ADHD EXECUTIVE FUNCTION COACHING
The KEY to success for students struggling with ADHD or other source of executive dysfunction
With the support of an ADHD executive function coach, watch your teen
IDENTIFY & GROW THEIR STRENGTHS, DEVELOP ESSENTIAL EXECUTIVE FUNCTION SKILLS & IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES TO BETTER MANAGE THEIR ADHD
SO THEY CAN MEET THEIR ACADEMIC GOALS AND THRIVE IN LIFE!
Imagine how you will feel when you see such positive change in your child!
What are Executive Function skills and why are they essential?
If you’ve never heard of Executive Function Skills before, you’re not alone! They are vital cognitive (brain) skills that enable us to organise and manage ourselves in our daily lives.
EF skills enable us to get important life stuff done – and meet the academic demands of school, college and/or university.
Executive function can be compared to a conductor of an orchestra, directing the different instruments (which represent different brain functions) to work together successfully to create the right outcome.
With lagging EF skills your teen may struggle with:
✬ Organising themselves and their belongings
Coaching will help them develop their organisational skills
✬ Keeping on top of homework tasks and assignments
I will share systems to track workload and get it done!
✬ Planning a study schedule (and keeping to it!)
I’ll teach planning & prioritisation skills, & habit-building
✬ Getting started on tasks – particularly boring or tricky ones!
I will share task initiation & hacks to beat procrastination
✬ Finding motivation for school or college
I’ll help your teen adopt positive self-talk, & find their “fuel”
Need relief from worrying about your teen’s future?
Check out these FAQs to learn more about Executive Functions.
Why are Executive Functions so important?
Executive Functions are the skills we use to “execute” complex tasks. Simply, it is how the brain helps us to get important stuff done!
Think about our executive functions as the air traffic control centre of the brain. Just as an airport needs air traffic control to run smoothly, so we need our executive functions for our own internal systems and lives to run smoothly.
Executive Function Skills allow us to manage ourselves, and plan and strive towards our goals. Therefore they are essential for academic achievement, emotional well-being, life skills and long-term success.
Why do children with ADHD / ADD or other neurodiverse conditions or learning differences have special problems with their executive function?
Compared to their neurotypical peers, neurodivergent children and young people experience a 3 – 5 year delay in the development of their executive functions. It’s easy to see how a 15 year old, with the EF skills of a 10-12 year old, will struggle in high school! Working with an ADHD EF coach can help your child develop lagging EF skills and learn compensatory or complimentary strategies.
My child has suspected ADHD, but no diagnosis yet. Could they be struggling with executive function?
Yes, many young people without an ADHD diagnosis, exhibit executive functioning difficulties. In fact, identified EF challenges are often key indicators of potential ADHD and several are reflected in the DSM criteria for diagnosis. However, a diagnosis is not needed for your child to benefit from EF coaching.
My child takes daily ADHD medication since their diagnosis. Why should I also consider ADHD executive function coaching?
Medication is not a complete solution to the challenges of ADHD. In fact, it is only ONE aspect of recommended treatments for ADHD.
✔︎ Medication CAN create improvements in focus and attention, reduce impulsivity and/or increase emotional regulation.
✘ Medication CANNOT teach the vital executive function skills (life skills) that children and young people with ADHD often lack.
Explicit training and support for executive function is often recommended in ADHD diagnoses for young people.
ADHD EF Coaching provides this intervention by helping young people learn and develop vital skills of planning, organisation, problem-solving and self-monitoring, amongst others.
At Cognitive Keys Coaching, we also include family meetings and regular parent feedback as part of our ADHD EF Coaching packages. This enables us to share the skills and strategies your teen is learning, as well as provide support to you as you navigate the family challenges of parenting a child with ADHD. In addition, parent coaching is also available.
Is there an agreed list of Executive Function Skills?
- Unfortunately there is no definitive list of Executive Functions. For example, some experts group several functions together and others use alternative labels (which I’ve added in brackets). The following are commonly accepted EFs:
- Planning
- Prioritisation
- Time management
- Organisation
- Task initiation (activation, self-starting)
- Self-motivation (goal-directed persistence)
- Attention control (focus, concentration)
- Impulse control (inhibition)
- Working memory
- Flexible thinking (transition)
- Emotional Regulation (inc. skills to move through resistance)
- Self-monitoring (metacognition)
Why is my teen having difficulty with their Executive Functions?
