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What is the EF Specialists process? 

Our process for enhancing executive function skills is a five step process that includes an intake, assessment and weekly skill building meeting. Read below to learn about each step in more detail.

How long does executive function coaching last? 

Our experience has shown that establishing a robust coaching relationship and effectively teaching and practicing new skills require a certain duration.

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We require weekly meetings for our coaching services and ask for a commitment of 12 sessions. The 12-week period allows our coaches and students to develop a relationship, teach necessary skills, and give students ample opportunity to practice and integrate these skills into their daily lives. This structured timeline is essential for creating lasting change and ensuring that the improvements we work towards are sustainable.​

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We've found that shorter engagements often do not provide enough time for substantial development and may lead to regression once coaching concludes. Our goal is to avoid a scenario where families feel they are starting over after prematurely ending the coaching process.

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However, we want to ensure our families feel comfortable and confident in their coaching matches. That’s why we offer a match guarantee. Should you find that the coach isn't the right fit for the client after the first session, we can work with your family to understand the issue and propose a solution

Step 1: The Inquiry Meeting

The inquiry meeting is an opportunity for us to learn more about the transformation you would like to see occur while working with an executive functioning coach, as well as an opportunity for us to share more about our process to support your goals.
 

We also ask your student to describe the characteristics and experience they would like to have with their ideal coach, so we can match them appropriately. 


Through a series of questions, we will collaboratively identify if we are a "right fit" for each other. 

You can book your free inquiry meeting by clicking below.

Step 2: Matching

During the matching process, we evaluate your student's current executive function needs and their preferences, then match them with one of our experienced specialists. 

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The cost of our registration and matching process can be found on our pricing page. This cost includes: 

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  • Matching your student with an appropriate executive function specialist 

  • A review of any assessments, IEPs, 504 plans or other key documents you wish to provide

  • Initial consultations with teachers, mental health providers and/or other professionals you would like to connect us with

Step 3: Weekly Executive Function Coaching

During the weekly executive function coaching sessions our specialists will establish a designed alliance with our students that allows them to strengthen their executive function skills. Each of our specialists has been certified in the coaching methodology designed by founder, Sean McCormick. 


We describe executive functioning skills as P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E. skills that include: 
 

  • Planning

  • Organization

  • Self-advocacy

  • Initiation

  • Time management

  • Inhibition management

  • Visualizing outcomes 

  • ​Evaluating priorities


By guiding our students to address the most challenging dilemmas in their academic lives while explicitly teaching P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E. skills at the "point of performance," our students begin to experience an expansion of their growth mindset, sense of resilience and overall engagement with the school process.

 

All sessions are held online using a multi-sensory approach by one of our highly-skilled specialists. 

If requested, we will also check-in between sessions using a combination of solution-focused questioning and "proof-ability" requests, to support both task-initiation and follow through. 

The cost of enrolling in our program can be found on our pricing page. 

Learn more about our executive function coaching sessions by clicking here. 

Wondering what a typical EF coaching session looks like? Watch this video 👇

Step 4: Family Team Meeting

The Family-Team Meeting (FTM) is an opportunity for all of the key stakeholders on your student's "team" to meet and engage in a process celebrating the wins (or micro-wins), identifying adjusted or new goals, or assigning responsibility and a timeline for implementation. 

The key to a successful FTM is that it is run by a skilled facilitator who ensures that everyone has the opportunity to be heard while centering the student's voice as the driving force of the process.

 

The Family Team Meeting is usually held in place of a normal session every 4-6 weeks. If you ever have feedback for your specialist, the Family Team Meeting is a great place to work collaboratively to get your coaching goals met. 

Learn why we hold Family Team Meetings by reading this article. 

Step 5: Phase Out 

Phase-out is approached incrementally to help students take ownership of their developing executive function skills while reducing the intensity of our intervention to allow for independent practice.

 

Since we work from a model requiring weekly sessions this could look like choosing a final bill date, then spreading the final four sessions across two months.

 

We suggest you discuss a plan with your specialist during a family team meeting.  

 

We recommend a minimum of 6 months of coaching to fully integrate and apply the P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E. skills with guidance, but many students benefit from a more extensive timeline due to the increasing demands on their executive skills as they transition into higher grade levels.

  • Who are AET Educational Therapists?
    AET-qualified Educational Therapists have met high educational, philosophical, and ethical standards to support their clients. AET Associate Educational Therapist members are highly trained professionals, with graduate- level degrees and documented educational backgrounds in special education, educational assessment, and the philosophy and practice of educational therapy. AET Educational Therapist/Professionals (ET/Ps) have completed additional supervised hours with a Board Certified Educational Therapist and have logged at least 1500 hours of direct service with clients. AET Board Certified Educational Therapists (BCETs) have reached the highest level of professional qualification by completing a Master’s Degree in a field related to educational therapy and meeting additional requirements including submitting a comprehensive case study and passing a best practices exam.
  • Who benefits from the support of an AET Educational Therapist?
    Adults, adolescents, and children with learning differences who need personalized intervention plans and one-on-one support to remediate deficits and promote strengths and abilities. • Students and employees with executive function challenges who need assistance to take control of their time management, thinking strategies, memory, and organization. • Learners who have given up the hope to learn. • Bright students who are not thriving at school. • Parents who want to learn how to support their children. • Allied Professionals who need to understand the learner’s perspective. • Pediatricians who need a better understanding of learning differences.
  • Who do Educational Therapists collaborate with?
    AET Educational Therapists work closely with Allied Professionals such as psychologists, diagnosticians, pediatricians, educators, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals to provide comprehensive support to their shared clients.
  • How do I find an Educational Therapist?
    You can visit our team page to learn more about the Educational Therapists on our staff or you can find trusted, trained, and professional AET Educational Therapists may be found by accessing the Find an ET resource at AETonline.org.
  • What is the difference between an Educational Therapist and a tutor?
    While a tutor generally focuses on teaching specific subject matter, an educational therapist’s focus is broader. Educational therapists work as a team with parents, teachers, and other professionals to set goals and develop an intervention plan that addresses not only academic difficulties, but also psycho-educational and socio-emotional aspects of life-long learning through an eclectic combination of individualized intervention strategies.
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