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Academic Coaching

Academic Coaching:

  • organization
  • time management
  • study skills
  • planning and prioritizing
  • academic consultation
  • self advocacy
  • self management and monitoring
  • increasing home and school collaboration
  • critical thinking skills
  • young childhood academic intervention development and implementation
  • Procrastination
  • Accomodations for learning profile, harnessing strengths
  • Test Anxiety
  • Motivational techniques

Academic Coaching is appropriate for grades 2-12 and college-aged students as well. The theoretical framework behind academic coaching is based in behavioral principles and organizational management, as well as learning theory, and how to increase executive functioning skills. The main areas that it helps are in learning how to plan, problem solve, set goals, manage time, become and stay organized, and how to think critically. So if you or your child understand how to get their work done but have a very hard time getting it done, this service is a great option.  Both skill building and motivational techniques will be utilized.

For college-aged and graduate students, this service is developmentally tailored to meet your needs. Believe it or not, half of my coaching clients over my years of practice have been in this age range. You are not alone! We offer remote sessions (FaceTime/Skype) as well as in person.

Consultation for IEP and 504 plans available for all ages.

It depends on each individual youth on how the exact structure of session frequency, duration, and parental involvement looks. At the first appointment I like to meet with parents separately from the youth, the youth, and then come all together as a team at the end. By the fourth session I will present a plan with goals, and we will collaborate to make our “map” for the coaching sessions. We will also decide how often coaching sessions will occur and plan how many in office visits per week versus Skype/FaceTime sessions. In session visits range for 50 to 100 minutes, while remote technology based sessions are usually 15-50 minutes.

*Please note for younger students Kindergarten-5th grade, academic based interventions in reading and math can be recommended but typically I refer out for tutoring. For youth in Kindergarten through 2nd grade, coaching is not typically successful in my experience, however parent and teacher consultation may be.

ADHD/Motivational Coaching:

ADHD coaching is a newer field and when I first started offering this service in 2008, it was really in its’ infancy. Today, there are organizations that offer specific certifications in being an ADHD coach such as the ADHD Coaches Organization and the International Coach Federation. I have learned through experience with approximately 75-100 clients with ADHD how to serve individuals with the core concerns that are present from this clustering of symptoms, that encompasses ADHD, as well as the multitude of strengths that come with its biology. I have helped youth and adults with ADHD pursue their goals by using organizational training, motivational interviewing, Socratic dialogue to help clients reach their goals, teaching time management, and teaching “life hacks” to help with budgeting and organizing thoughts, time, materials, and space. Many clients find it helpful to have someone hold them accountable and is validated in the psychology of success studies.

For youth, this service usually is under academic coaching, and there does not need to be a diagnosis of ADHD. Often times, youth use this service whose parents feel like they are baby-sitting their child during homework and/or getting into frequent arguments around time management, organization, studying, and schoolwork. If there is not a diagnosis, then I administer an assessment to understand the youth’s executive functioning skills and we design our sessions around strengths and weaknesses in these areas, and set goals together. Often times there is a heavy parent involvement and occasionally school collaboration too. As a reminder, what is evidence-based for ADHD is: neuro-feedback, organizational training, parent training, and teacher training, and medication. If I have a student who is motivated to change their habits, then purely coaching (without parent/school involvement) is indicated.

 

Examples of Researchers and Interventions I use in evidence-based coaching:

– The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology lists Organizational Training & Combined Behavioral Training as a “Well established” behavioral technique for youth with ADHD and Neuro Feedback as “Possibly Efficacious“: details at this link      http://effectivechildtherapy.org/content/attention-deficithyperactivity-disorder-adhd-0

–  Peg Dawson: http://www.mcgillschoolpsychinstitute.com/p.-dawson-bio.html

– Russell Barkley: http://www.russellbarkley.org/

– What Works Clearing House- The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

– Homework Organization Planning and Studying (HOPS) intervention