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Lindamood-Bell Names San Luis Obispo Learning Center as Flagship Location; Announces Emily Hoffman as Director

Jul 28, 2026
 
 

For more than 40 years, Lindamood-Bell’s San Luis Obispo Learning Center has been at the heart of the organization’s mission to change lives through learning. As Lindamood-Bell’s first Learning Center and home to its corporate headquarters, it has now been designated as the organization’s official Flagship Learning Center. The company also announced the appointment of Emily Hoffman as Flagship Learning Center Director.

The Flagship designation recognizes the San Luis Obispo Learning Center’s role as a hub for innovation, educator training, and instructional excellence across Lindamood-Bell’s 46 locations nationwide. While every Lindamood-Bell Learning Center is committed to helping students achieve meaningful learning gains, the Flagship Center will serve as a place where new ideas are developed, best practices are refined, and educator training strengthens instruction across the organization.

Emily Hoffman brings 30 years of Lindamood-Bell experience to her new role. She has served in several leadership positions, including Learning Center Director and, most recently, Director of Lindamood-Bell Academy.

“There is something incredibly meaningful about leading the Flagship Center in San Luis Obispo, where Lindamood-Bell began,” said Hoffman. “This center represents both our history and our future. I’m honored to support our local families while also helping strengthen innovation, collaboration, and excellence across all of our locations.”

“Emily’s depth of experience and commitment to students make her uniquely qualified to lead our Flagship Learning Center,” said Alison Bell, Executive Vice President. “San Luis Obispo has always held a special place in our organization, and under Emily’s leadership, it will continue to serve as a model of excellence and growth.”

The designation was celebrated during a special event at Lindamood-Bell’s San Luis Obispo headquarters, which also marked the organization’s 40th anniversary. Co-founder and CEO Nanci Bell reflected on Lindamood-Bell’s history and vision for the future, Emily Hoffman welcomed guests into the Learning Center, and the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce hosted an official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Watch KSBY’s coverage of this milestone.

As Lindamood-Bell’s Flagship Learning Center, the San Luis Obispo location will continue providing individualized instruction for students while serving as a national center for educator training, instructional collaboration, and innovation.

To learn more about the San Luis Obispo Learning Center or schedule a Learning Ability Evaluation, please visit our San Luis Obispo Learning Center page.

Connect with us
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

🧠 2004: Georgetown University researchers publish an important study on adult dyslexia and Lindamood-Bell instruction.

Led by Dr. Guinevere Eden and published in the scientific journal Neuron, the study used brain imaging to examine changes in adults with dyslexia following eight weeks of intensive Lindamood-Bell instruction.

Researchers found improvements in reading skills along with changes in brain activity, showing that the adult brain can continue to change and develop with reading instruction.

More than 20 years later, these findings continue to offer hope for adults who struggle with reading.

For more about our evidence-based reading instruction, follow the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning!
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

Our next milestone takes us to 2002, when Lindamood-Bell reached another exciting first!

🇬🇧 2002: Our first international Learning Center opens in London, England.
The opening of our London Learning Center meant more children could benefit from individualized instruction to strengthen their reading and comprehension skills. It was another meaningful step in helping more students learn to their potential.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.

Explore Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎙️ New Podcast Episode: Supporting At-Promise Students

In this episode, we’re joined by Khieem Jackson, Managing Director of Reaching At-Promise Students Association (RAPSA), for a thoughtful conversation about helping at-promise and opportunity youth thrive.
Together, we explore how the words we use to describe students can shape their experiences, and how literacy and learning can open doors to new opportunities beyond the classroom.

🎧 Listen and subscribe at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
Lindamood-Bell will be at the International Dyslexia Association 2026 Annual Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference, November 12–14 in Las Vegas.

Join Paul Worthington, Director of Research and Development, for “ADHD and Dyslexia: Untangling the Comorbidity Conundrum,” which examines research on co-occurring ADHD, dyslexia, and language-processing difficulties, as well as implications for intervention.

📅 November 12–14
📍 Las Vegas + virtual attendance available

Learn more about our presentation and where to find us at the conference at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📚 2000: Lindamood-Bell partners with juvenile justice schools in San Diego, California, for Project of Hope.

