ABOUT
The Gibson Test was designed by Dr. Ken Gibson, a specialist in pediatric visual processing. He devoted his entire career to finding solutions to help people with learning disabilities overcome their learning challenges. He was driven to this mission because he is dyslexic, so he understands.
Dr. Gibson, together with his brother Keith Gibson Ph.D, a clinical psychologist, created a clinical training program to strengthen cognitive skills. Over 1100 professionals in more than 350 schools, clinics, hospitals, and training locations have participated in the development, testing, and clinical use of the cognitive training programs to date.
Dr. Gibson developed a paper version of his clinical test for use in hundreds of clinics and training centers serving thousands of clients. None of the available tests provided all the information needed for a proper assessment in one battery, so he developed his own based upon 15+ years of research and clinical development.
In 2008, Gary Smith teamed with Dr. Gibson to create an online version of the Gibson Test. Gary learned of the importance of cognitive skill testing through the struggles of the family next door.
This family has a younger daughter who struggled in school. Despite attending top schools, receiving extensive tutoring and special reading programs, the daughter could not read or do math effectively still by the 8th grade. The mom knew she had to do something different to resolve this problem in order for her daughter to succeed in high school.
She took matters into her own hands and went to a special program at Denver University to have her daughter’s cognitive skills tested. The daughter had tested with an average IQ at school so the school refused to do cognitive skill testing. The family paid about $1500 for this testing, but it was worth it.
The family finally discovered the underlying cause of the daughter’s learning struggles. Although she had many high skill scores, she was in the 2nd lowest percentile for working memory.
This information was the first step to a solution. It provided hope. It reset expectations between the daughter and parents. The parents no longer said the daughter was not trying hard enough. The daughter said she felt better about herself because it was now clear that her struggles were not her fault.
The family then found one of Dr. Gibson’s cognitive training programs which worked to build the daughter’s weak skills. This unlocked her learning potential and the daughter went on to not only succeed in high school, but also get mostly A’s in college.
The Mom knew about Gary’s work as an entrepreneur and as a volunteer. She implored him to spread the good news, to make this information available to all families so they don’t have to go through the same struggles needlessly. The one comment that has always stuck in Gary’s mind is when the mom said: “If only I had known sooner!”
That experience compelled Gary to contact Dr. Gibson to explore how his wonderful program could be made available to everyone. The two teamed to create a company they called BrainSkills. The first goal was to create an online version of the Gibson Test so every family could have affordable and easy access to a cognitive skill assessment.
The result of the collaboration is the online Gibson Test, available through this website. Now every parent has the opportunity to better understand their child’s learning skills profile and to ensure no weak core cognitive skills may be keeping their child from achieving their full potential.
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