Executive Functions are housed behind the forehead in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. In fact, this is one of the last parts of the brain to mature. Therefore EF only becomes fully developed in adulthood in the mid-to-late 20s, which explains why your teen may be struggling.
My child doesn’t have ADHD / ADD. Do other young people also struggle with executive function?
Yes, some mental health conditions, like anxiety, can effect executive functioning. In addition, trauma in a young person’s life can also affect executive function. Furthermore, people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury can loose executive function as a result of the injury. Whatever the source of EF difficulties, coaching can offer important benefits.
What are typical school challenges for AD(H)D students caused by executive dysfunction, that can be helped by ADHD executive function coaching?
- Managing school portals / apps
- Prioritising increasingly complex homework tasks
- Making a study a schedule (and then sticking to it)
- Remembering to do homework tasks and to submit assignments on time
- Remembering materials for the school day
- Regulating their emotions
- Following multi-step instructions
- Starting a task (procrastination issues)
- Maintaining attention to focus on work (especially if boring)
- Controlling impulsive behaviour such as calling out or leaving their seat
- Problem solving with peers, thinking flexibly to resolve issues
- Goal setting and self-monitoring progress (including keeping motivated)
Ready to see positive change in your child’s life?
HOW EXECUTIVE FUNCTION COACHING CAN HELP YOUR TEEN
ADHD EF coaching helps your teen turn struggle into success
Coaching will help your teen learn the Executive Function skills they desperately need, by putting them straight into practise in their studies and life beyond school and college.
I also share strategies and hacks to compensate for lagging skills, and encourage your teen to use the ones that work for their own unique brain.
ADHD EF Coaching empowers your teen to take action
I empower each young person by putting their voice at the centre of the coaching process.
Students set their long term goals and take weekly actions towards them, enabling them to see immediate and continuing progress.
I also empower each student to achieve their goals by developing a growth mindset, self-belief, and resilience to resolve their problems.
Our EF coaching relationship is caring and collaborative
I believe the key to success is to build strong and trusting relationships with my students.
For example, we start each meeting with a check-in that addresses your child’s self-regulation in that moment and their wider emotional wellbeing, to build essential EF skills of emotional regulation.
How can ADHD Executive Function Coaching help?
ADHD executive function coaching helps students to learn missing EF skills or adopt strategies to mitigate the effects of those lagging skills. Therefore the benefits of EF coaching impact across the entire school experience and into life beyond school! Developing and embedding lagging EF skills is transformational: EF coaching enables your teen to catch up – and then keep up – with the demands of school and improve their home life too.
No getting lost in the class: coaching is 1:1 and PERSONALISED
Most schools cannot provide a truly personalised approach as class sizes are too big. Whereas in coaching, I work 1:1 with your teen. First I begin with an EF skills assessment and then tailor the coaching programme to meet your teen’s specific needs.
Developing a personalised system
My coaching approach is not theoretical: I work with your teen on solving their actual, real-life school and home-based problems. Also I build in plenty of practise opportunities and by trialing different options, we co-create a system that works for the long term. Hence why my longer ADHD executive function coaching package lasts for one term or semester. Although this will be enough for some students; others will continue to work with me for longer periods. As your student builds independence, sessions can be reduced to fortnightly before complete phase-out.
Giving your teen a voice: EMPOWERING your teen to build success
I listen to your teen and we work together on constructing their goals. Then, to make success achievable, I ask students to commit to small weekly action steps towards their goals.
Encouragement through accountability
Accountability measures help your teen to carry through on their actions and to get their school work done between coaching sessions. I encourage voice or text check-ins on Voxer, between weekly sessions. At weekly Virtual Study Halls, I provide help and encouragement with getting started and making progress on school assignments.
Not just academics: help with BEHAVIOUR too
I believe that “all behaviour is communication” so I get curious to understand the root of students’ behaviour difficulties. One example would be how executive function delays can cause frustration for young people. Another example can be caused by raised stress and anxiety levels, when students can’t meet school demands. In both cases, self-regulation gets harder and their behaviour may get them in increasing trouble. For those students who mask their ADHD or ASD in school, you may see these behaviours at home instead!
Addressing behaviour challenges
I don’t just ignore these behaviours, nor do I respond with sanctions like schools often do! Instead I approach their difficulties with empathy and curiosity. I get curious with your teen to find and address the root of the problem, instead of judging. Then I will help them build the “muscle” of emotional regulation by finding and practising skills and strategies that work for them. When lagging EF skills are at the root of the problem, we work together to build those missing skills.
Stronger together: A PARTNERSHIP with families
Regular parent communication and family meetings form a key part of the ADHD EF coaching programme.
Family Meetings
Approximately every 6th week, we hold a family meeting with you and your teen. This provides an opportunity for us to partner together for your teen’s benefit. I share the EF strategies and skills your teen has been working on, so that you can support your child’s skills development at home.
Parent Coaching
Parenting neurodiverse children is challenging! There is so much conflicting information out there, that it can be hard to know what to do for the best; I’ve been there! If you look to parent coaching, it can help learn understand your teen better and learn strategies that will make a difference.
Parent Coaching options
Parent Coaching is available either as an optional extra, or through drop-in Office Hours, as part of the Termly Package. By engaging in parent coaching, you will help you learn more about reasons behind your teen’s difficulties and how to adopt a coach-approach yourself, to create a more positive and peaceful dynamic in your relationship with your child.
Ready to take the first step to success for your teen?
How I Work with TEENs and families
The Cognitive Keys Coaching Process
01 Inquiry Phase
Book a free 30 minute CONSULTATION CALL to discuss your teen’s needs, goals and how I can help
This is an opportunity for you to tell me all about your teen, their challenges, your concerns and the changes you’d like to see. Additionally, I will meet with your teen to find out their goals and perspectives on their barriers, so they feel heard and empowered. Sharing more about the coaching process and how I can help, will enable us to decide together if we’re a good fit for each other.
02 Intake & Assessment
Through a 60 minute INTAKE SESSION and assessment process we set goals for our coaching journey together
First I will ask your teen to complete a questionnaire and an executive function skills assessment, which will inform the goals for our coaching sessions together. In addition I will review other relevant documentation such as school report cards, diagnosis reports, and any SEND paperwork. If necessary, I can also speak to other professionals working with your child.
03 Coaching Phase
The COACHING PLAN is delivered by regular online coaching sessions (or in-person in Chichester, West Sussex)
Each coaching package is personalised to a student’s unique needs. I help each student recognise how lagging EF skills present a barrier to their success. Then I support them as they learn the skills and systems they need to unlock their potential and meet their goals. When they feel empowered to take control of their lives and achieve independence, we gradually phase out the coaching sessions.
Packages for teens with or without an ADHD diagnosis
ADHD Executive Function Coaching Packages
Facilitated by an experienced educator & certified coach
Monthly Package
Personalised coaching PROGRAMME tailored to your child’s needs
✔ 4 x Weekly 1 : 1 coaching sessions
✔ Held on Zoom OR
✔ In-Person in West Sussex, UK (Chichester Area)
✔ 45 mins per session
✔ Student accountability check-ins between sessions via the Voxer app (optional)
✔ Session prep, planning & follow-up
REGULAR FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
✔ Parent/carer communication – up to 15 mins per week (as needed)
✔ Family partnership meeting – twice per semester or once per half-term (UK)
*Billed in advance each month
Termly Package
EVERYTHING IN THE MONTHLY PACKAGE
✔ 12 weeks of coaching
PLUS
✔ ADDITIONAL Weekly 15 minute student check-in on Zoom
✔ STUDENT BONUS Weekly virtual Study Hall to get homework done
✔ PARENTAL BONUS Virtual Office Hours for drop-in parent support
*Billed in advance or monthly installments
Weekly 1:1 ADHD / EF Coaching session PLUS
✓ Regular family meetings
✓ Increased accountability via Voxer
✓ Weekly virtual Study Halls
Valuable extras that maximise your ADHD child’s growth and success:
* Family meetings held every 6 weeks
These build a collaborative team around the student to support them to meet their goals.
*Virtual Study Hall Sessions
These provide opportunities for students to get work done, alongside their coach and peers.
* Regular communication via Voxer
By uploading photos of completed tasks, students can share their wins.
Ready to sign up or more questions?
READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP FORWARD?
Book a Free ADHD Executive Function Coaching Consultation Call
We will discuss the issues that have prompted you to seek ADHD executive function coaching, as well as your child’s needs, their goals and how I can help. Please feel free to ask me any questions you have. Towards the end (or in a later call) I will talk with your teen to gain their input and see if we are a good fit. If your child is now a young adult, the initial consultation call should be directly with them.