At Beyond BookSmart, we support struggling students and adults, providing them with tools and strategies for academics and lifelong success. Whether a student has learning differences, has been diagnosed with ADHD, or is simply overwhelmed by a demanding workload, our coaches promote and strengthen a broad range of critical Executive Function skills, including organization, time management, focus, planning, prioritization, reflection, and many others -- all skills that students use throughout their academic careers and lives.
Our Executive Function coaches have Master’s degrees or beyond. Most are current or former special education teachers, speech and language pathologists, classroom teachers or school psychologists, and they all have experience working one-to-one with clients. Our coaches participate in comprehensive training developed by our in-house Professional Development Team. We provide ongoing opportunities to our coaches to expand their expertise and continue to refine their coaching practices.
We learn about our clients' challenges through reviewing any supporting documentation you can provide prior to meeting with you for the intake. During the intake process, we engage in detailed discussion to discover a client's challenges. We determine coaching priorities, discuss expectations and how we measure improvement, and answer any of your questions. After the Intake Coordinator gathers all of the necessary information, we carefully choose the best coach for your needs. Your coach then reviews that information and plans out the goals and approach for the first coaching session based on the research we’ve done.
The Executive Function coach is first and foremost an educator who strives to guide and support each client in their effort to succeed in school and beyond. Educators ourselves, we know that to be successful in our work, our clients need a strong relationship with their coach. We therefore work hard to ensure a good client-coach match.
We believe in regular and routine communication to keep you updated on progress. We have developed a secure online portal for students to check on coaching priorities, as well as track which tools and strategies were introduced or discussed in coaching sessions. While we empower students to self-advocate , we are available to attend school meetings to support families and with your consent, we welcome communication and collaboration with other professionals (your child's teacher, psychologist, psychiatrist, or his/her school psychologist, for example) on how best to meet your child’s academic needs.
We develop a personalized coaching plan for each client based on that individual's challenges and priorities. We take into account their readiness to tackle each of these challenges and develop a plan based on our constantly expanding knowledge of the most effective apps, tools, and academic/work success strategies. Our coaches get to know their clients' interests and motivational triggers and incorporate these into coaching sessions as well. We customize our coaching to each individual client and have a structured and field-tested system that drives our personalized approach.
Through over 15 years of research, Beyond BookSmart has developed a database of over 333 of the most effective apps, tools and strategies that are indexed according to specific Executive Function skills. All of our coaches are well versed in how best to use these in the most effective way for their clients based on their mindsets.
Beyond BookSmart pioneered the method of varying a coach's strategic approach to a client based on their mindset. Our model is based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (Prochaska, 1979; Prochaska, Velicer, DiClemente, & Fava, 1988). This model has been adopted by numerous organizations worldwide due to its efficacy in helping people overcome resistance to change. It views change as a process and supports our clients' progression through specific stages (or mindsets) necessary to achieving substantial and meaningful change. Based on that, our Executive Function coaches are not only able to support clients who are prepared to take action, but also those who are not yet ready to change their behavior. We incorporate this evidence-based model of behavior change into our unique coaching process, Reach, Teach, Reflect, and Release.
As coaches and leaders, we are constantly reflecting on what works and what doesn’t work so that we continue to improve our Executive Function coaching practice. Not only do our educators benefit from extensive and ongoing training provided by Beyond BookSmart, but unlike a single practitioner coach, our coaches are supervised by a senior level Executive Function coach. Supervision provides both 1:1 mentoring support to coaches as well as opportunities to work together as a team to consult about challenging issues that may arise during coaching sessions. In addition, our highly qualified Leadership Team is readily accessible to our staff.
With Beyond BookSmart, you will not need to drive to an office to receive Executive Function coaching. Our coaches work 1:1 with clients online in your home, which is both convenient and effective. We work with clients in the comfort of their own workspaces while teaching them critical strategies for long-term success.
We recognize that you are sharing personal information, and we respect and protect your records and information. Any documentation you offer is only shared with select staff to help us match our clients to an Executive Function coach that's the best fit based on that client's challenges, priorities, and goals.
While academic coaching includes elements of traditional tutoring, the goals and process of academic coaching reach further and deeper to teach students to become more effective learners, not simply to survive the crisis of the day.
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