PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
THE MEMORY EXPERT
BY ELLEN GILLETTE
work with them on paying attention long enough to really
hear what’s being said.”
Just as you can’t go to the gym three times and expect a
beach body, Knowles says that cognitive training requires
time and practice.
“Seniors may think they’re experiencing dementia because
they don’t remember things, but everyone forgets. We don’t always
focus because we do things automatically, multitasking.”
One method she advocates is saying things out loud as a
task is performed.
“‘I’m locking the back door.’ When we hear it, it implants
Liz Knowles’ home is decorated in black and white,
fitting for a woman whose career included millions
of black letters on thousands of white pages. Apparently
the other 11 residents — cats — also approve of the
color scheme.
“They let me live here,” she says with a chuckle. “I
wasn’t allowed to have a pet as a child, but as soon as I
had a place of my own ...”
Knowles grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, the only
child of an accountant and executive secretary. In high
school, her favorite subject was boys; she sang in ensemble
groups. After college, she went directly into teaching.
Her first job was teaching English to Hispanic students
in a factory town. Then, teaching in New York, she met
her future husband while vacationing in the Bahamas.
After their marriage, they moved to the islands.
“He was a banker — offshore accounts are very big
there,” Knowles says. “I was the only American teacher
then at St. Andrew’s International School. The Brits never
had anything good to say about the United States, but
they would’ve killed for a green card.”
Knowles taught 11 years in the Bahamas, but when
her husband’s bank sent him to work and train in Milan,
Italy, she took a leave of absence to accompany him.
“This was 1974, so long ago that my guide was ‘Europe
on Five Dollars a Day.’ I didn’t appreciate what a gift the
experience was, but we certainly made good use of the
time. I substituted at the international school there and
we traveled every weekend on a Eurail pass.”
Excitement wasn’t limited to moss-covered ruins or
quaint cafes. At that time a terrorist group, the Red Brigade,
was bombing trains. “Thursdays, we’d talk about
where they might bomb. ‘Do we worry or go?’ We’d
always go.”
Moving to Florida in 1978, Knowles taught at several
schools before launching her 29-year career at the
prestigious Pine Crest School’s Fort Lauderdale and Boca
Raton campuses. After returning to school herself and
getting a master’s degree, then a doctorate, Knowles
spent the last 15 years in administration, focusing on
professional development and curriculum.
She also taught graduate education classes at Nova
Southeastern and Florida Atlantic universities. Although
she’s still in contact with some of her elementary students,
she “loved teaching teachers how to teach, helping them
with their struggles, showing them shortcuts to use.”
After leaving Pine Crest, Knowles taught at Boca Prep
International School and wrote curricula for four Palm
Beach County charter schools. Next, she opened a brain
training franchise. “It was a bad move,” she says, but one
that prompted the start of her own business. Cognitive
Advantage is a combination of cognitive skills development
and educational consulting.
Knowles uses her book DIY Brain Fitness to empower
people of all ages.
“Kids who can’t focus aren’t able to retain knowledge
or apply it,” she explains. “Reading and math suffer. I
38 Port St. Lucie Magazine
ANTHONY INSWASTY
Liz Knowles helps students of all ages exercise their brains in order to develop
better focus, memorization, processing and problem solving skills.
>>