood memories instead of it being such a hard road. And that's part of why I partnered with Learning Art, Learning Rx, because they have massive research, clinically and neuroscience showing these programs work. And I've seen it, and it's been a beautiful journey for me.

Jenny Urch (9:02)

So people can actually come.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (9:04)

Yes.

Jenny Urch (9:05)

Come to your location. So talk about that and then we can talk about a little bit of the broader help.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (9:12)

Yes. So I have a Learning Rx center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and it was so effective that I opened one in Springdale, Arkansas. And I'm this spring we're opening in Bentonville, Arkansas. So in my corner of the world, there's so much hope. Brain training is done in person. It can be done virtually, but in person, the center has such a positive energy. It's fun, it's exciting, and it's beautiful. And that's what I offer there. And I am seeing lives changed right in front of me. And kid, kids that I've known in my clinical practice for years that were just not making progress have made tremendous progress. I can't tell you the number of happy tears parents cry at my. At the Learning Rx centers. It's beautiful.

Jenny Urch (10:07)

Yeah. Because maybe they feel like they have no hope. And the reviews, you know, when people write in and they give their reviews or their experience and then it's on the website, it's like, just tremendous. You know, these kids are growing. You know, they've gained this many years of reading in just 12 weeks. They're pretty short programs. It seemed like, you know, they're coming in for not very long and they're just having these tremendous gains. So can we talk about a couple of the specific types of things that a kid might be struggling with? And this is what's leading in part to these battles at the dining room table. This is for any type of child, whether you're the main teacher. And in Michigan, you did a webinar for homeschoolers here to help families. But one of the ones is reading. And that's foundational. Right. Because that's going to affect all of the other learning down the road. And you've got children, ages, you know, all the way through, up through teenage years that are gaining years in their reading skills. So if there is a family listening that their, their child is struggling, I'll say for us, we started later and that certainly helped. We didn't start any reading instruction until age 7 and actually for our youngest, we never did any read instruction. And interestingly, sometimes they can pick it up. But I know some kids will have dyslexia and different challenges. What kind of advice do you give for kids that are in that situation?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (11:31)

I would say one of the phrases I often use is if reading is hard, everything is hard.

Jenny Urch (11:37)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (11:38)

There is nothing that stresses out a child and a parent more than when reading isn't working because that is at the core of everything. It is very hard to learn if you can't read. So the way our programs are different at LearningRx is we work on the reading system, the auditory processing learning, a system to manage the English language in the brain. But alongside that system, which other programs do as well, alongside that, LearningRx builds the ability to the short term memory to encode all of that. Because kids sit for years in reading intervention that they don't remember and they're not building on, which requires so much more repetition. Our goal is that they learn it, they encode it and you move on with your life. Our reading intervention? Yes. We show four years gained in particular reading skills in 24 weeks. Where kids can spend 6, 8, 10 years in reading intervention and never see the same amount of growth. Not that we can't partner with other types of reading intervention, but because we also address the cognitive skills, that's what leads to that exponential growth.

Jenny Urch (12:55)

What isn't working? No, it's so interesting to me. The reading intervention and in any sort of intervention in general, I do think can leave a mark on a child. If a child and I don't like sometimes that it starts so young. So let's say you've got a six year old. Well, they've got to go to reading intervention. They're getting pulled out maybe of class. I mean these types of things can like affect you for the rest of your life. You may not remember what you learned, but you remember being pulled, pulled out of class, you know, and, and struggling. And so sometimes I get a little salty about the fact that like well, what if you just waited till they were 9? Like they might just be fine and it might not be an issue, but what is it? That is. And so maybe part of its age and expectation and not taking into account like the unique timeline of each child. But what is it about these programs that are lasting year after year after year that's not working?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (13:49)

I think it's because they're incomplete. They're building one skill, but there's these other skills that are foundational for learning that are being left behind. It's like they're building this one skill and repeating it over and over and over again. I've worked with kids that have been in dyslexia intervention eight years and they know I'm the kid that needs help. I'm struggling. And when I learned about how intensive this program is, that we get them in and we get them out, that that meant a lot to me. Because when you're in intervention, it does affect your identity. I mean, kids know if they, if you ever hurt a kid that's repeated a grade, they're going to tell you, well, I'm supposed to be in, I'm in this grade. And kids repeat grades for lots of reasons, but that's just a really obvious example how that gets attached into their identity.