Through this partnership, Lindamood-Bell provided intensive reading and comprehension instruction to young people in the juvenile justice system.
Using the Seeing Stars® and Visualizing and Verbalizing® programs, Project of Hope helped students strengthen their reading and comprehension skills. An independent evaluation found significant gains, offering new hope and opportunities for their futures.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning. 

Explore Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial
Students with ADHD may need more than help with organization and study skills.

Our latest blog explores how individualized instruction can help students strengthen underlying learning skills, manage schoolwork, and become more confident, independent learners.

👉 Learn more at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📰 1999: Lindamood-Bell is featured in a Newsweek cover story on dyslexia.

The November 22, 1999, issue of Newsweek featured “Dyslexia and the New Science of Reading,” exploring how research was changing our understanding of dyslexia and reading difficulties. The article highlighted Lindamood-Bell’s unique sensory-cognitive approach to developing the underlying skills needed for reading and spelling.

This exciting milestone brought national attention to our work and new hope to students and families facing reading challenges.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning. Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
What happens when phonics instruction has been tried, but reading is still difficult?

Join us for our free webinar, More Than Phonics: What Makes Lindamood-Bell Different, to learn why some students need more than decoding practice to become confident, independent readers.

We’ll explore why phonics alone may not address every student’s learning needs and how Lindamood-Bell develops the sensory-cognitive processes that underlie reading and comprehension.

📅 Thursday, October 15
🕙 10 a.m. PT | 1 p.m. ET | 6 p.m. BST

Can’t attend live? Register anyway, and we’ll send you the recording.

🔗 Register at the link in bio @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📖 1998: The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® (LiPS®) Program is published.

Lindamood-Bell co-founder and speech-language pathologist Patricia Lindamood and her daughter, Phyllis Lindamood, revised the Auditory Discrimination in Depth (ADD) program and published the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech (LiPS®).

The LiPS® Program helps students develop phonemic awareness by teaching them to discover and label the mouth movements that produce speech sounds. Students learn to identify and sequence sounds in words, then apply those skills to reading, spelling, and speech.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.

Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
“He took off when he learned to read.”

Waseem struggled with reading throughout school. Then, through Kentwood Public Schools’ partnership with Lindamood-Bell, he received Seeing Stars® instruction from a teacher trained in the program.

Today, Waseem is a fourth-year medical student.

Hear Waseem share his journey and the impact learning to read had on his life.
▶️ Watch the full video at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📚 1997: Two new programs become part of the Lindamood-Bell story.

Nanci Bell published Seeing Stars®, designed to develop symbol imagery, the ability to visualize letters and words for reading and spelling. Long overlooked in literacy instruction, symbol imagery addresses what is a missing piece for many struggling readers.

Nanci Bell and Kimberly Tuley also published On Cloud Nine® Math, designed to develop numerical imagery for number sense and mathematical reasoning.

Nearly 30 years later, both programs remain core to Lindamood-Bell instruction and our commitment to helping students learn to their potential.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.
Learn more about Lindamood-Bell and our instruction at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month 💙📚

For more than 40 years, Lindamood-Bell has helped students with dyslexia strengthen the skills needed for reading and learning.

Research shows what’s possible: with targeted, intensive instruction, students with dyslexia can make significant gains in reading, and studies have documented measurable changes in the brain systems that support reading.

Learn more about our approach, student outcomes, and the research behind our work. Follow the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

Our next milestone takes us across the globe!

🌏 1996: Our first international Seasonal Learning Center opens in Sydney, Australia.

This milestone meant more students and families could experience Lindamood-Bell instruction, helping students strengthen their reading skills and learn to their potential.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning and the milestones that brought us here.

Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

Our journey through 40 years of Lindamood-Bell continues with a milestone from 1993.

1993: The first Lindamood-Bell International Conference is held in Shell Beach, California.

In addition to program workshops, attendees had the opportunity to hear from professionals and scholars in the fields of learning, literacy, and cognition. Over the years, our International Conference has featured influential voices such as Allan Paivio, Jane Healy, and Temple Grandin, among many others.

Follow along as we continue celebrating 40 years of changing lives through learning and sharing the milestones that brought us here.

Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
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