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In 1981, Carla Crutsinger created the Brainworks Educational Center in response to her search for a facility which could address the needs of her highly intelligent, gifted ADD son who was not reaching his maximum level of achievement in school. Since then, Brainworks has helped over 1,000 clients of all ages with a wide variety of learning problems. As Director of Brainworks, Carla tests and interprets the results for all clients and works with her staff in the development of each individual's lesson plan. Her dynamic personality is particularly evident when she tutors selected clients one-on-one in areas such as time management, conflict resolution, and personal development.
In addition to her many responsibilities at the center, Carla
presents workshops and staff development sessions on a wide variety of educational
topics for school districts, parent associations, and other groups across the
country. She has authored and co-authored a series of books dealing with topics
such as communication skills for at-risk youth (Teenage
Connection and Confidence Power ),
study skills and critical thinking (Thinking
Smarter), creative strategies for recalling information (Creative
Memory), spelling mastery (The Most
Wanted Words and Sir Spell-A-Lot–Grades
2-5), ADD coping skills (ADD QuickTips),
and math strategies (Fighting Math Phobias)
Lori
Bivens, B.A. English, Certified English/Language
Arts and Reading, 8-12Lori taught English in Plano I.S.D. at the high school level
before coming to work at Brainworks. She graduated from Texas Tech University
with a B.A. in English and taught English I, English II, English II Pre-AP,
and English IV AP (not all at the same time!) at Juan Seguin High School in
Arlington I.S.D. for three years. She also coached Academic Decathalon and co-sponsored
the Student Council. Lori moved back to her hometown of Plano and worked as
a substitute and long-term substitute (at Williams and Vines High Schools) in
Plano I.S.D. Lori is also a Teacher Consultant and former Technology Liaison
for the North Star of Texas Writing Project based at the University of North
Texas. She enjoys reading as well as working on her mountain of quilting and
sewing projects
Becky French is a retired elementary classroom teacher with 30 years classroom teaching experience. She earned her bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and her master's degree from Stephen F. Austin University. Becky taught 3rd and 4th grade in the Garland Independent School District for 15 years, and after receiving her Reading Recovery Certification, spent 8 years teaching reading to at-risk first graders. After leaving public school, she taught 4th grade for 8 years at St. John's Episcopal School in Dallas, where she was also the Director of the After School Program. She retired from classroom teaching in May of 2006.
Becky and her husband Gary, who works for WFAA Channel 8, as
a freelance audio engineer, have twins who are 27 years old. Her son, Chris,
is in flight school to become a commercial airline pilot. He and his wife live
in Vero Beach, Florida. Her daughter, Christy, is a physical therapist who lives
with her husband in Plano. In her spare time, Becky enjoys exercising, reading,
spending time with friends, traveling and going to the lake. She and her husband
are excited about being new grandparents. Her son and daughter-in-law had boy
and girl twins in March 2007.
As a teacher in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Sandy Ward worked with students with a variety of learning styles, including those with ADD, learning disabilities, Asperger's, etc. Sandy tutored in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, pre-cal, calculus, statistics, and developmental math for elementary and middle school students.
Sandy earned her B.A. degree with Honors from the University of Texas, where she majored in Math and minored in Computer Science. She received her MEd from UT Arlington. At the GCISD school district, she is involved in after-school TAKS tutoring and math remediation. This past summer she taught a 2-week program for gifted math students with tips and techniques for improving their SAT math scores.
Sandy's daughter Molly, age 19, is a special needs autistic student. Molly's is a success story, in that she graduated with her class this past year after successfully completing courses requiring reading and understanding 12th grade science, government, and history textbooks, and participating appropriately in class. This is a miraculous achievement, as the predictions for Molly when she entered school were that she would never be able to read or talk.
Sandy will be in charge of our middle school and high school math curriculum. Her specialty is teaching math with manipulatives.
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