Meet Jill Stowell

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jill Stowell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jill, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Oops! That didn’t work. Let’s try that again with a few variations! Like most service business owners, I went into business because I had something I was really passionate about. I knew I could make a difference, so I went for it. But running a business and managing employees is a whole different ballgame than providing a service – in my case, retraining young brains to process information more effectively so that their owners don’t have to trudge off to school day after day feeling dumb, afraid, or insecure.

Most of what I have learned in business has been through making mistakes. And we’re celebrating our fortieth year this year, so that’s a lot of mistakes! But that’s the thing – from the time we’re infants, learning to walk, we fall down and get back up to try again, making tiny adjustments each time until we figure it out. That’s how the brain works!

So resilience is about perspective! “OK, I messed up, but what did I learn for next time?”

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am in the best business in the world! The business of transformation. Under the surface is where the answers lie, and everyday, my team and I get to change the lives of children struggling with dyslexia and learning disabilities by getting under they symptoms to the real root of the problem.

Parents are dying a little bit each day watching their bright, struggling students get bullied and pegged as lazy, dumb, or unmotivated. Because these children and teens are good at masking their challenges, it may only be their parents that see the anxiety and trauma they internalize every day because they can’t keep up in school and they don’t understand why.

It is a common belief that if you have dyslexia or a learning disability, you just have to learn to get around it – to have accommodations or build coping strategies. Even within the education industry this myth is so ingrained that people really struggle to understand and believe that real change is possible.

The struggles associated with dyslexia and other learning disabilities can be eliminated by looking beneath the symptoms or behaviors and identifying and developing the underlying processing skills that are at the root of the problem.

For the past 40 years, we have been working one-to-one with students on this journey to overcome their learning challenges, thrive in school, and have future opportunities that match their potential. One-to-one, individualized cognitive training continues to be our focus, but we have recently added two powerful services:
1. Collaborative Problem Solving classes for parents – an incredibly compassionate and successful approach to parenting children with anxiety and challenging behaviors
2. RGM – The Ronnie Gardiner Method of brain training through movement and music. This fun, energizing group training supports mental and physical health, builds cognitive skills, and fosters social connections for ALL ages, including seniors!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Become Roadblock Blind. I am roadblock-blind! Whether it’s money, expertise, clients, or staff, I have always operated with the belief that there is always a way to do what needs to be done. The older I get and the deeper I get into the merging of business, spiritual, and emotional health, the more I realize that positive, forward energy is a real force.

Look for the Opportunity
In the midst of challenges – and we all have them in business (and life) – looking at difficulties as opportunities for growth, change, or re-organization will serve you well!

Do What You Love!
Do something that you love and are passionate about. Become the expert and change the world!

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Children, teens, and adults with dyslexia and other learning and attention challenges are not broken. They’re not lazy or manipulative or unmotivated. Unfortunately, the world often sees them this way and assumes they’ll just have to accept less in their lives. This is not true. But in spite of decades of research to the contrary, most people, including educators, believe this is true.

This becomes a challenge for us because what we do is so outside of people’s beliefs and experience that they struggle to understand the difference between a bandaid approach and actually making permanent changes that eliminate the problem and the need for tutoring.

There are so many children affected by this that part of our mission is simply to educate the public, which we do through our LD Expert podcast, books, and articles. Bestselling books for parents and teachers by Jill Stowell: At Wit’s End, A Parent’s Guide to Ending the Struggle, Tears, and Turmoil of Learning Disabilities (2010). Take the Stone Out of the Shoe, A Must-Have Guide to Understanding, Supporting, and Correcting Dyslexia, Learning, and Attention Challenges (2023).

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Jill Stowell headshot – Sierra Alford Other photos – Stowell Learning Center

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