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Welcome from me, Seth Perler. If you’re a parent or educator who wants clear, effective, unconventional, and practical approaches to helping struggling students, without b.s. or misinformation, you’re in the right place.
What parents and teachers ask me?
It goes something like this, “I’ve got a super bright student, but things are falling apart! If we don’t do something about it soon, I’m afraid it’ll hurt her future. How do I help this complicated kid? How do I deal with her resistance? And how do I deal with teachers who don’t get her?”
The solution is complicated, and it has a lot to do with something called “executive function.” But don’t worry, my entire blog is about how to help.
The gift
To me, one of the coolest things is when I see a family decide to proactively start solving these problems. To see the change in how they feel is remarkable. Parents move from a worried, baffled state to a sense of relief, knowing that their child has turned a corner. Students move from a place of chaos and scattered energy to a place of confidence and groundedness. Seeing a child transform their educational experience is a tremendous gift.
How do I know if my child struggles with “Executive Function”?
- Your child’s grades do not reflect ability or “potential.”
- Homework problems: missing and incomplete assignments, forget to turn in homework, lose homework, forget what the homework was, etc..
- Don’t use a planner to effectively track schoolwork or other responsibilities.
- Often unprepared for class or other events.
- Trouble self-starting, procrastinate, appear unmotivated, don’t know where or how to start.
- Wait until the last minute with important deadlines or miss them altogether.
- Unrealistic perception of how much time and energy is needed for homework, studying, chores, getting out of the house in the morning, etc..
- Can’t focus on one thing to completion, gets off task, easily distracted.
- Because of habits that waste time and because of processing issues, these kids can take a very long time to do homework (as well as taking care of other responsibilities).
- Resist your help.
- Unrealistic perception of how they are doing in school.
- Get behind in school and the vicious cycle gets a bit worse with each passing semester.
- They have excellent excuses.
- Do not self-advocate effectively, don’t ask teachers for help early enough or at all.
- Overwhelmed by the demands of school, leading to denial or anxiety about school, and avoid dealing with it effectively.
- They often want to do well and have great intentions but don’t have the tools.
- These students don’t understand their challenges well enough to know what to do about them.
- Often remarkably bright, have tremendous talents, gifts, passions and skills in high interest areas.
About 1 in 10 students struggle with Executive Function, and since many adults don’t understand how EF impacts these complex kids, they often don’t get the help they need. This causes three massive problems:
- Many of these kids end up feeling shamed, like there is something wrong with them.
- Many of these kids don’t develop the necessary skills they need to launch a successful future (aka “Failure to Launch” kids). They can struggle for decades.
- When trying to help, adults can sometimes unknowingly make things worse.
The good news
We can help these kids develop the executive function skills they need to succeed in school and life. With the right tools, the brain can and does change.
The parents who subscribe here are sick of spinning their wheels. Many have seen their kids struggle year after year and watched helplessly as patterns got worse.
The teachers and professionals who subscribe here are the ones who challenge the status quo. They’re looking for something different because they’ve seen too many ineffective interventions. They’re sick of cookie cutter approaches and want better tools to decode complicated students.
All of these adults want to figure out what’s going on so they can get on with giving kids the support they need.
Why is Executive Function such a big problem?
You don’t know what you don’t know. Teachers are rarely given the training and resources to meet the needs of all students, and a lot of parents tell me that some teachers “don’t get my kid.” Most schools (private and alternative included) fail to understand Executive Function, and educators often make the mistake of believing that these kids are lazy, unmotivated, incapable, not trying hard enough, or that they don’t care about school.
These beliefs are based on misunderstandings, and with the right tools, we can help these kids change the narrative and receive the tools they need to have a happy, healthy and successful future. Most teachers want to understand, and when they get ahold of helpful information, they use it to support kids.
About me, Seth Perler
I’m Seth, a renegade teacher turned Executive Function Coach/Education Coach based in Boulder, CO. I help struggling students navigate a crazy educational landscape and do my part to “disrupt” and improve education. I specialize in Executive Function and 2e.
