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Teaching Metacognitive Skills: A Fun, Free Illustration

Many students plod through schooling as passive learners, and they rarely learn to take control of their own cognition. In contrast, others learn to be active participants in the learning process a...

12 Easy Metacognitive and Mindful Strategies for Student Success

Multitasking seems to be a habitual challenge that many students face.  For instance, juggling modern-day technology while completing homework is a common undertaking.  As a result, many young ...

DIY 5 Paragraph Essay Templates: A Creative, Metacognitive Tool

Although there is a common formula to writing a five-paragraph essay, students soon learn that each teacher has their own unique preferences. I can remember a teacher who didn’t allow students to u...

Sensing to Processing: Helping Students Shift from Passive to Active Learning

In every classroom, students are surrounded by a constant flow of sensory input. They hear the teacher’s voice. They see the text on the board. They speak when called on. But here’s the truth: just...

How to Meet the Individual Writing Needs of Your Students

With large classroom sizes, it is often challenging to meet the individual writing needs of each student. What makes it doubly difficult is that the writing process involves a complicated synergy t...

Listening Skill Activities and Discovering the Causes

It is easy for parents and even teachers to lose their cool when children do not listen to repeated directions. So, if kids aren’t making sense of what they hear, how can the learning process even ...

Five Specific Ways to Integrate Mindfulness into the Classroom

Mindfulness in education is a rising topic of discussion. Mindfulness refers to being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as maintaining a non-judgmental approach to o...

Why Train as a Tutor When You Can Be a Learning Specialist?

A tutor is a teacher who assists students outside of school. They provide support and review concepts with difficult subject matter or classes. Oftentimes, they help with homework completion and ma...

How to Strengthen Executive Function for Students

Most teachers have excellent executive functioning skills, so when they come across students who struggle in this arena, they may have little compassion or patience. For many students, executive fu...

Reading Comprehension Problems: 4 Causes and 12 Solutions

I'm sure most of you have experienced the act of reading a book while your mind was wandering elsewhere. Consequently, you can probably appreciate how easy it is for youngsters to miss meaning whi...

How to Help Students Remember Math Steps: Fun Strategies for Long Division

Many students struggle with the steps required to complete mathematical problems. They may forget the concept, miss a step, mis-sequence the steps, misread a sign, or struggle with writing out or...

Simplifying what's best for ADHD Students

Students who struggle with ADHD battle maintaining their focus on classroom materials, and it can be a challenge to hook and reel them in for any teacher.  Many teachers and parents ask me to help ...

Free Five Paragraph Essay Instruction

Many students struggle with writing and find the required steps both confusing and overwhelming. However, learning the "formula" behind an excellent essay can make the process of writing a relativ...

Executive Functioning Games for Groups and Classes: EFUN For All Ages

I'm thrilled to announce that Executive Functioning Games for Groups and Classes is now available in print for the first time!   While many of you have already explored and enjoyed the digital ver...

The AI Effect on Learning: Supporting Disabilities and Reshaping Cognitive Demands

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming education, rewriting the way students learn, process information, and demonstrate their understanding. Tools like NotebookLM, ChatGPT, and other AI-p...

How to Choose an Executive Functioning Coaching Certification

Choosing an executive functioning coaching certification program involves far more than comparing marketing language, credentials, or promises. The strongest programs are not necessarily the ones w...

How to Teach Executive Functioning in Grades 1–6 (Fun + Practical Tips)

Discover how to teach executive functioning skills in a way kids love! This post shares playful strategies, engaging activities, and ready-to-use tools for elementary and middle school students—inc...

Free Text to Speech Software Can Help Students Edit Papers

🗣️ Why Every Student Should Use Text-to-Speech for Writing and Editing Text-to-speech (TTS) software is no longer just an accessibility feature — it’s a powerful learning and editing tool for st...

Developing Fine Motor Skills with Osmo's Monster and Creative Set

I have been a fan of the Osmo from the day it was released, and I'm always excited to see what new interactive app they will create next. Well, I couldn't be more excited about their release, Mons...

Teaching Students Relaxation and Attention Skills with the Muse

In recent years, I’ve noticed a growing concern among educators and therapists—students are showing signs of low stamina, anxiety, and cognitive fatigue at increasingly younger ages. Between digita...

Higher Order Thinking: 7 Ways to Improve this Skill

Higher-order thinking or higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) is based on the theory that some more advanced forms of learning require advanced or complex cognitive processing. Bloom's taxonomy, for...

More Games that Benefit the Brain: A Review

If you have been reading my blogs, you know I'm a big fan of bringing the fun factor into learning. In fact, did you know that many games can improve cognitive functioning?   Some Games Exercise an...

Difference between a Tutor vs Teacher, Learning Specialist, and an Educational Therapist

Is your child or student struggling in school? Are you considering outside help, but you just don’t know where to start? Finding the right person with the best qualifications to work with your s...

7 Mindful Methods Boost Sensory Processing for Improved Learning

An awesome sunset will likely capture one’s attention for a minute or two, but much of our sensory processing information remains overlooked. Although we are subconsciously processing our surroundi...

