The Executive Function Podcast

Lacking motivation to finish the school? Maybe not! Let's massage your perspective a bit with exploring why you and your child may be feeling low "motivation" these days---and what to do about it! There's a strategy for every struggle! All my love, Sarah Audience: Students and parents, school context

Team, I want you to meet and learn from my friend Darius Namdaran. He's brilliant, and his simple-but-profound method of brain organizing will empower you today! Hear his thoughts on dyslexia, executive dysfunction, and a brilliant kid whose brilliance was allllmost overlooked, for poor handwriting! Darius has his own podcast, Dyslexia Explored, and a program called Bullet Map Academy. He's also offering our tribe a free session with him, just to share the love! I'm still learning with Darius, and we have some exciting collaborations in the works! In the meantime, enjoy a listen to the calm brilliance of a man driven to make a difference for neuro-diverse humans! All my love, Sarah  PS Go to bulletmapacademy.com/beginner for an example! And, email Darius@bulletmapacademy.com for your session!  Audience: all ages and contexts

Turn that frown upside down! Fix your attitude! Stop crying! We do a lot to prompt our kids to feel better, and it makes sense: we don't want our loved ones to hurt. But, could it be that when we try to "fix" what we think of as negative emotions, we make them more intense and long-lasting? This Pep Talk is for any kid who's had a rough day, week, or school experience. It's for parents and teachers who feel like they are never good enough. It's a pep talk for humans, and it starts with this truth: Kid, You're Gonna Fail!! All my love, Sarah Audience: Students and parents, school

Hey Team,  Kids are frustratingly human all the time. They do the thing you said not to do not two seconds after you told them not to do it. Oh, these tiny humans. Today's show will teach you how to embrace a "Detective Perspective" so that you can approach patterns and problems with a problem-solving lens, making yelling a tool you just don't need any more. The paradox of being perfect and super-flawed can really get you thinking, so jump in this episode with us! Pep talk is at 11:38. All my love to you, Sarah PS Remember to share the show! It's helping so many families! Who do you know who could use some executive function love?  Audience: Students and parents, school context

Have you ever read something, only to realize your focus had floated away? Or, have you lost your spot when switching lines of text? This week we talk to Nick Lum, founder of BeeLine Reader, an assistive technology designed to make reading easier.  It is proven to help alleviate some of the mental tasks of reading, improving comprehension, and extending focus (when our brains use less juice on just reading, we are free to think about what we are reading!) Nick will tell us how BeeLine came to be, why he quit his day job for it, and how he uses executive function to manage his business. Learn more about BeeLine with the links below. All my love, Sarah BeeLine Reader website BeeLine Reader on iOS BeeLine Reader on Chrome BeeLine Reader for PDF Insight Browser Beta (will be launching in January 2021 with BeeLine capability) Audience: all ages and contexts

If you had a dollar for every time someone told you or your child to "just study" or "study harder," you'd be rich, right? But, what does that even mean? And how can you study harder if you never learned how to study anyway? This episode has study tips AND how to coach your child to actually USE them, now, to improve their grades on last-minute work and final exams. Disclaimer: grades are not who your child is. While this episode explores ways to improve grades, take grades in general as one measure of the 1,000 things your kid is and does. Grades matter a lot and grades don't matter at all. Intrigued? Jump in the episode! (Pep talk for your amazing kid is at 16:19)  All my love, Sarah Audience: Students and parents, school context

Tribe,  This interview will rock your brain! Geralyn is an Occupational Therapist, writer, and mom who challenges the medical and educational systems to do better for everyone. You will love her story and unique perspective. She writes on Medium and is the founder of the Down Syndrome Action Plan. Listen to show to find out why Geralyn says, "we have to leave space for our kids to reach their full potentials" and why she passionately proclaims, "your genes are not your destiny." All my love, Sarah  Audience: Students and parents, school context

Hey Tribe,  If you're feeling weird going into this Pandemic-Clouded Holiday Season, you are not alone. Flexible thinking is an executive function that is in high demand right now, and the holidays are going to call upon it loads. Plus, you might be managing disappointment, anxiety, and social pressures...all while staying safe from a mostly invisible (but so very real) health threat. Not to worry, though, this episode teaches you how to flew that brain's flexible thinking and mine your expectations for the real gold---what you seek to feel this year! We strategize the Thanksgiving struggle today, together! Pep talk is at 12:25.  P.S. Sorry in advance: I sing on this episode.  All my love, Sarah  Audience: Students and parents, school context

Tribe, try-o-meters are not a thing. We cannot assume we know how hard others, especially our kids, are trying. I challenge you to replace your assumptions with only one: Kids do their best. Please listen and share. (This episode is in response to some emails my students and clients received from teachers this week, including, "You need to actually try," and "I won't help you anymore unless you do your part." We can't afford to lose our kids by assuming they aren't trying.) Listen in for some strategies and an empathetic walk in kids' shoes right now. Pep talk at 19:00 (but the whole episode is like a perspective pep talk this week!) All my love, Sarah  Audience: all ages and contexts

Team, This episode may go against the grain a bit. We all are fighting so hard right now. Fighting to stay safe. Fighting to stay positive. Fighting to stay on top of whatever "school" may look like. We are trying to be in action all the time because we think action is the solution to stress. Today's episode won't ask you to stop acting, but it will empower you to make FUN part of your plan and activities. It is FUN that will keep our brains healthy and able to access strategies and learning. It is FUN that will regulate our brain chemicals to get us into a more productive, happy space. Fun is not a waste of time, and it doesn't have to be separate from what you're doing right now. All my love (and some fun) to you, Sarah  Audience: Students and parents, school context