Jenny Urch (14:42)

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Jenny Urch (18:28)

Yeah, it does. I mean I taught, I taught math, I taught high school math before we had kids. And you know, I don't, it doesn't come up that much anymore. But like, when you're in that stage of life, people are like, what do you do? You know, I teach high school math. I mean, pretty much almost everybody's like, I'm bad at math. I was bad at math. I didn't do good in math. It is, it is an identity. It's, you know, it is part of your identity. I totally agree with that.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (18:53)

Yes. And unfortunately, kids define their intelligence by how good they are at math. I mean, that's a really good indicator. And they measure themselves against others. So anything that's hard can get attached into the identity. Learning RX Our cognitive training programs are intense. So it's three times a week, 90 minutes. So I think that's another point of why it's so effective. Not only are we dealing with the whole brain and getting to the source of the struggle, but we're getting it done. Let's get in here, let's get it done and let's move on with childhood and enjoy that. I will tell you one of the reasons that I ultimately got on the airplane and, and bought the franchise. This is one of the things I always say because I did not need another job. Something you should know about, about me, Jenny, is I have a six to eight month waiting list at my clinical practice just doing testing. So I really did not need this job. But when I saw the stage science, I couldn't not do it. So the most beautiful piece of data for me is a year after students finish our program, we invite them back to measure their cognitive skills. Meaning we haven't seen them in 12 months and we miss them. We get attached, we miss them. We haven't seen them in 12 months. Our research shows consistently 97% retention of the gain and when you can post test a year out and you're showing 97% of those results, that's not a different school year, that's a different life.

Jenny Urch (20:27)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (20:28)

And that's that lasting hope that I get so passionate about. And we've done that over and over again at our, at my centers and nationally. We just continue to replicate those results. Yes.

Jenny Urch (20:42)

And like you said, this is a national program. So if people don't live in your area, they can look. I'll make sure, I'll put links in the show notes. But you're in this is it river valley area.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (20:54)

Yeah, it's just. Yeah. The Fort Smith and northwest Arkansas. So western Arkansas is. Is our area of the woods.

Jenny Urch (21:02)

Yeah. So obviously there's a huge need if you are six to eight months, if there is a six to eighth month waiting list for testing. I remember talking to this woman. Her name is Angela Hanscom. I've talked to actually a lot, but at the very beginning when I talked to her, she's an occupational. A physical therapist. An occupational therapist. She's an occupational therapist for kids.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (21:25)

Yes.

Jenny Urch (21:25)

Pediatric. I'm gonna get there. She's a pediatric occupational therapist working with kids. And she would say similar things that all. And she said it kind of all of a sudden it's. It really started to roll away where her waiting list was a year out. You know, people could not get the services that they need. So this is just showing if there's a six to eight month waiting period just to get tested, that there is a huge need for the. Then what? You know, what am I going to do next? How am I going to handle this? Can you talk about what are some of the foundational cognitive skills that a typical reading intervention program might be missing?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (22:01)

Yes. So for reading intervention, I will say brain science has moved forward and a lot of programs have some good research behind them. And I'm really not opposed to some of the traditional programs out there. They just sometimes need another system to complement them. So one of the things that they may have, let's say they're strong in auditory processing. That's learning to blend the sounds together in the brain. Blending a sounds into a word, a lot of kids really struggle with that. Their brain isn't blending the sound. So they can't sound out the word. And then even in phonetic skills. Right. Those are things that other programs can do and do well. One of a couple of things that I see really struggling and lagging behind one of them is processing speed. If they are a slow processor, then their, their Brain doesn't have time to process where they can get to a fluency level level. So they're lagging behind. They're. They're sounding out words, but the word never makes sense by the end of it. It's just pieces of sounds or they don't get to that fluency level. That's a big problem. And honestly, from my perspective as a clinical psychologist, LearningRx is the only research program that I have seen to improve processing speed.

