All Articles tagged Testing

Executive Function Coaching

March 15, 2015

The CEO of the Brain

A complex variety of mental skills that we use on a daily basis to achieve our goals, executive function can be considered the “CEO of the brain.” Executive function as a whole allows each of us to set goals; plan how to complete a project; prioritize tasks; organize time, materials and information; shift approaches flexibly; and hold and manipulate information in working memory and control their behaviors for task completion. Therefore, there is a strong correlation between effective executive function and success in school.

Executive function continues to develop in the prefrontal cortex of the brain until at least the age of 25, which is why we often work with college students, too. While all children and teenagers are developing their executive functions, some children and teenagers have notable and specific weaknesses that may be clinically significant. Regardless of how bright these students are, they struggle to do schoolwork and successfully manage tasks. That’s where a skilled and master teacher or learning specialist can assist with targeted, explicit instruction, or coaching. More significant executive function challenges often go hand-in-hand with ADHD, but all students needs to be working on these skills as part of continuous improvement and effectiveness.

What Are Executive Functions?

Executive functions are a complex and integrated set of skills that allow each of us to achieve our goals and perform any task effectively. Developing executive function skills is not an event but rather a life-long endeavor. As we age up, we take on more and more responsibilities, which requires a regular refinement of these integrates skills in developmentally and age appropriate ways. Our everyday tasks — school, work, and extracurriculars — provide an authentic vehicle for practicing, developing, and enhancing this skill set, which includes:

Planning
Organizing
Initiating and completing tasks
Managing time and possessions
Prioritizing (and re-prioritizing in real time)
Multi-tasking
Transitioning between tasks and locations
Thinking flexibly to solve real life problems
Controlling impulses and emotions
Engaging in tasks requiring short-term, long-term, and working memory

Executive function may be better understood as a 6-step process:

Analyze a task. Figure out what needs to be done.
Plan how to handle the task.
Get organized. Break down the plan into a series of steps.
Figure out how much time is needed to carry out the plan, and set aside the time.
Make adjustments as needed.
Finish the task in the time allotted.

How Do We Approach Executive Function Coaching?

To practice the skills under the umbrella of executive function, we often work with our students using schoolwork or real-life tasks. These authentic tasks are typically more engaging for students and lead to a deeper understanding of the strategic process. We don’t believe in scripted curricula or a one-size-fits-all approach.

Customized for each learner, we often use assistive technologies, various timers and clocks, modified planners, and a variety of organizers, tools, and strategies to help students better manage their work. At My Learning Springboard, our practices are shaped by Brad and Faya’s years of teaching and special education experience in fully inclusive classroom settings, as well as by the work of Sarah Ward, the renowned Language and Speech Therapist who specializes in working with children with executive function challenges.

When we talk with parents, psychologists, learning specialists, and school faculty, we often discuss the following signs of executive dysfunction as they apply to a specific student. These discussions lead to creative brainstorming in order to customize an approach that will be manageable in each situation. Some hallmarks of executive function challenges include organizational issues, time management difficulties, and struggling to perform in school, which are further detailed in the sections below.

Organizational Issues

These challenges include but are not limited to:

Losing or forgetting important items on a regular basis
Being unable to visualize and maintain a clean room, desk, or locker
Interrupting tasks to gather necessary items

Time Management Difficulties

These challenges include but are not limited to:

Struggling to be on time due to disorganization or poor planning
Difficulty moving from one task to the next in a timely manner
Finding it difficult to figure out how to get started on and complete a task in an allotted time frame
Struggling to interpret multi-step directions
Focusing on small details or the overall picture, but not on both at the same time
Having trouble figuring out how much time a task realistically requires
Doing things either quickly, messily, and often incorrectly, or slowly and incompletely

Struggling To Perform In School

These challenges include but are not limited to:

Difficulty memorizing facts, digesting important information, organizing thoughts in writing, solving multi-step problems, and completing and turning in homework in a timely fashion
Finding it difficult to incorporate feedback into work or an activity
Difficulty transitioning to a new plan, even when it’s clear that the current plan isn’t working
Having trouble paying attention and being easily distracted
Losing a train of thought when interrupted
Needing to be told the directions numerous times
Having trouble making decisions
Lacking the words to explain something in detail
Needing help processing what something feels/sounds/looks like
Having trouble with higher order thinking

Scheduling a Planning Meeting

If you think that your child or college student is experiencing difficulty with any of the executive function skills listed above, please do not hesitate to reach out to discuss your child’s situation and needs in more detail. Difficulty with executive function can hold many students back from the success they could otherwise achieve in school and beyond. No matter at what point the situation is addressed, there are myriad ways in which to help children, or adults for that matter, become more effective at everything they do. Our team of highly skillful teachers is ready to help!

