Description
These short courses help build new habits and skills that enable students to manage school, work and life better. This secular but inclusive course is offered in Naperville with in-person class meetings once/week for 1.5 hour and students put their new skills and knowledge to use in their daily lives between class meetings. By the end of the course, we hope to have a strong foundation of skills in place and practiced. Our instructor is a former project manager certified at the highest level since 2003 (PMP) turned high school teacher (Master’s in Teaching Secondary Ed) and private executive function coach that includes college students with additional Executive Function training.
Executive Function & Study Skills
In-person class – see below for dates and times
Students should be minimum aged 12/6th grade for middle school level and 14/9th grade for high school level for best results in this course. If your child is younger, please contact us to discuss the best fit.
Students meet in-person once/week to cover 1-3 new topics or skills. They then make a plan for implementing one of the new skills into their upcoming week. Time during the week is spent working on integrating that new skill or knowledge into their daily lives. Upon return to class, we open with reflecting on that process and potential fine-tuning.
Ice-breaker/team-building exercises and growth mindset activities are part of the first 2-3 weeks to build an environment that makes students more comfortable to share challenges. As such, students should be mature enough to engage positively in a group setting where others may be sharing their struggles. Students that are disruptive, disrespectful or regularly disengaged will be asked to leave without a refund.
Required Course Materials
- Whatever supports students in taking notes
- Writing utensil(s)
- Students will be provided with a packet for handouts
Additionally, students will need technical ability to access Moodle (our learning management system).
Executive Function Skills is broken down into two levels of Time Management, Planning & Organization. The first level is required to do the second level. The first level is a 6-week course that uses a significant amount of the Rush NeuroBehavioral leveled curriculum (RNBC) but includes some instructor created resources for topics that are not covered in the RNBC content. The second level course expands on the RNBC curriculum but includes instructor-created materials. The second level course assumes students are well-versed in the topics covered in the first level course.
In the Level I course, Students at all levels will learn age/level-appropriate skills in:
- Organization (including longer term storage and electronic document organization)
- Time management & systems
- Planning
- Time estimating
- Task analysis
Some topics take more than one class session and some topics are combined in the same class session.
Assuming students have learned and implemented/are skills in the topics in the Level I course, there is a 6-week Level 2 course that adds the following topics at all levels will learn age/level-appropriate skills in:
- More advanced Planning & Time Management skills (specifically larger project planning)
- Goal setting & tracking
- Decision-making & problem solving skills
The level 2 courses will run at the same time and day as corresponding Level I classes later in the semester.
Study Skills is broken into two courses each with a different theme. Each course is 6-weeks long and content does not overlap and do not build upon one another. The majority of content comes from the Rush NeuroBehavioral leveled curriculum (RNBC) but includes some instructor created resources and methods for topics that are not covered in the RNBC content.
In the “Homework/Classwork Focus” course, the students at all levels will learn age/level-appropriate skills in:
- Engaged listening
- Analyzing and following directions
- Reading prep including how to preview a chapter
- Note taking
- Tracking issues/problems
In the “Testing Focus” course, the students at all levels will learn age/level-appropriate skills in:
- Active Reading Strategies
- Annotation
- Memory techniques
- Creating study plans
- Test preparation
- Test taking tips
The Testing Focus courses will run at the same time and day as corresponding Level I classes later in the semester.
Executive Function Level 1 course
- Middle school: Starting Sunday, Aug. 23-Oct. 4, 2026 from 4:00-5:30pm (no meeting 9/6).4,,
- High school: Starting Sunday, Aug. 23-Oct. 4, 2026 from 6:00-7:30pm (no meeting 9/6)
Study Skills Homework Focus course
- Middle school: Starting Monday, Aug. 24-Oct. 5, 2026 from 4:00-5:30pm (no meeting 9/7)
- High school: Starting Monday, Aug. 24-Oct. 5, 2026 from 6:00-7:30pm (no meeting 9/7)
The majority of time is spent in figuring out how and when to implement new skills.
At middle school level: Students will often have approximately 30-60 minutes of work to do outside of class each week.
At high school and college level: Students will often have approximately 30-90 minutes of work to do outside of class each week..
Students who cannot find the value in the content and regularly disengage; or students who are disruptive or disrespectful will be removed from the course without a refund. Students in the course should expect to feel safe to share things that are sometimes difficult to acknowledge and we strive to create a safe, accepting and supportive environment.
