Coaching FAQ

Our online coaching model at NSEF allows our coaches to support clients around the globe. (That’s right… while our company got its start in Chicago’s North Shore, we’ve expanded over the years to now serve clients across North America, Europe, and Asia.) Our one-on-one coaching model provides personalized support for young adult and adult clients struggling with sustained attention, organization, planning, prioritization, time management, working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, emotional regulation, task initiation, and task completion.

Executive functions are LEARNED SKILLS developed through routine practice. Just as a soccer coach helps a struggling athlete hone particular skills through specialized exercises, so too does an EF coach help bright and capable clients understand where more focused practice is required to build individual executive functions.

Executive functions have nothing to do with being smart! Intelligence is not a reliable predictor of executive functioning skill development. In fact, the vast majority of the clients we work with at NSEF are extremely bright. Often, their high levels of intelligence have masked underlying EF weaknesses.

Executive functions are skills acquired through routine practice. Just as a violinist isn’t likely to mature into a more skilled musician simply by virtue of getting older or attending a school where others are practicing their instruments, the same is true for building EF skills. Regular, consistent practice on an individual basis is the key.

Yes! NSEF serves individuals with many kinds of EF deficits including weaknesses in sustained attention (ADHD) and emotional regulation issues (anxiety, depression, ODD, and perfectionism). 

Our professional EF coaches design personalized coaching plans with developmental benchmarks based on a thorough review of the individual’s executive functioning profile and EF skill analysis.

For students (elementary through college age), our coaches review and interpret neuropsychological evaluations, pediatric reports, school feedback forms, and IEP/504 plans. Most importantly, NSEF coaches work with the individual to identify and assess what feels most relevant and difficult for them in light of their executive functioning profile.

For adults, our coaches help clients by working together to identify concrete goals and assist clients in understanding and interpreting their individual EF profile. For adult clients with ADHD (diagnosed or undiagnosed), coaches provide structure and accountability to help clients successfully sustain focus and follow through on tasks. For all adult clients, coaches help with organization, scheduling, and prioritization so that our clients can successfully align their calendars to focus on EF development through incremental goal attainment.

Research shows that the most effective intervention for lagging EF skills is consistent, routine practice. To effectively develop executive functions, personalized coaching helps clients understand their individual EF profile and provides strategies to improve in targeted areas of executive dysfunction. Performance-based interventions that target deficits in planning, organization, and metacognitive processing have long-lasting positive effects including increased work performance, confidence levels, and independence.

Our mission at NSEF is to help each individual create a better work/life balance and to feel more in control over the execution of daily tasks. The key to supporting sustainable executive functioning skills is through healthy habit formation and gradual release. Our coaching programs are designed to provide accountability and support measures so that clients learn to build and implement EF skills on their own. In other words, our job is to work ourselves out of job! Our collective goal is client independence, and when we see the renewed self-confidence that comes with integrated EF skill development, we know we’ve been successful. 

No. NSEF coaches work with clients one-on-one via a secure, online coaching platform. We have been coaching online in this way for many years (well before the pandemic!) and will continue to operate using our personalized virtual coaching model because of the success we’ve seen with our clients. Meeting online allows for flexibility and increased accountability. For those families who require in-person coaching, NSEF is not the right fit.