Brain Explained is a suite of mini assessment tools that help you understand your brain. No two brains are alike. Each mini tool takes just a few minutes to complete. By answering a set of questions about a specific aspect of your brain, such as organization and planning, or how you approach studying, you will get valuable insight into your strengths and areas to strengthen. You'll receive a personalized toolkit that summarizes your results and provides a set of solutions-- strategies, technology, or resources-- that help you improve how you learn or work in those specific areas.

Any adult 18+ can benefit from using Brain Explained. Whether you are struggling, are in a school, work or life transition, or want to optimize your potential, it is valuable to understand your unique strengths and challenges when it comes to how you learn or work. Knowledge is power. It enables us to find our right fit, strengthen areas where we have challenges, seek support, advocate for ourselves and design our own learning or work environment. Yet, Information about our brains has not been readily available to most people in a practical manner. 

“There is no average brain. Variability is the dominant feature of the nervous system. Like fingerprints, no two brains are alike. Each brain is a complex, interconnected web that is sculpted and influenced by genetics and interactions with the environment.” 

CAST (2018). UDL and the learning brain. Wakefield, MA: Author.

Most people do not have insight into how their specific brain works and the amazing things is that the brain’s neuroplasticity means we can change it for the better. We don’t think that you should have to spend thousands of dollars and hours of time to get a clinical assessment of your brain if what you really want to know is how to make the most of your time at school, work or even in your relationships. Brain Explained is the first free tool that applies the science of the brain in an immediate, practical and useful way for improving your performance. With this information, you can supercharge your performance, tackle your goals for school or work, and improve communication in your relationships.

No you don’t need to be in college or working in a job to benefit from Brain Explained. No matter what your goals and aspirations are, Brain Explained is a useful tool for enhancing your individual potential. The suite of tools can be used at any point in your life, and can be used one time, or used in an ongoing way as a roadmap for your growth. It may be particularly useful when you are in transition-- like applying for college, choosing your major, returning to college, entering a retraining program, seeking your first job, seeking a promotion, or switching careers. It can provide a way of tracking your progress as you get closer to your goals.

Brain Explained currently consists of 15 BE tools that survey you on how you feel you do on a variety of cognitive skills such as organizing, planning, and prioritizing my work, my reading, my writing, my digital life, and my communication. More are underway. Once you complete the brief self report survey, your results will be provided in a personalized toolkit that contains a summary of your strengths, and suggestions for improving areas of challenge. Each toolkit will also contain personalized solutions that provide support, scaffolding, or strengthen areas of challenge based on your responses. The solutions will include strategies you can use at school or work, technologies that might be useful, and resources for you to explore. The first module on organizing, planning and prioritizing will be available early in 2021. 

The Brain Explained tool called, “Things I Do That Others Might Not” can flag areas that may be a challenge for you that might be indicators of learning differences or disabilities such as ADHD or dyslexia. But you would need a more comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in order to get a clinical diagnosis that would enable you to qualify for legally based accommodations. If you have had a diagnosis in the past, the BE suite of tools might be helpful in confirming areas that you struggle and help you track your growth over time. Even without a formal diagnosis, the toolkit of strategies, resources and technologies should provide practical and immediate support for you so that you can continue to thrive in school or work.

In an informal sense, BE will enable you to gain insight into areas that you need additional support and may empower you to take action to design your own learning experience, talk to faculty and administrators, seek out mentors, and other student support services. 

As noted above, upon receiving the BE results, you may decide to pursue additional testing that will lead to a more formal clinical diagnosis. With that diagnosis, you may qualify for accommodations under ADA or IDEA. It is our hope that the BE suite of tools and toolkits give all individuals free access to the rich knowledge about their brains without the time and cost. You shouldn’t need to fail to access this information.

Brain Explained was developed with research from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, learning sciences and over thirty years of practice experience with children and adults who have struggled to reach their potential at school and work. It evaluates both the uniqueness of those who may fall through the cracks as well the pain points even the most successful professionals can experience.

The solutions provided in Potentia Institute’s toolkits were derived from over thirty years of practice experience with adults in postsecondary, workforce training, and work environments. These research-based solutions have been used and validated in practice.

All of your data including your personal account information, your survey and results will be kept secure and private.