An initial planning meeting is usually the best way to get started. These meetings can be 30, 45, or 60 minutes by Zoom, by phone, or in person per a family’s preference. A single planning meeting allows us to talk more substantively about your family’s specific needs, priorities, and goals so that we can determine possible next steps. We’re committed to developing unique solutions for unique learners!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Warm regards,
Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman,
Co-Founders and Learning Concierges, My Learning Springboard

The Power of Faculty Collaboration

March 15, 2015 Brad Hoffman

All of my classroom teaching experience took place in fully inclusive school settings. As a teacher intern in England, I taught at a primary school that specialized in including students with hearing impairments in the general education classroom. My first head teacher position was at a rural school in Frederick County, Maryland where I taught students ranging from typical and accelerated learners to students with dyslexia, autism, and other special needs. Then I became a teacher with Montgomery County Public Schools at Somerset Elementary School in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Again, I taught a wide range of students from “gifted and talented” to considerably below grade level. One-third of my students had IEPs. I also learned to successfully manage a classroom with 24-30 students. It wasn’t easy. The only reason my students and I succeeded was because of tremendous faculty collaboration and family involvement.

What does it mean for a faculty to work collaboratively? Schools have a variety of professionals under their roof to support students and each other. These professionals are varied—classroom teachers, special educators, paraeducators, reading specialists, professional development teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, administrators, school technologists, media teachers, and “specials” teachers (PE, music, art). While each of these professionals has specific expertise, none has all the answers to any question or student issue. But together, when knowledge sharing and reflective practice takes place, these professionals raise the bar for one another and provide each individual student with strategic and integrated support. The results are amazing.

Since each student has multiple intelligences and relates to various adults in the building differently, our faculty was so much more effective when we worked collaboratively. For some of the most challenged students, teams would come together to review and analyze behaviors, learning issues, potential obstacles, and knowledge gaps. We would brainstorm interventions, put integrated plans into effect, monitor progress carefully and then refine our practices as needed. This approach helped ALL learners to achieve and to feel successful in school. It built our sense of school community and we all held ourselves accountable to each other, to our students, and to our classroom families.

When I left the classroom, I wanted to bring this same team approach to my private practice. I wanted to make this faculty collaboration accessible to any family looking for educational planning with a multidisciplinary team. Through knowledge sharing, brainstorming, open communication, and partnership, our faculty at My Learning Springboard supports students, families, schools, and each other. The results are amazingly successful.

Please contact our office to discuss your family’s needs.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed.
Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist
My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Improving Executive Function Skills

March 11, 2015 Brad Hoffman

In October 2014, My Learning Springboard co-hosted a workshop focused on improving executive function skills which featured Sarah Ward of Cognitive Connections. We continue to build on our work year over year and have developed specialized expertise in delivering executive function coaching that becomes integrated with academic coaching and/or test preparation.

Executive Function Skills are a complex variety of mental skills that we use on a daily basis to achieve our goals. It can be considered the “CEO of the brain.” Executive function as a whole allows each of us to set goals; plan how to complete a project; prioritize tasks; organize time, materials and information; shift approaches flexibly; and hold and manipulate information in working memory and control their behaviors for task completion. Therefore, there is a strong correlation between effective executive function and success in school.

In the videos below, we share more information about our approach to executive function coaching with our students.

In the presentation further below, Laurie Gross, our Executive Director and Educational Therapist, shares some key takeaways and strategies for improving executive function skills.

The SAT Reasoning Test: A Memoir

March 2, 2015 Brad Hoffman

Every high school junior is familiar with the fervor to study hard and do well on the SAT. After all, it is the first foray into high-stakes standardized testing for most students. Between preparatory classes and memorizing those ever-present vocabulary index cards, one would think performing well on the SAT is predominantly determined by how hard a student studies.