Jenny Urch (23:22)

How can you improve processing speed?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (23:24)

That is a great question. We have specific cognitive exercises with research showing gains in processing speed. They're just, they're like fun. They're. You have to do things quickly and then with intensity. Imagine a line of arrows and you have to say what color those arrows are quickly. Then you have to tell me the direction. Then you have to rotate them, you know, 90 degrees or color direction. So we push the brain to improve the speed and there's neuron development that supports that.

Jenny Urch (23:57)

Yeah, yeah. It's so interesting. I read a book early on in our parenting called Smart Moves. It's by a woman named Dr. Carla Hannaford. It was one of my favorite books and very influential on my parenting. It was. The subtitle is why learning is not all in your head. And what she talked about was how movement that complex movements enhance neural wiring, that they improve, I would imagine processing speed because it's improving the structures that are in the brain, these complex movements. So she says the body builds the brain through movement and that's a big difference. You know, kids are not moving, they're sitting. And so you could see that over time, especially childhoods have changed. You know, think about the kid that's walking six miles to go fishing. That's so much movement in a day as opposed to the kid that's six hours on a screen in that such a different type of childhood. And so yeah, you could see how there would be these foundational cognitive skills that if you can get them up to speed, it's really going to help with all the other things. I read a really good book this year about was last year about reading fluency.

Jenny Urch (25:01)

It was called the Guide to the.

Jenny Urch (25:02)

Science of Reading and all the things that went into that, that go into fluency and it was like what you're talking about and also background knowledge. You know, did the kid even know what these different words mean? And then that's going to make the, the book come alive to them. You could see how if you're spending so much effort just trying to sound out the words you're never gonna like it, right?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (25:27)

Absolutely. It's. It remains such an effortful process at that point.

Jenny Urch (25:31)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (25:32)

I love what you're saying about movement. And some of our exercises involve standing up, beanbag touch toss while they're doing these processing speed exercises, which is beautiful. One other piece I don't want to miss with reading and how learning RX is different is building the short term memory. Because if you don't remember what you just read, then reading isn't fun at all. And you're not able, even from building the word to building the sentence to building the chapter. It becomes a futile process if you don't remember what you've read. And kids are never going to get excited about that.

Jenny Urch (26:09)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (26:10)

The number of kids that start our program and they hate to read and they leave our program and they love to read is just inspiring to me because it's an attitude, it's a confidence. And if you love to read, your potential changes dramatically.

Jenny Urch (26:28)

Absolutely. Absolutely. I would say I am a professional reader, that's what I do for work. But I love to read. It enhances my life in so many different ways. And there is this man I was talking to about reading in particular, and he was saying his name is Dr. Daniel Willingham. I think his book is just called Raising Kids who Love to Read. And one of the things he talked about was that like most people like to read if they're fluent, you know, if it's not this massive struggle of phonetically trying to sound out the words, if you can actually pick it up at a. At a somewhat quick speed space and you can remember what you read and you've got this story and you're invested. So if, if that. And also if it is the most attractive choice at the moment. And that was one of the things that he said is that one of the biggest struggles is that for a long period of time it was your most attractive choice because it's seven at night and there's nothing else to do. You know, there's no TV and there's no YouTube. But when it's not the most attractive choice and kids even who like it are not choosing it. So there's just a lot of components there. Right. You can move from hating it to loving it. What a difference. And then if you're limiting your screen time, your kid will choose that. And I agree, it will go. So it will help them to go. So far, we've actually never talked about dyslexia at all on the show. So what are, you know, you're talking about processing speeds and sounding out words, short term memory. What are this sort of the unique things when a child has dyslexia?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (28:01)

For me, dyslexia is often misunderstood. A lot of people think of dyslexia as seeing things backwards, you know, just seeing words written backwards. And I think that's been a, a publicized version of dyslexia, maybe on TV and different avenues. But the way that I explain dyslexia to parents is there is not a strong organizational system in the brain for managing the English language.

Jenny Urch (28:29)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (28:29)

And that way, think of a file cabinet where everything is just kind of out of order and crammed in there. And what happens is kids that don't have that system in the brain have a random approach to reading. It's so frustrating to parents. Like, I just went through this word in this paragraph and we get to the next paragraph and it's as if they've never seen the word before.

