Unlock Your Child’s Potential with an Executive Function Coach
Since 2010, we have provided customized one-on-one executive function coaching designed to equip students with the essential skills, tools, and strategies they need for success in school and life. Our executive functioning coaches focus on teaching systems and reinforce habits that can be applied across all academic subjects, through high school, and into college and career.
Academic success is not just about mastering subjects; it also involves overcoming challenges in executive functions like organization, time management, and emotional regulation. Recognizing and mastering these skills are needed to become a successful learner, not just in the classroom, but in all aspects of life.
What is Executive Function?
Executive function is the brain’s command center, managing the mental skills needed to navigate daily life.
Executive function is a science-proven system that allows one to keep track of tasks, prioritize deadlines, and filter out distractions. Planning, organizing, focusing, time management, and emotional regulation – all fall under EF and work together to help goals be achieved, whether it’s doing well on a test, finishing a project on time, or staying calm during a challenging conversation.
How To Know If Your Child Struggles With Executive Functions
Being challenged with executive function can manifest in many ways, and are often similar to symptoms of ADHD. This similarity is because ADHD is a condition related to executive function challenges.
A variety of behaviors might surface if your child is challenged with executive functions. They may:
- Struggle with initiating or finishing tasks.
- Experience challenges in determining the importance and order of tasks.
- Often forget recently heard or read information.
- Face difficulties in adhering to instructions or following a series of steps.
- Be chronically disorganized
- Experience stress, anxiety, and overwhelm when confronted with alterations in rules or routines.
- Find it challenging to shift attention between different tasks.
- Tend to become excessively emotional and fixate on specific issues.
- Encounter difficulties in organizing thoughts coherently.
- Frequently misplace or lose track of personal items.
- Struggle with effective time management skills.
If your student suffers from even a few of these behaviors, school can be very challenging for them. Recognizing the signs is the first step to hiring an executive functioning coach to support your child.
What is Executive Function Coaching?
Executive function coaching can be a game-changer for your child, providing them with the tools and strategies needed to navigate these challenges and unlock their potential.
Academic Coaching in Executive Functions
Traditional academic tutoring often focuses on mastering specific subjects, leaving crucial skills like organization, time management, and emotional regulation to chance. This is why it is so important to teach both academic and executive functions steps together.
No two students experience executive function challenges in the same way. Therefore, tailoring our approach to your child’s unique learning style, and by using their academic materials, we will teach them how to:
- Organize
- Plan
- Prioritize
- Manage time
- Maintain focus
- Self-assess
- Study/work efficiently
- Manage emotions, stress, and anxiety
- Reflect on and change their approaches
Executive Functioning Coach and the ADHD Child
Many children with executive function challenges also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. As Executive Function Coaching provides practical strategies and support to overcome specific challenges, we can address the strengths and weaknesses of the ADHD learner. This targeted approach equips students with ADHD with the skills to break down complex tasks, manage time effectively, focus during study sessions, and regulate emotions when facing academic pressure.
Our role as an executive functioning coach is to increase your child’s confidence, enhance their learning, and inspire a love and curiosity for learning, both in and out of school.
Unlock Your Child’s Potential Today!
Unlocking your child’s potential starts with a conversation. Contact us today to learn how Executive Functioning Coaches can guide your child toward academic success and lifelong skills for living.
Executive Function Coaching FAQ
An executive functioning (coach helps students develop self-management skills to navigate challenges in school and into their adult lives. Executive function coaches work with students to identify strengths and weaknesses, and then teach skills to help them: organize, plan, prioritize, manage time, maintain focus, self-assess, study and work efficiently, set goals, and improve their working memory.
An executive function coach provides specialized training to help students develop crucial skills necessary for academic success and personal management. This training often includes techniques for improving time management, organization, planning, techniques to improve, and task prioritization.
Executive function coaches work on enhancing students’ abilities to set realistic goals, manage their schedules effectively, and break larger projects into manageable steps. They also focus on teaching strategies to increase focus and control impulses, which are vital for tackling schoolwork and maintaining productivity and motivation.
By fostering these skills, executive functioning coaches aim to equip students with the tools they need to navigate their school years successfully and build a strong foundation for their future.
An executive functioning coach helps students, enhance their capacity to manage time, organize tasks, and follow through on responsibilities effectively. These coaches work one-on-one to identify specific challenges that a student may face in areas such as planning, prioritization, task initiation, and sustained attention.
Through tailored strategies and exercises, the coach guides students in developing and strengthening these executive skills leading to improved academic achievement. The ultimate goal is to enable students to use executive functions to become more independent, efficient, and successful in their academic and personal lives by improving their ability to manage everyday tasks and challenges.
Executive function coaching can be highly effective, especially for students who struggle with organization, time management, and completing tasks. Numerous research studies and practical experiences, including ours with hundreds of students, indicate that when expert coaching is tailored to the student’s specific needs and consistently applied, it can lead to significant improvements in academic performance, personal organization, mental health, and overall productivity. These benefits are particularly noticeable in students with ADHD or other learning disabilities, but nearly any student can gain from enhancing their executive skills.
