Executive Function Coaching
For many students, executive function skills such as organization and planning can be the single most challenging obstacle to school success. Our comprehensive executive function coaching program helps students in grades 5-college to overcome their specific areas of difficulty. Our program has proven effective in helping middle, high school, and college students to improve their grades and more importantly to improve their confidence and self concept.
Initial Intake Meeting
At an initial executive function intake meeting, parents and students fill out a survey to pinpoint specific areas of concern. During the initial intake meeting the student will be administered several informal assessments including:
- Reading Comprehension Assessment;
- School Attitude Inventory;
- Self Evaluation of Executive Functions.
After the intake meeting, the parent will receive an individualized report detailing areas to be covered in the coaching sessions as well as the estimated number of sessions needed.
Program Design
Students meet once a week with their personal coach, a highly trained educator, to work on their own executive function needs. Topics covered in sessions are based on the student's intake assessment. The executive function program will help students to plan, prioritize, and carry out tasks in the following areas:
- Time Management
- Working Memory
- Task and Material Organization
- Task Initiation
- Follow-Through
- Flexibility
- Response Inhibition
- Emotional Control
- Sustained Attention
- Goal-Directed Persistence
- Metacognition (thinking about one's own mental processes)
Books About Executive Functioning
Dawson, P. & Guare R. (2003) Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention (2nd ed.)Dawson, P. & Guare R. (2010) Working Memory and Learning: A practical Guide for TeachersGathercole, T.P. & Alloway, S.E. (2008) Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function DifficultiesMcCloskey, G., Perkins, L.A., & Divner, B.V. (2009) Executive Function in Education: From Theory to PracticeMeltzer, L. (2007)