Jenny Urch (28:50)

Huh.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (28:51)

So under that, there's a lot of encoding that needs to happen and reworking that system in the brain through auditory processing, through phonetics, through short term memory skills, a combination of cognitive skills to help reduce the impact of that dyslexia condition on that student.

Jenny Urch (29:10)

So interesting. There's just all these factors there. Let's talk about another one. You talk about attention. The human attention span is shrinking. Thinking.

Jenny Urch (29:18)

Can you talk about what that affects.

Jenny Urch (29:19)

For children and how we can help them?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (29:22)

Yes. I was preparing for a talk recently and just looking at some current statistics and it, it was mentioning that the human attention span has declined 30% in the last 20 years.

Jenny Urch (29:35)

Wow. So just huge. Just since you've been in practice.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (29:38)

Yeah, huge. And I've seen it. And, and I do see that. And when you have that struggle kind of genetically and then you've declined what you have. Right. If you have a limited attention span and it's been reduced even further, then coping in the world becomes very difficult. I would say there's a lot more irritability, a lot more impatience, just a lot more discontentment because, wow. Kids don't just stop and look at the. Look out the window, breathe, you know, take in their surroundings. They're constantly needing more of that input, that sensory input that is so overwhelming to the brain.

Jenny Urch (30:22)

That's interesting. I read a book earlier. Last year. Last year, you know, you like flip over. Like, when did I read it? There's a really good book, it's by Dr. Mark Berman and it's called the Nature of the Mind. It's about attention. It's about attention restoration and how time and nature restores your attention. And he talks about these studies that he's done out of the University of Michigan where it's not. You don't even have to like it. Like, you can be hating it. Obviously, often when you go outside, it, it improves your mood. But he was like, even if it doesn't improve your mood and you're cold, you're too hot, whatever, you're uncomfortable, that it will, it will restore your attention. And he, similar to what you're saying, related it to a lot of these things like irritation or inability to cope with stressors. And so you could see how if this is something that you're struggling with a child, as a child and then you become a parent, like, there's a lot of stressors. And so it can be a really tricky thing. And so 30% is a massive number. 30% decrease in the last 20 years. And obviously we're not living in a world that is conducive to turning that around. I mean, what if that number keeps going, Janissa? Like, what if it's like 50% in the next, you know, I mean, it's just shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. What are ways that we can help our kids with their attention spans?

Jenny Urch (31:48)

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Dr. Janissa Jackson (33:57)

I think it's so important to bring our kids back into the present moment to be fully experiencing what's happening around them. I mean you can do the grounding technique where you use the $0.05 senses. Tell me what you see right now. What do you hear?

Jenny Urch (34:12)

What.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (34:12)

What is something that you can feel near you and doing that outside. There's so many, so much beauty that just restores the soul outside. But I think we have to be intentional because if we're not and we let our kids be carried off on this train of technology. I think you bring up a really good point. How scary is that that our kids may not be able to focus at all? We're what if so many more of the population are now meeting clinical criteria of attention issues? It's a scary thought process for sure.

Jenny Urch (34:47)

Yeah, yeah. Something to be thinking about for now and in the future. Can you touch on the concussion situation?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (34:53)

Yes, absolutely. So for concussions, you know, sports are a very big, a big deal right now in our culture. And sports are great, right? Physical exercise, getting outside. However there are in certain sports, there's an increased risk of head injury, concussion and Concussion can happen anywhere, but oftentimes what parents are told in the neuroscience community is go home, wait it out, it'll get better. And a lot of times we do see some mild improvement with time in the brain. But these are important time matters. And we have clinical, we have neuroscience research showing at LearningRx that we can see dramatic gains with brain injuries. And this is from concussions to more serious traumatic brain injury. And I think if there is something out there with science behind it, you should definitely seek that out to help regain what may have been lost. We have so many stories that are just phenomenal. We worked with a teacher recently at our, one of our centers who had been in a car accident and wasn't able to work and he is already driving again and making gains towards. He wants to get back out there and making a difference in people's lives and not sit at home a year hoping for some form of improvement.