The success of the coaching often depends on the quality of the relationship between the coach and the student, as well as the student’s willingness to apply new strategies and techniques.
Regular sessions and a structured approach can help instill habits that foster long-term improvements in managing daily and academic challenges.
Improving executive functioning, a critical aspect of cognition can be approached through various strategies rooted in psychology. Executive functioning challenges, sometimes referred to as executive dysfunction, can significantly affect daily life and goal achievement. Here are several methods we use to enhance and improve executive function with our students, and that have allowed us to establish a leadership role in the communities in which we serve:
- Goal Setting: One of the foundational steps in enhancing executive functioning is effective goal setting. Clear, achievable goals provide direction and a sense of purpose. Breaking larger tasks into smaller, manageable steps can help individuals with executive dysfunction maintain focus and momentum, reducing feelings of overwhelm and boosting motivation.
- Feedback: Providing regular feedback is another vital strategy in cognitive behavioral approaches. Feedback helps students understand their progress and identifies areas that need improvement. Constructive feedback can motivate students, encourage flexibility and problem-solving skills, to better help them meet their goals.
- Training and Exercises: Cognitive exercises specifically designed to improve executive functioning can also be beneficial. These might include problem-solving tasks, teaching how to use memory to better understand and build upon the material, and teaching how-to steps related to planning and time management.
Implementing these strategies consistently over time can lead to significant improvements in executive functioning.
Why Families Should Use
S4 For Students
How S4 Study Skills Improves Student Outcomes
Students in Districts Who We Have Tutored & Coached for Executive Function
Connecticut Districts
- Darien Public Schools, Darien, CT
- Easton Redding District 9, Easton, CT
- Fairfield Public Schools, Fairfield, CT
- Greenwich Public School District, Greenwich, CT
- New Canaan Public Schools, New Canaan, CT
- Ridgefield Public Schools, Ridgefield, CT
- Stamford Public Schools, Stamford, CT
- Trumbull Public Schools, Trumbull, CT
- Weston Public Schools, Weston, CT
- Westport Public Schools, Westport, CT
- Wilton Public Schools, Wilton, CT
New York Districts
- Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District, Dobbs Ferry, NY
- Greenburgh-North Castle Union Free School District, Dobbs Ferry, NY
- Ardsley Union Free School, Ardsley, NY
- Bedford Central School District, Pound Ridge, NY
- Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District, Briarcliff Manor, NY
- Bronxville School District, Bronxville, NY
- Byram Hills Central School District, Armonk, NY
- Chappaqua Central School District, Chappaqua, NY
- Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District, Dobbs Ferry, NY
- Eastchester Union Free School District, Eastchester, NY
- Edgemont School District, Scarsdale, NY
- Elmsford Union Free School District, Elmsford, NY
- Greenburgh Central School District, Hartsdale, NY
- Harrison Central School District, Harrison, NY
- Hendrick Hudson Central School District, Cortlandt Manor, NY
- Irvington Union Free School District, Irvington, NY
- Katonah-Lewisboro School District, South Salem, NY
- Mamaroneck Union Free School District, Larchmont, NY
- New Rochelle City School District, New Rochelle, NY
- North Salem School District, North Salem, NY
- Nyack Union Free School District, Nyack, NY
- Pelham Union Free School District, Pelham Manor, NY
- Pelham Union Free School District, Pelham, NY
- Pleasantville Union Free School District, Pleasantville, NY
- Public Schools of the Tarrytowns PTA, Tarrytown, NY
- Rye City School District, Rye, NY
- Rye Neck Union Free School District, Mamaroneck, NY
- Scarsdale Union Free School District, Scarsdale, NY
- Three Village Central School District, Stony Brook, NY
- Tuckahoe Union Free School District, Tuckahoe, NY
- Valhalla Union Free Schools, Valhalla, NY
- White Plains Public City School District, White Plains, NY
- Yorktown Central School District, Yorktown, NY
New Jersey Districts
- Upper Freehold Regional School District, Allentown, NJ
- Alpine School District, Alpine, NJ
- Bernards Township School District, Basking Ridge, NJ
- Somerset Hills Regional School District, Bernardsville, NJ
- Cherry Hill School District, Cherry Hill, NJ
- Englewood Public School District, Englewood, NJ
- Holmdel Township School District, Holmdel, NJ
- Mahwah Township Public School District, Mahwah, NJ
- Mendham Borough School District, Mendham, NJ
- West Morris Regional High School District, Mendham, NJ
- Monroe Township School District, Monroe Township, NJ
- Montclair Public School District, Montclair, NJ
- Montvale Board of Education School District, Montvale, NJ
- Morris Plains School District, Morris Plains, NJ
- Morris School District, Morristown, NJ
- Princeton Public Schools, Princeton, NJ
- Ramsey Public School District, Ramsey, NJ
- Ridgewood Public School District, Ridgewood, NJ
- Rumson Borough School District, Rumson, NJ
- Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School District, Rumson, NJ
- Saddle River School District, Saddle River, NJ
- Summit Public School District, Summit, NJ
- Wayne Township Public School District, Wayne, NJ