Study skill/executive functioning coach- hands on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking for any recommendations for an active, hands on study skill coach/ EF coach to support our teenage son. We have had experience with many well intentioned EF coaches who support verbally, in a virtual capacity with suggestions only. This keeps falling short of what we need. We are looking for a practice/ person who will concretely teach our son study strategies, support him (hold him accountable?) to use them and teach/support him how to monitor, map out his time and then complete assignments.

I realize that this may be a unicorn. Are their coaches that do home visits, look at a kids study area set up, make recommendations, and meet with them in person 1:1 weekly ( or even 2x a week).

Or- any recommendations about outstanding summer study skill programs?

Please do NOT recommend the Chesapeake Center.

TBH, I am a subject matter tutor and a parent of an ADHD kid and I find that, while my kid had atrocious study and time management skills, what was really hurting his grade is that his ADHD was affecting his subject matter performance. No amount of executive functioning coaching helping him organize his notes and use a calendar was going to help him see that in math he made certain kinds of attentional errors repeatedly (mixing up signs, impulsively combining numbers, etc.), failed to firmly memorize formulas, sometimes stopped with partial answers, and sometimes missed or misunderstood concepts taught in class (or sometimes, TBH, they were taught badly in class). IME, a subject matter tutor is better at helping a kid with executive function, than an executive function coach is at helping a kid who is doing badly in math. But, it has to be a subject matter tutor who is not just explaining errors, but looking at the big picture and has access to all the students materials - classwork, homework, tests, electronic grade book, etc. and that tutor has to have a lot of experience with neurotypical and neurodivergent kids to understand how the ND student is different.

NP here. This was very useful to read, thank you.

I’m a parent of a 20 year old with inattentive adhd and poor executive function. He had academic struggles in HS due to these issues, but could get by due to the lax policies in mcps. However, he’s now at an academically rigorous college and it’s a disaster - all of these issues are rearing, and he isn’t able to compensate for the first time in his life. His self confidence is taking a big hit, too. I feel terrible and am at a loss what supports to give him, especially from afar.

Do you have any suggestions or tips? I hear your points, but obviously in a college setting there won’t be any subject matter specific tutors who also have a big picture sense of DS’s defecits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking for any recommendations for an active, hands on study skill coach/ EF coach to support our teenage son. We have had experience with many well intentioned EF coaches who support verbally, in a virtual capacity with suggestions only. This keeps falling short of what we need. We are looking for a practice/ person who will concretely teach our son study strategies, support him (hold him accountable?) to use them and teach/support him how to monitor, map out his time and then complete assignments.

I realize that this may be a unicorn. Are their coaches that do home visits, look at a kids study area set up, make recommendations, and meet with them in person 1:1 weekly ( or even 2x a week).

Or- any recommendations about outstanding summer study skill programs?

Please do NOT recommend the Chesapeake Center.

TBH, I am a subject matter tutor and a parent of an ADHD kid and I find that, while my kid had atrocious study and time management skills, what was really hurting his grade is that his ADHD was affecting his subject matter performance. No amount of executive functioning coaching helping him organize his notes and use a calendar was going to help him see that in math he made certain kinds of attentional errors repeatedly (mixing up signs, impulsively combining numbers, etc.), failed to firmly memorize formulas, sometimes stopped with partial answers, and sometimes missed or misunderstood concepts taught in class (or sometimes, TBH, they were taught badly in class). IME, a subject matter tutor is better at helping a kid with executive function, than an executive function coach is at helping a kid who is doing badly in math. But, it has to be a subject matter tutor who is not just explaining errors, but looking at the big picture and has access to all the students materials - classwork, homework, tests, electronic grade book, etc. and that tutor has to have a lot of experience with neurotypical and neurodivergent kids to understand how the ND student is different.

NP here. This was very useful to read, thank you.

I’m a parent of a 20 year old with inattentive adhd and poor executive function. He had academic struggles in HS due to these issues, but could get by due to the lax policies in mcps. However, he’s now at an academically rigorous college and it’s a disaster - all of these issues are rearing, and he isn’t able to compensate for the first time in his life. His self confidence is taking a big hit, too. I feel terrible and am at a loss what supports to give him, especially from afar.

Do you have any suggestions or tips? I hear your points, but obviously in a college setting there won’t be any subject matter specific tutors who also have a big picture sense of DS’s defecits.

You might be surprised by what the college has to offer. Have them check with the disability service office, the study skills center, and speak with any academic advisor they might have. Teach them to religiously attend the office hours for the course each week and ask for help breaking down the assignments into more manageable chunks. Have them speak with the ta’s for the class. They often run support sessions and also might have advice on have to stay on track. I teach HS and many times have encouraged my recently graduated college freshman to look into supports like these. They usually find there is a lot of help available that they didn’t know about until they started asking.