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Check out our variety of resources and tips on Executive Function support, ADHD, mental health, and more

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ADHD Child Refuses to Do Schoolwork: Top Tips to Help | Beyond Booksmart

Let’s be honest… No student loves homework - and for good reason. When we consider the full school day, extracurriculars, and various social components that are all part of a typical school week, it’s no wonder why students want to relax and recharge when they finally get home. However, part of growing up is learning to roll up our sleeves and do those essential thing...

Failure to Launch: How to Nudge Your Young Adult Toward Independence

Although parents have many responsibilities, the greatest one of all is to equip our kids with the skills they need to grow into successful, independent, and happy adults. However, when we find that our kids’ transition into adulthood isn’t happening the way we hoped, that responsibility can suddenly become a terrible burden. Whether it’s around the end of high school...

By Sean Potts | Jan 24, 2022

When Getting Started is Impossible: 5 Procrastination Hacks that Work

Of all the Executive Function-related challenges we experience, procrastination is most pervasive. Even the most successful students and adults can struggle to initiate a difficult or less-than-exciting task. So what can they do about it? Plenty, it turns out. This week, we’ll be sharing the 5 best strategies to conquer procrastination, all of which have been tested b...

By Sean Potts | Jan 24, 2022
By Sean Potts | Jan 10, 2022

What College Students Struggle with Most (and what you can do to help)

When you’re struggling with self-management, every day can feel like an uphill battle. Not knowing how to manage time, effort, or emotions - or to organize and plan in order to meet demands, is an exhausting way to live. And although it can feel isolating for those who are struggling, these problems are far more common than most of us might think.

By Sean Potts | Jan 10, 2022
By Sean Potts | Dec 15, 2021

A Survival Kit for the New Year: Our 21 Best Tips from 2021

Somehow, we’ve reached the final chapter of 2021. It's safe to say that this year was one giant learning experience as we all have tried to adapt to a world that was unrecognizable just two years ago. We've been lucky to have so many brilliant individuals share their wisdom with our community and contribute to this year of learning. Between the dozens of teachers, the...

By Sean Potts | Dec 15, 2021
By Laura Thoresen | Jan 27, 2021

How to Keep Your Kids On Track (Without Being a Helicopter Parent)

Picture this - you just finished your second Zoom meeting of the day. Your daughter is in the kitchen attending school remotely. She is a bright kid, but tends to be get distracted and off track during her remote classes. You walk into the kitchen to refill your coffee, but really your objective is to check in on her. As you walk in, she frantically closes a couple ta...

Why You Should Stop Rescuing Your Teen (and what to do instead)

It’s 7:45 on a Thursday night and your son finally gives his eyes a break from the TV just long enough to remember that he has a major essay due for English tomorrow. He might not admit it, but the frantic pacing and backpack digging already reveal everything you need to know - it’s not the first time he’s had a last-minute cramming crisis. Without asking details, you...

By Angela Molloy | Aug 05, 2020

Distance Learning for Fall: Helping Students with Learning Differences

It seems like just yesterday parents across the country breathed a huge sigh of relief that the challenges of remote learning were over and summer was finally here. Now, summer is winding down, the new school year peeks around the corner, and uncertainty seems like the only sure thing. Schools are preparing for a variety of scenarios as the fall semester is rapidly ap...

By Lisa Gurdin | Feb 19, 2020

How to Get Your Child to Listen to You (with less talking back)

Editor’s note: This week, we feature guest blogger Lisa Gurdin of LSGurdin Consulting. Please read more about Lisa below. One of the hardest parts of being a parent is realizing that your child will not always listen to what you say just because you say it. This is a tough nugget to swallow. Shouldn’t children just listen to their parents? Isn’t it just enough to say,...

By Lisa Gurdin | Feb 19, 2020
By Beyond BookSmart | Jul 31, 2019

Pets, Chores, & Other Nuisances: Negotiating Responsibilities at Home

Even though much of our work as Executive Function coaches focuses on helping students and adults work more effectively, you may be surprised to learn that we get a fair amount of questions during our presentations and talks that relate to managing a household, as well. And why not? After all, we use skills such as time management, emotion regulation, planning, and pe...

By Michael Delman | Mar 19, 2019

The Power of Small Experiments to Change Your Child's Study Habits

Think of a time when you tried to offer helpful advice to your child about the way they study. How did that go? If your kid is like most, you probably saw eye-rolling and heard heavy sighs of frustration in response to your useful tips. Why on earth does your kid refuse to take advantage of your years of experience and just listen to your sage advice about preparing f...

If You Think School Isn't the Real World for Students...

The “real” world. When exactly did we somehow all agree to identify the non-academic world as some separate place and time in which things will finally become real? It’s time to quash this concept because, for students, school is the real world. The skills they need to get through school happen to be highly relevant to the skills they’ll need to tackle in the world be...

By Brittany Peterson | Sep 26, 2016

3 Tips for Parents of Struggling Students with Overachieving Siblings

“Please stop graduating.” I remember reading this line quite vividly in an otherwise comical card from my younger brother. It was both a sarcastic comment - he’d suffered through my high school, undergraduate, graduate and second graduate school graduations - and a serious one. He was sick and tired of being outdone academically.

By Michael Delman | Feb 16, 2016

4 Tips For Building Strong Relationships & Self Regulation In Kids

Unless we happen to be hosting all the relatives for the weekend, I imagine that all of us have time to look up from our computers and greet our family members when they walk through the door and take a moment to check in. Of course, parents often complain that kids won’t talk about their day anyway. Parents offer the following familiar scenario:

By Laura Weiss | Nov 06, 2015

Can Homework Battles Become History?

We all feel the need to be there for our kids. We want to spare them emotional and psychological pain. We step in as tutors, counselors, teachers, police, chief cooks, and bottle washers. Anything, no, everything our kids need remedied, we do our best to fix. As parents, we have an unending desire, an un-qualifying need to make things better for our children. We promi...

By Laura Weiss | Nov 06, 2015
By Robert H. Howard | Jun 15, 2015

Values Based Parenting: Guideposts for Choices

What’s the difference between A and B in the following statements? A: Raise your hand if you want to talk in class. B: Every student needs a chance to contribute and be heard because every voice matters. A: No talking in the hallways. B: We respect others’ learning time by being quiet in the hallways.

What are Executive Function skills?

Executive Function Skills are a set of cognitive skills that help individuals plan ahead, stay organized, regulate thoughts and behaviors, stay focused, and achieve their goals. Each of these skills can be taught, learned, and applied at any stage of life.

  • Time Management
  • Maintained Focus
  • Task Initiation
  • Stress Management
  • Organization
  • Prioritization
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