Mirsky & Associates Executive Function Coaching provides coaching and support services for students, families and school-based personnel who are working to understand and overcome EF and attentional issues in the classroom and beyond.
Mirsky & Associates Executive Function Coaching provides coaching and support services for students, families and school-based personnel who are working to understand and overcome EF and attentional issues in the classroom and beyond.
Coaching sessions at their best occur on a regular frequency: 2 sessions of 60-90 min per week. These coaching sessions generally take place during after-school, evening and weekend hours. The frequency can increase or decrease based on need/availability; for instance, when a particular project arises or end-of-term approaches, more frequent/longer sessions may be advantageous. In certain cases, and depending on school policies, there may be an opportunity for coaching sessions to take place during the school day. Parents are welcome to sit in initially, and to come and go as they see fit, though the work of EF Coaching is most effectively done in a one-to-one context with coach and student.
The practical goal of EF Coaching sessions is to develop and hone organizational skills and to strategize for immediate tasks, while also looking at bigger picture priorities including communication with teachers and parents, and long term goal-setting.
The holistic goal of coaching is to forge a deeper, authentic relationship of advocacy and honest support with an individual student who may not have many adults allies on whom they can rely.
Coaching sessions generally take place one-on-one via video link. This maximizes the family’s resources [time, transport] while allowing the student to join the work from a place of relative comfort. Within the student’s home, the choice of meeting space is a crucial form of self-inventory: ‘what sort of environment is most conducive to me being productive; forget what others do - what actually works for me?’ Coaching starts with the learner beginning the process of self-inventory while the coach offers holistic academic support around organization, time management, task planning, task initiation and completion, relationship maintenance and work-life balance.
Parent and Coach are in regular contact, and parents are encouraged to ask questions about steps they themselves can take to build communication and foster effective relationships with both school and student. Part of the role of the Coach can be to equip parents and student with the right language to self-advocate, and at times, for the Coach to assist in communicating those needs to teacher and school.
It is important to emphasize that a Coach’s role is as capacity-builder and advocate. As the student becomes more capable and empowered to identify and articulate their own needs, Parent and Coach can more effectively step back and play the role of support/ champion/ cheerleader.
In some cases, it may be advantageous for the Coach to communicate directly with a teacher and/or school staff regarding possible accommodations or learning scaffolds that could benefit the student. While this communication is not a replacement for student self-advocacy or parent involvement with school, there are times where a conversation between educators can help in the short term to pave the way for more effective support and student self-advocacy down the line.
Parents can expect bi-weekly detailed progress updates - both from the Coach and via self-assessments by the student. These updates are tailored around identifying areas of growth and challenge both inside and outside the classroom, and steps being taken to address those priorities.
Parents can elect to communicate directly with the Coach for periodic check-ins via phone, video or text. Our goal is for you to feel informed, empowered and confident that the work being done will help grow your child and their capacity to be their best self.