While I am not disputing the importance of diligent preparation, I believe performance on the SAT has more to do with how a student approaches the test. Considering the fact that the SAT bills itself as a ‘Reasoning’ test, much of it is focused on the student’s aptitude for approaching seemingly unfamiliar situations. Equipped with the right test-taking strategies and a thorough knowledge of the scenarios the test generally presents, mastering the SAT is quite manageable for anyone.

What I find the most interesting about the SAT is the straightforward nature of the exam. As a high school student, I remember approaching the SAT expecting it to be a convoluted exam replete with “holes” I would inevitably fall into. In reality, the exam is not misleading and rewards those who approach its questions with a strong sense of objectivity.

While the test can sometimes be confusing in its semantics, familiarity and practice with all the “tricks” that can be presented is key to success. Aside from test-taking strategies and familiarity, I find that a student’s best asset for any form of standardized testing is composure. By keeping calm and maintaining confidence even in times of uncertainty, a student is more likely to be able to analyze a given situation and answer correctly.

When one considers the importance of the SAT in college admissions, it is easy to see why it seems such a formidable opponent. However, if undertaken in the correct manner with the right mindset, it is a test that can quite easily be made a friend rather than an enemy.

By Rohan Gheewala, Private Tutor

Test Preparation

February 20, 2015

My Learning Springboard’s leadership team and specialists help students of all ages with standardized test preparation using our curriculum, curated materials, and instructional expertise. Our primary goal is to help students become critical thinkers with a repertoire of strategies.

We tailor our instruction and test preparation work to meet the needs of individual students and provide structured practice with a particular test so that students become familiar with the test format, question types, and timing. We ensure success by combining subject-matter expertise, successful test-taking strategies, structured practice, timely feedback, close monitoring, and goal-setting support.

How Does Planning Work?

Ideally, we work with students over a longer period of time so that test preparation does not feel like cramming. We find that extended periods of time for preparation help students to significantly reduce test anxiety, master content, and internalize strategies.

As a general process, students begin by taking a practice test that serves as a benchmarking exercise. Based on this performance, we recommend a plan in response to stated goals and in consideration of our preparation timeline. Most often, we have two tutors working with a student as the math and reading sections require specialized expertise.

Middle School transitions should begin during the winter/spring terms of 4th grade;
High School transitions should begin during the winter/spring terms of 7th grade;
College transitions should begin during the winter/spring terms of 10th grade.

Which Tests Do We Coach?

We offer test preparation and coaching for all of the following assessments:

SAT, ACT, and AP Exams
SHSAT (New York City)
ISEE (Primary, Lower, Middle, and Upper Levels)
SSAT (Elementary, Middle, and Upper Levels)
CTP (ERB’s grade level achievement tests)
SCAT
NY State Testing Program and Regents Exams
GMAT and GRE

Under the leadership of Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman, both Board Certified Educational Planners and a husband-and-wife team, My Learning Springboard also offers admissions consulting and school transition support at every level from nursery through college, including specialized school placements for students with learning disabilities and therapeutic school settings.

Scheduling a Planning Meeting

Whatever your need or wonder may be, please don’t hesitate to contact us. An initial planning meeting is usually the best way to get started. These meetings can be 30, 45, or 60 minutes by Zoom, by phone, or in person per a family’s preference. A single planning meeting allows us to talk more substantively about your family’s specific needs, priorities, and goals so that we can determine possible next steps. We’re committed to developing unique solutions for unique learners!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Warm regards,
Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman,
Co-Founders and Learning Concierges, My Learning Springboard

All Articles tagged Testing

Executive Function Coaching

The CEO of the Brain

What Are Executive Functions?

How Do We Approach Executive Function Coaching?

Organizational Issues

Time Management Difficulties

Struggling To Perform In School

Related Posts

Scheduling a Planning Meeting

The Power of Faculty Collaboration

Improving Executive Function Skills

The SAT Reasoning Test: A Memoir

Test Preparation

How Does Planning Work?

Which Tests Do We Coach?

Related Posts

Scheduling a Planning Meeting

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation