Our Executive Function and Academic coaches are usually clinicians or learning therapists with a strong background in neuroscience, educational psychology, ADHD and special education. For optimal learning, a student first needs to have strong executive functioning skills. Then they can retain and follow through with schoolwork, independent of a parent or tutor. Once a student is primed to study, learn and follow through, a tutor may not be needed after all.

These skills are called “executive” skills because they are similar to the abilities a CEO or a head of a company would have to demonstrate for a company to be successful and competitive. A company with a very bright, book-smart but scattered executive would have to depend on his/her managers to plan, prioritize and execute the vision. Executive function training (EFT) not only gives the student tools to succeed in academics, but in all aspects of their life.

Executive function training helps students:

• improve attention and concentration
• be organized,
• be able to self-regulate stress and frustration,
• plan work
• study in more effective and creative ways
• manage time
• remember what he/she was told or read,
• take notes and how to use the notes for study
• get ideas down on paper
• advocate for themselves and communicate what they need to succeed.

Not all students need work in all of these areas. To save time and money, it’s essential to identify where the weak links are that affect learning. However, if several of these skills are weak, then interestingly, by targeting just a couple of skills, improvements can transfer easily to other aspects of executive functioning.

ADHD Coaching gets you on track and keeps you on track. It helps you achieve your goals by breaking down and simplifying all the specific tasks you need to complete first in order to reach those goals. Our certified professional coaches work with you in a non-judgmental partnership that emphasizes practical tools for time management, planning, organizing, prioritizing, and decision-making systems for effective daily living.

Our certified professional coaches help both adults and adolescents who have been diagnosed with ADHD create and maintain a proper structure at home, at school, and at the office. They work directly with the patient and the immediate family members to create an environment that helps facilitate the success of the overall treatment plan developed by the Hallowell ADHD Center practitioners.

We walk together through difficult classes, plan and set goals and priorities, and experience the general ups and downs that an academic year present. It is challenging enough for a student without ADHD or learning difficulties but when you compound these challenges with new social experiences, different living arrangements and getting familiar to new surroundings, well, that can be a recipe for hard times. Together we evaluate and work on the whole person including sleep, diet, technology usage, peer and family relations and more.

There are many tasks throughout the day that require our attention. Attending to them requires that we self-regulate and maintain focus, especially difficult with ADHD. Research shows that we all have a limited amount of self-regulation resources and with ADHD the supply is even smaller. Think of it as a reservoir that requires refilling throughout the day as we continuously drain our supply. When the reservoir is empty, we have difficulty focusing and coping; our willpower is deleted. Mindfulness interventions can refill the reservoir. If we take mindful pauses during the day, we can keep the reservoir topped off. A mindfulness practice teaches us the skills to recognize when the reservoir is in need of a refill.

Mindfulness exercises allow you to observe that your mind is always having thoughts. We learn that we do not have to get caught up in each of them. Compare it to sitting by the highway and watching the cars go by. You can simply watch them passing by or you can get caught up with them. You can talk mindfully to your thoughts. “Thank you very much but right now I’m finishing this project; thank you very much but right now I’m in a meeting.” You don’t have to pay attention to each and every thought.

Parenting children with ADHD or associated disorders can be challenging and different from what you imagined parenting to be. Many parents are looking for strategies to help with parenting calmly. They’re also looking for advice on managing their kids behavior, solving conflicts / problems, and better understanding what will help their children succeed while effectively keeping the relationship intact.