Jenny Urch (36:23)

What happens when there's a concussion?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (36:26)

So a concussion is essentially a bruising and a damaging of a particular area in the brain. So when that occurs, there's damaged neurons and the brain is, is a very, very complex organ. I think we can all agree that it's very complex. So no two concussions are the same. You know, one person might be dizzy and headaches and another person is losing, you know, peripheral vision or, you know, there's so many different ways it can impact the brain depending on where it is. But the truth of it is we need to exercise that brain. We need to get neuron development going and neuroplasticity and there's hope for that.

Jenny Urch (37:10)

Yeah. Can you talk about the adults? You just brought up a teacher and I was interested. It was interesting to see on your website at LearningRx and I'll put the link in the show notes as well as the link to your clinical practice where people can join your six to eight month waiting list.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (37:27)

Great.

Jenny Urch (37:28)

If they need to get tested, but gosh, it just shows there. That's such a long time.

Jenny Urch (37:35)

It's.

Jenny Urch (37:35)

Yeah, you said it's hard, there's a shortage because it's such a long schooling process. But wow, there's, there's not enough people out there to help our kids. But it was interesting to me to see that you are helping adults actually in a lot of the same ways that you're helping kids. So can you talk about, I mean, I think, gosh, it would be hard to be an adult that's going to need to come in and get help with reading, but what a life changing thing. If you can come and in 24 weeks or, you know, to start to see these huge improvements, what's that like for an adult that takes that step to come in and get help?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (38:14)

You know, I have a beautiful story of a dentist that it was kind of an embarrassment for him that he was clearly bright, clearly successful, but really struggled to read. And if you knew the number of engineers and physicians where they have these incredible skills, but reading isn't one of them and they hide behind that. And he did our program, he worked so hard. He was one of our favorite students, and now he can read much better. And his kids see that he isn't perfect. He went back and he got some brain training. We have a surgeon doing our program right now, more focused on short term memory. Because just because you find a way to get to that career doesn't mean there's not big cognitive struggles. You're working around and eventually you get tired because it takes a lot more effort to do those jobs. That's why I say with LearningRx, the earlier the better. We start at 5, but it's never too late. If you're struggling and you're tired and you think, I am really working around some things in my mind, then there's likely a strategy and a hope and an individualized program we could create for you.

Jenny Urch (39:31)

Yeah, you talk about memory decline, which is something I think most people are like pretty freaked out about.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (39:37)

Absolutely.

Jenny Urch (39:38)

How would somebody know to come?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (39:40)

I think first of all, it could benefit anyone. You can do our program just for enhancement, to realize, you know, I just want to be better. One of the things I often say is I will be a student there. I'm a little busy right at this moment with building, you know, three centers and a clinical practice. But I want to always be at the top of my game. I want to have the most to offer my family, my patients, my career. So I will be a student. I think for those that are wondering, you know, is it time? Should I check this out? If you're asking yourself that question, it's probably great to come in for an assessment. What you learn in that assessment is so eye opening. But for the line of, is this a problem? If you're spending energy throughout your day retracing your steps, trying to remember what you were doing, what did I walk into this room for? What was I going to say? You're battling it probably more than you need to. It could be better. It can be better.

Jenny Urch (40:46)

It's hard to know, like, does my brain work like everybody else's? Like you just, you don't know. Like you don't know what you don't know. What about adults with with adhd?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (40:56)

Adults with ADHD are often getting late diagnosed, meaning that they didn't know they had it when they were a kid. Sometimes it depends on their age. And I would let them know that while this program is intensive, our average adult programs are like 14 weeks. If you could get some freedom and minimize some of those symptoms associated with ADHD in 14 weeks, what more would you have to offer your kids and your job and your family?

Jenny Urch (41:24)

Yeah.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (41:25)

So that's a helpful way to think about it.

Jenny Urch (41:28)

What are some things that an adult with ADHD would be struggling with that they could get help for?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (41:33)

That is a great question. I think the way ADHD often impacts the brain are more in those executive functioning skills. Like in my experience, life doesn't get easier as you become an adult. From childhood you're juggling more. So we work with what's those cognitive skills underneath that. So your sense of time management improves your sense of being in the present moment when you're not trying to rehearse the four things you need to remember. You can hold that conversation and be truly present in those relationships. And that's a beautiful thing.

Jenny Urch (42:07)

Yeah. So much hope and so much help. We're going to totally switch gears.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (42:12)

Okay.

Jenny Urch (42:12)

You live on a cattle ranch.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (42:14)

I do.

Jenny Urch (42:16)

So tell us about that. You say your husband works as a cowboy. He's your co owner and director. But your husband Justin works as a cowboy cook with his very own chuck wagon and operates the family's cattle ranch. I love this.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (42:32)

It is so much fun. So we live on 140 acres down a dirt dirt road. We have lots of cows, we have donkeys, we have chickens. We get outside and that's really grounding for me. I love to be where I look out my windows and I see hundred year oak trees. So that's our environment we're passionate about. You know, farm to table. We process some of our own beef and we just have kind of a grounding effect with that. My husband has a YouTube channel. He is a wonderful cook. I, I tease him that I married him because of how he can cook. It's fabulous. He, it's horse pin ranch, chuck wagon. He has passionate about history of cooking, getting outside, cooking over the coals. So he has even worked with some 4H and taught them how to cook with the Dutch ovens and worked with kids to learn about that. He actually does a cowboy cooking show at Silver Dollar City which Is an amusement park. Are you familiar with Silver Dollar City?

Jenny Urch (43:46)

But is there more than one or is there two? I don't know.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (43:49)

This is in Branson, Missouri.

Jenny Urch (43:51)

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I've totally been there. We've been there and we've been to. There's like a theater there. I spoke at a conference there. Then we went to Silver Dollar City with my friend Rachel. And I'm pretty sure that at Silver Dollar City, there was like this.

Jenny Urch (44:05)

Okay.

Jenny Urch (44:05)

Not only is there the amusement park, I'm. I'm 100 sure, actually, because I can picture the picture that we got there. You can go in this cave.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (44:12)

Yes, you can.

Jenny Urch (44:14)

Like, this huge cave. And there's, like, bats, you know, I mean, it was, like, quite the experience.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (44:20)

Yes. Okay.

Jenny Urch (44:21)

So he works there. Is this near where you live?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (44:24)

It's three hours north. But he only works there during the Cowboy Harvest Festival, which is about six to seven weeks in the fall. But he does a cooking show with his wagon, teaching park goers and kids how to cook over the coals, how to make coffee outdoors, and just the history of the American West. And he's passionate about teaching kids to cook, especially outside because it's fun.

Jenny Urch (44:53)

What.

Jenny Urch (44:54)

What an interesting life that you have. Both of these things. So he's got his own YouTube channel. What's his YouTube channel?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (45:02)

Horse pen Ranch.

Jenny Urch (45:03)

Oh, you said that. Horse Pin Ranch. So is this newer? Is this like, when you got married, was it already the cattle ranch?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (45:12)

It's. We bought the land early when we were married, but it's taken a long time to build it to this place. And we've added land since the original track where we built our house. But it's taken time. He was cooking early on, but he's really developed in his outdoor cooking skills and just love sharing the history of it and kind of getting back to your roots with the cooking outside.

Jenny Urch (45:38)

So interesting. So do you go along with him when he goes to that Cowboy Harvest Festival?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (45:43)

I do. I can't spend all the time there because I have a few other hats that I wear. But Silver Dollar city is the 1880s, so you have to wear, like, period correct clothing. And you walk in and we have an apartment kind of on site because he's an entertainer there. And we walk into the park, and it's just. It's a beautiful. There's low stress in the 1880s. There wasn't cell phones. There wasn't technology, and it's. It's just a nice step back in time.

Jenny Urch (46:13)

Yeah, that's a really cool park. We Had a great time there and I thought the mine thing was super interesting. So there was a lot to do. So, gosh, I want to go back.

Jenny Urch (46:21)

That's in the fall.

Jenny Urch (46:22)

The Cowboy Harvest Festival. I've not even heard of that. We went to this theater, it's called. It's like Bible stories and it's called. It's right there in Branson. I'm looking it up.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (46:35)

Sight and Sound.

Jenny Urch (46:36)

It's called Sight and Sound.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (46:37)

Yes.

Jenny Urch (46:37)

So we went and saw that too. And then I was like I said I was speaking at a conference. It was a cool area to go to. There was a lot to do. So interesting. What do your kids like working on the ranch?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (46:48)

They do. My son has done more of the ranch work. He has worked at our ranch and other local ranches on a horseback and he helps feed hay. Selling his own cattle helps him have money through college. So he's in college right now, so.

Jenny Urch (47:07)

Yeah.

Jenny Urch (47:08)

Wow, what an interesting life. Got so many different, so many different parts of it. Can you talk about over the last 20 years you're helping with these evaluations? So you're talking about autism spectrum disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, TIC disorders, mood related disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, intellectual functioning and adaptive functioning. Is there anything that parents need to know about testing? Like, you know, should there be early testing? When do we do that? You know, how do we know if our child is hitting markers or not in any sort of early life parenting advice?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (47:53)

Those are some great questions. I will say that meeting, getting that early checkups with a pediatrician is a good marker for. Are they meeting milestones? So they're, they're kind of a watchdog to make sure. And most pediatricians refer pretty readily for psychological testing. But I will say to that parent, if you have a gut feeling that something isn't working right, something is off, feel free to seek a second opinion or just call and set up testing yourself. It's a lot of times that parent intuition is correct. And not every pediatrician in that 15 minutes you're in the office sees exactly what you're seeing. And it can be a lonely and scary process. It, you know, I don't require a referral from a pediatrician. If you're just afraid and your gut says something is off, then it's probably better to get in line and rule that in or out. And I would say too, if you're afraid of a diagnosis, it takes courage it takes courage to put your child under a microscope, but I think you're going to learn so much. Whether or not there's a diagnosis, it's worth it. It's worth walking through that journey if you have some concerns.

Jenny Urch (49:10)

So then you can figure out what's next.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (49:13)

Absolutely. And early parenting strategies, I would say choose your battles. It's very. We get anxious when our kids do things wrong because it feels like we're failing and then our kids are going to fail in life and we kind of catastrophize. Okay, if they talk back to me, they're going to be in prison in 10 years and I'm failing. But take a breath and choose your battles. Decide what truly matters, sidesteps the ones that don't. I mean, don't be afraid to tell your child no, but choose what matters so that they know what matters. And not everything becomes a battle.

Jenny Urch (49:54)

Yeah, you say you like to make homemade soup. Making homemade soup matters. I read that somewhere in your bio. I was like, that matters.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (50:03)

But yeah, you're right.

Jenny Urch (50:04)

A lot of things don't over, you know, and over time kids grow out of different types of things. And so I still appreciate this conversation. You have such an eclectic life. So many interesting things that you're doing. And I do think though that they all tie together right. Which is like you talked about, you know, you're out, you're, you're really impacting the world and intersecting parents lives when there's probably some fear and trepidation and they might feel hopeless. And so you have your own part of your life that's grounding for you. You like to read, you're making soup, you're out with the animals, you know, you're doing these hands on things that's I would imagine balancing out, spending time with families that are maybe in a low point and really need a lot of assistance. And, and then you're seeing, and you can read it on the website, all of the, the happy tears type reviews that are coming from these actual things that are helping children and will help them in the long term. 97 retention over a, over, you know, this full year period. And then they have those skills moving forward. So such an honor. I'm so glad that we've connected. You are doing incredible things in the world and like we talked about, it's like the attention is dipping and that is not on an upward, upward slope or trajectory at this point at all. So things tend to be on this kind of downward slope because of technology. So these things will be helpful for years to come. We always end our show with the same question. What's a favorite memory from your childhood that was outside?

Dr. Janissa Jackson (51:39)

A favorite memory from my childhood outside. My mind goes immediately back to the camping trip with the trails built in and the smell of pine trees and running ahead of my parents and just seeing around, you know, what's around the next corner. Just all the sights and sounds of those trips are forever ingrained because we did live in town. So they, those camping trips were just right in the mix of nature and I loved it.

Jenny Urch (52:08)

So, yeah, what a memory. I would, I would be curious what your kids meant, what your kids would say, you know, growing up with this kettle ranch, what a cool thing. Janissa, what an honor. I love what you're doing. It's so helpful for parents and I appreciate that you came on to talk with us today. I'll make sure I'll put all the links in the show note so people can come find you. Thanks for being here.

Dr. Janissa Jackson (52:30)

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Jenny Urch (52:46)

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Dr. Janissa Jackson (52:48)

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