Mind Over Matter
Young folks’ minds are always humming along.
It can look like they’re not making progress when their choices appear out of sync with a specific goal — getting out of the house in the morning, for example, or finishing homework before screen time.
What we often call learning is
kids connecting teachings with their actions, their actions with their goals, and then strengthening these connections.
Underneath the surface, a lot is at play.
Prioritization, working memory, and habits, yes. And more.
What I do
I offer kids an accessible, flexible structure that incorporates executive function with other learning paradigms and speaks directly to your teen’s learning.
Among other proven findings, in ways accessible even to resistant students, we look at:
Mindsets
Types of motivation
Executive function
Right away, we take this from theory into the everyday reality of your teen’s life.
I support each learner in reflecting, for example, on the contexts that propelled them to make their history reading assignment their last academic task yesterday. What ended up happening? How do they feel about it? How did they make their decision, and why was this their process? What motivated them? Here’s why that motivation helped, here’s what is likely to happen if it’s used long term, and let’s explore a more sustainable path.
If yesterday’s approach is a habit, for a moment we separate it from executive function because habits travel a different journey from the human brain to visible action than new choices do. We take a close look at your teen’s habit, and we make key adjustments to it. As your kid practices new decisions, I foreground goal setting, prioritization, working memory, cognitive flexibility as appropriate.
As your teen’s learning and needs evolve, I evolve this process.
With this approach, a student can go
beyond “I’m a visual learner” or “I learn by doing.”
Far beyond getting organized.
Coaching executive function on its own, while valuable, neglects processes that drive executive function. Coaching just executive function makes progress more elusive, and when forward movement happens, it’s often short lived once the tutor is out of the picture.
Teaching your kid the factors that give their executive function a chance to thrive means supporting their learning meaningfully and for the long run.
They have the chance to gain awareness of how their learning processes work. The more they build this awareness, the more productive their everyday choices can become, the more skillfully they can shape and lead their growth.
On this path, a learner can reveal more of their wonderful, long term potential to themselves. And they can harness it.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Mainly middle school and high school. I’ve worked with folks ranging from six to 19 years old, and certainly each youngster is different from anyone else. While introduction of the learning principles described on this page can easily be adapted to younger humans, because a lot of the work depends on engaging with relatively abstract concepts, independent task initiation and, for the most part, online sessions, generally students may find it more relevant when they have more academic responsibilities. That said, I’ve met eight-year-olds who breeze through skills some high school seniors have found a struggle.
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The rate is $500 per session. This includes:
A 60-minute private Zoom call
Emailed update to parent(s) / guardian(s) after the session
This work involves looking at as many years as a student has been in school. Kids can tend to be less independent than adults with the moment-to-moment and daily adjustments needed to shift perspectives and behaviors that lead to consistent, enduring change.
Redirecting neural pathways with one reinforcement each week — seven days between sessions — is a Sisyphean task for any kid. I’ve had self-driven students who have done well with two sessions a week. For youngsters with attention challenges, three to five sessions a week is helpful.
We taper as their progress stabilizes.
Yes, I’m constantly looking for the first instant it looks okay to taper. After all, the goal is for students to drive their own lives one day without a tutor.
Conversation in any form that stems from the above updates, or that begins outside these updates, is at a $500 hourly rate. -
Numberswise, I’ve worked with students with learning differences for 12 years. One of the most important factors in youngsters’ progress has been households’ willingness to be open about student diagnoses and tendencies. I empathize with questions and hurdles many families face regarding testing, IEP discussions, the student’s future.
I respect your privacy.
If you think your kid might have a learning difference, I’m glad to talk with you about it in the introductory phone call. As you likely know, a lot of strategies that work for students with diagnosed learning differences are helpful to many without diagnoses. If I don’t think I can support your youngster well, I’ll tell you. If we move forward, we can maintain communication along the way.
I am equipped to work with learners facing dyslexia, attention challenges (hyperactive and inattentive), social anxiety. Since every student’s presentation is different, though, of course the format they thrive in is also individual.Folks with other diagnoses are equally valuable to this world. I hope you can appreciate I simply don’t currently have the tools to support them as fully as they deserve.