Learn about Strengthening Working Memory with Free Sample Activities

Working memory is a core executive functioning skill and one of the most essential cognitive processes involved in learning. It serves as the brain’s temporary workspace — the mental notepad where ...

Unlocking Self-Control: Introducing the E-Fun Inhibitory Control Workbook for Kids

In today's fast-paced world, children often face challenges in managing impulses and staying focused. Recognizing this need, I'm excited to introduce the E-Fun Inhibitory Control – Executive Funct...

Tutor, Learning Specialist and Educational Therapist: What's the Difference?

Are you a parent who is trying to get the best support for your child outside of school? Perhaps you are a teacher who wants to consider starting their own private practice. There are a number of...

How are Knowledge and Comprehension Different?

Although many people use the terms knowledge and comprehension interchangeably, they actually represent two distinct—yet interconnected—cognitive processes. Comprehension is the act of understandi...

VNotes: The Ultimate AI Writing Tool for Accommodating Learning Disabilities

In my journey as an educational therapist, the discovery of innovative tools that push beyond the conventional boundaries and cater to the unique needs of my clients is always at the fo...

Best Professionals for Helping Students | Good Sensory Learning

Finding the best professional to help with a struggling student can be a challenging chore.  Several Professionals Can Help: Educational Therapist: An educational therapist offers remedial treat...

Mindfulness Training Improves Weak Emotional Intelligence - Symptoms and Strategies Defined

I find that more and more parents and teachers are complaining that our youth have underdeveloped social skills. Instead of face-to-face encounters, many youngsters have their attention buried in t...

How to Improve Working Memory in Struggling Students

Did you know that a strong working memory is one of the best indicators of academic success?  In contrast, those who struggle with a weak working memory often find learning, accessing prior knowled...

3 Reliable Ways to Strengthen Hemisphere Integration

Most people know the saying: Two heads are better than one.  Similarly, one brain with two integrated hemispheres can be equally as powerful.  It is common knowledge that the brain has two hemisphe...

3 Reliable Ways to Improve Attention and Working Memory

Did you know that working memory is often touted to be the best indicator of academic success? However, if a student is easily distracted, the academic content can be missed, or it can fade before ...

Affordable Working Memory & EF Assessment for Students

Our working memory is a complex mental skill that allows us to process and learn new information.  It utilizes our sensory memory, assists our short-term memory, and communicates with our long-term...

How Can I Improve my Executive Functions?

Executive functions, or what I like to call the conductor of the brain, are the process of the mind gathering together and making sense of all the information we receive from our senses or instr...

How Quick Hemisphere Integration Mediations Calm Students

Come learn about how hemisphere integration activities and meditations can help students improve stamina and attention.

12 Executive Functioning Strategies for Student Success

Gearing up for the fall, teachers and parents often scour for strategies that can help learners maximize their learning potential, complete assignments on time, and manage their workload. Although ...

Back to School Executive Function Skills: Establishing a Routine, Planning, and Managing Time

Having a great school year is largely determined by a student’s ability to plan out their day, manage their time, and stick to a routine. In other words, they need to have well-developed executive ...

Free Executive Functioning Tools for Struggling Students

Are you an educator, parent, or specialist trying to help a student who seems capable but constantly forgets assignments, avoids tasks, or struggles to stay organized? You’re not alone.  Many stud...

How to Teach Executive Functioning to Struggling Students

Many teachers are miffed when apparently simple tasks, such as using an agenda or turning in an assignment, are difficult for their students. Many of my own students have shared that some teachers ...

Strategies that Strengthening Math Abilities for Struggling Elementary Students

There is often an easy solution to helping elementary students who struggle with math.  But first, we must understand that the cause of the math troubles.   Finding the Root Cause of Math Problems...

Executive Functioning: Problems and Solutions

Many young learners are being diagnosed with executive functioning weaknesses, and schools are struggling to meet the needs of this population of learners. The problem is that many teachers and adm...

Back to School: Planning, Time Management and Organization Instruction

Many teachers can not fathom how apparently simple tasks, such as using an agenda or turning in an assignment, can be very difficult for some of their students. In fact, many students need comprehe...

Rethinking ADHD: A Perspective from an Educational Therapist

After reading the recent NY Times article on ADHD diagnoses and stimulant medications, I found myself reflective—not only as an educational therapist but as someone who has spent decades walking al...

Executive Functioning Tools: Practical Ways to Strengthen Core Skills

Have you ever wondered how your brain manages to keep track of information, tune out distractions, and shift gears when plans change? These abilities are part of executive functioning, which I ofte...

16 Ways to Make Lessons Memorable and So Much Fun

Making lessons both memorable and fun brings magic into any classroom. Instead of looking at a room of passive, bored faces, you can transform your learners into active, engaged participants. I wo...

Episode 39: Exploring Metacognition and Executive Functioning

In this warm and engaging episode, Erica and Darius explore the intriguing world of metacognition and executive functioning (EF). Discover how these interconnected cognitive processes shape the way...