Executive functions are a set of mental skills that help people manage everyday tasks, solve problems, and adapt to new situations. These skills are usually developed throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood — though rarely taught directly in school. 

These skills include: 

• Task initiation

• Flexible thinking

• Emotional control

• Working memory

• Organization 

• planning /prioritizing  

• Sustained attention

• Self-monitoring

• Impulse control 

• Time management 

Executive Function Coaching is 1:1 support to help students of all ages build a toolkit of strategies to improve their executive function skills (see previous Q). These skills are essential for success in school and life. Oftentimes, executive dysfunction is associated with people with ADHD but people without an ADHD diagnosis can also struggle with these skills. Students who are feeling horrible about their grades and school performance often become more confident which is one of my favorite side effects of coaching! When students have the skills and systems that work for them, they feel SO much better about school!

Do you feel like your student's grades don’t match their knowledge and potential? 

Does your student have the knowledge and drive to do well in school but the outcome doesn’t reflect their effort or intelligence? 

Does your student forget to do assignments, or do them but forget to turn them in? 

Does your student forget to study for tests and find themselves cramming for tests the night before? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your child probably needs executive functioning coaching. 

If you find yourself fighting over homework, completely perplexed by your child’s procrastination, or baffled by their grades, your student probably needs Executive Function coaching.

Most folks schedule a free 15-minute introductory call to connect and determine if your child’s needs are a good match for my philosophy as an executive function coach. 

After the initial call, I will follow up with a few dates and times for a 30-minute intake call. During the intake call, we will go more in-depth as to what challenges you are seeing as a parent, and determine how many days per week (usually one or two) your student (or you, if you’re a college student) will meet with me. A start date will also be set during the initial meeting. 

Students typically work with me for at least the entire semester but usually the whole school year. Developing executive function skills takes time and it isn’t a quick fix. Students must develop habits and systems that they are committed to which often takes trial and error. The good news is that the habits they develop now can stay with them throughout their lifetime, supporting them in college and beyond. 

In addition, students with ADHD are typically 30% behind their peers in executive skill development (Citation). That being said, students with ADHD need a lot of points of connection to stay on track simply because their executive skills are not developed as much as their peers. 

Initially, students often need 2 sessions per week, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end of the week. This helps ensure students start the week strong and actually follow through on their assignments and commitments at the end of the week. Oftentimes, as students start to feel more and more confident we can drop down to one day per week.

Students meet with me weekly, or biweekly. We set appropriate goals that are unique to your child when we start working together and reevaluate those goals every semester. I send weekly updates so you know how your child is doing and don’t have to ask them to report out. If you have further questions, I encourage you to reach out to me via text or email. Anything beyond that, you can schedule a meeting with me — with or without your student. All meetings are billed at my hourly rate ($150).

Students can expect to learn and grow in various ways while working with me. 

Results I’ve seen in the past include: 

• Learn how to manage their homework

• Learn — and use — a calendaring system

• Develop the confidence to reach out to their teachers and advocate for themselves 

• Become aware of their habits (the positive and the negative)

• Gain study strategies to help them improve their test-taking

• Setting personal goals and making progress towards those goals

These skills can only be taught in context, and they often evolve as students move up in school. While I can’t guarantee any academic outcomes, in my experience if your child consistently puts their new skills to use they often become more on top of their assignments, study effectively for their tests, and oftentimes grades do improve.

Practice makes sustainable habit change. Not only do students need to learn these skills but they need to be able to apply them independently AND build in a habit of using these skills. This takes time!

You will receive session notes by the end of the week, recapping what we covered in the session and sharing their action items. 

In addition, you are welcome and encouraged to schedule monthly check-ins with me. Check-ins longer than 15 minutes will be billed at my normal hourly rate.  

I also offer unlimited text and email support for your student, between sessions.

I am not a content tutor. I can help students plan projects and guide them to resources but I do not tutor in subject areas.

Your child’s success is highly dependent on how committed your student is to coming to sessions and implementing the strategies I am helping them develop. The most successful students attend all their sessions, are engaged, attentive, honest, reply to text check-ins throughout the week, and are eager to learn and respectful. Students who are honest about their grades, assignments, tests, etc are far more successful. I understand the difference between lying about doing an assignment and students simply misremembering or not knowing (that is different, and a hallmark of ADHD). 

When a student genuinely puts in the effort, I often see improvement in the first month. Though a big part of this improvement is because I’m there with reminders and check-ins. Which is why it’s most useful for us to work together for at least a semester and ideally a school year. Think of me as a human scaffolding, supporting your student with the executive function skills they are in the process of learning. As the year goes on, I “remove” pieces of the scaffolding and let your student try out their new skills. With consistent practice, the goal is for your student to not rely on me for these skills. 

I understand students may be hesitant about meeting with a coach and being vulnerable about their struggles in school. Many students can work through initial hesitation once they realize that I am on their side and am rooting for them. I approach sessions with kindness and lightheartedness. Over the course of a few sessions, students usually come to trust that I’m here to help. 

That said, your student does need to eventually let go of their resistance for coaching to be effective. If your student displays continued resistance, is unwilling to engage with me, or refuses to attend sessions, it is a waste of both my time and your money. If we get to that point, I’ll be completely honest with you and we can talk through your options. I usually give it at least a month before deciding coaching won’t work for your child at this time.