1:1 Study Skills Coaching

Summer 1:1 EXECUTIVE FUNCTION COACHING

The ability to plan, prioritize, and complete work isn’t limited to only academic assignments. These are skills used in everything we do, from managing our work and family calendars to how we set and reach our goals.

For students, summer is an optimal time to work on building skills without the demands and stress of a full schedule. Whether it is through summer assignments, parental expectations (e.g. reading, chores, etc), test-prep, or a student’s personal hobbies/interest, executive function strategies can be modeled, practiced and learned so we are off to a more productive school year.

INTEREST FORM

The StudyPro coaching starts with a personalized executive function and study skills self-assessment. After reviewing the student’s areas for growth, we then identify and plan projects we can work on to support that growth. We also review students’ current work process so they can better understand how and where EF and study skills are causing “friction” and the strategies they can use to fill the gaps.

WHAT SUMMER EF COACHING LOOKS LIKE:

Student Self-Inventory and Assessment
The first step to improvement is being honest about our areas for growth. Many students don’t truly understand executive functions (EF) and so can’t self-identify where they need support.

Summer is a great time to “take inventory” of EF skills to better understand how to leverage strengths as well as to focus in on strategies to fill any EF skill gaps. The StudyPro offers a “Signature Strengths and Strategies” executive function self-assessment which is where we start all summer EF coaching. This report provides an assessment of both EF and study skills and will be the roadmap for our summer work.

Sample StudyPro Executive Function
& Study Skills Self-Assessment Report

WHAT WE WORK ON:

Building skills and strategies through summer assignments

For students who have summer assignments, test prep, etc., we like to use summer as an opportunity to help students initiate, plan, and follow through with summer assignments. Students may start the summer feeling like they have all the time in the world to do their work, however, that feeling can lead to procrastination and some stressful late-August days. If your child doesn’t already use a planner, google calendar (or similar system), summer is a perfect time to set this up, chunk the work and make goals such as how many pages per week it will take to complete summer books or other assignments by Labor Day.

Building skills and strategies through personal projects

If students don’t have summer assignments, collaborating on projects of interest will help with planning, prioritizing, emotional regulation, and time management. Setting goals and then researching, chunking, planning and “working the plan” help identify where challenges may exist as well allow us to work collaboratively to create strategies to address them. We can also work on the skill of anticipating roadblocks, a critical competence that is often overlooked during the school year. Summer is a unique opportunity to help make the connections between executive function skills in “life” and in academics.

Organizing and optimizing materials, desktops, and workspace

Minimizing “friction” in a student’s work process is key to supporting executive function. Taking inventory of their habits and workspace, both offline and online, helps to understand where students can reduce distractions and improve efficiency. The summer is a great time to assess what is working and not working:

In their materials organization: Creating a strategy for materials organization with their backpacks, binders, and school papers as well as a routine for maintaining it is time well spent during the summer. This allows us to work on planning as well as materials organization and really work through the process of managing for efficiency.
On their desktops: Using screensharing, we can review students’ current file organization systems and collaborate on what is and isn’t working. We can discuss the ideal computer organization system, share ideas and notes and make a plan together to organize documents and files. We can also talk about new technology to stay more organized, like Google Keep or Google Calendar.
In their personal workspace: Students can easily get distracted if their workspace isn’t optimized with the right materials and for a focused, personalized experience. Taking an assessment of what is working and not working about their current workspace, and planning for an optimized workspace is another “project” that not only helps with EF skills but allows students to have a functional, organized and clutter-free workspace to complete homework the next school year.

Learning to plan and planning your time

An essential element in strengthening executive functioning skills is externalizing cues and checklists to improve planning and time management. Identifying what planning system works for a student is work that can be explored effectively over the summer. Whether a physical planning system or electronic, the key is to get the buy-in to use it.

Personal goals such as meeting with friends or spending time on a preferred activity are great to use in order to help students get into the habit of using a planner.

Research has clearly demonstrated that a poor sense of visualizing time is a key challenge for those with weak executive function. Learning to estimate the time an activity will take and how to transition between activities are two other ways we can build skills over the summer that have a direct impact on success at school.
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OUR COACHES / OUR APPROACH

Anyone can call themselves an Executive Function coach, but not all are. Executive functions help us manage our time, initiate, and plan, which can be difficult for any student, especially when their routines have been so dramatically impacted. Being equipped with the tools and strategies that truly work for students requires very specific training. The StudyPro’s Executive Function coaches are Masters or Ph.D. level educators including special educators, school psychologists, and learning specialists. Our coaches all utilize a consistent and personalized method of planning, prioritization, initiation and time management that align with what is taught in our Study Skills and Strategies course. We have the experience to individualize strategies for every student — from those simply struggling with the transition to online learning, to students with ADHD, executive function challenges and/or other learning differences.

who, how often, and parent communication:

WHO:Any 4th through 12th grader who would benefit from individualized support and strategies to improve executive functioning.

HOW OFTEN:The summer is a time where family schedules should come first. We are flexible and offer 60-min sessions (*50 minutes of coaching + 10 min parent communication) weekly and/or to fit your summer schedule.

We can also offer two weekly sessions and/or 30-min check-ins during the week. Packages and pricing can be found here.

PARENT COMMUNICATION:Each 60-min session includes parent communication in the form of:

Coach-provided email summary of session including work plan, goals, action plan
and/or
Parents to join last 10 mins for summary of session and overview of work and action plan