School was incredibly challenging for me and it isn’t working for countless outside-the-box learners of today. I use my blog to:
- Give you free, actionable solutions to help your child, &
- Challenge the status quo to improve education.
Sign up here for updates and my free toolkit to help your kids. No spam, no games, no flashy stuff, just a weekly email with solutions for your child (all ages). If you want to know more about signing up, click here.
Start exploring my site
- My True Story – Read about my struggles as a student and how I overcame them.
- Executive Function – Why EF is THE most important thing parents and teachers must understand, but don’t.
- 2e Twice Exceptional Learners – Everything you need to know about 2e/twice exceptional kids and how to support them.
- Podcast – Like to listen? Parents and teachers rave about this episode because it’s packed with tips.
- YouTube – My YouTube channel with tons of helpful videos. Please subscribe (this helps my channel grow).
- Coaching – About my practice for struggling students. (Online or in-person)
- Speaking – How to hire me to speak or run a workshop for conferences, parent groups, teacher trainings, etc..
- Your privacy – My unconventional privacy policy.
- My in-depth professional background/resume. (note: it’s unconventional)
- Subscribe HERE for free tools and blog updates to help your child
- Here’s what you get when you subscribe.
More About Complex Struggling Students
“The most impressive attribute of Seth is his steadfast dedication. He has never given up on our daughter, even when she has become overwhelmed and wanted to give up. He has taught her to believe in herself. She is now graduating and will walk in the December ceremony. She could not have done it without him.” – Bonnie Auerbach, Los Angeles, CA
As you know, I’m Seth, an Executive Function Coach, Education Consultant & Advocate out of Santa Monica, CA.
In my blog I teach you exactly how I empower outside-the-box learners to navigate a baffling educational landscape so they can successfully launch a great future after school. Those are the essential steps; Empower students to navigate so they can successfully launch! These steps apply at any age, Elementary-College.
Look, struggling students are often misunderstood, usually as a result of deep systemic dysfunction (in other words, schools may look great on the surface, but can be way off course behind the scenes). Many of these kids are seen as lazy, unmotivated or uncaring, which couldn’t be further from the truth. These kids are expected to conform to an outdated system rather than the system conforming to the legitimate needs of divergent learners.
This stuff drives me crazy, because it causes a ton of unnecessary suffering, for far too many students, and this can literally knock them off course in life, (which can take people decades to recover from.) Education is not a game.
“Life ain’t a dress rehearsal.” We need to do right by our kids, and in this day & age, it can be hard to even know what that means. But my blog is meant to help you cut through the noise & get results that matter. It’s all about a little-known, yet absolutely critical concept called Executive Function.
I specialize in neurodiverse learning needs like ADHD, twice-exceptional, 2E, stress, avoidance, anxiety, gifted & talented, dyslexia, Aspergers, autism, ASD, sensory integration, etc.. I generally work with kids in middle school through college.
“Sarah absolutely aced this day! I am sitting back in wonderment! She attributes her success to you! Normally, she’d be crying, frustrated, overwhelmed, and angry. Instead, she was quite calm! She took that in stride, I was so impressed with her! I said, “How does it feel?” She said, “Norma!!” Go Sara! I said, “Wow! So much executive skill went into making this day work! What do you think enabled you to be so successful and on top of things?!” She said, “Seth!” Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m so thrilled for her (and for me) to see her starting to take charge and function more age appropriately in her life.” — Karin A., New Jersey
Seth’s Background
I have extensive experience working with extraordinarily diverse learners and I specialize in helping complex, struggling students turn it around in school. I was a teacher for 12 years (several grades and subjects), have a B.A. in Education, an M.Ed. in Gifted Education, have worked with teens with substance issues for over 15 years, taught on the Navajo reservation, and much more. Most recently I have been an education coach, consultant and advocate for 7 years.
After all this experience working with all types of struggling students, it became clear that they ALL had one thing in common- problems with “executive function” (don’t worry, I’ll teach you all about it). Once I figured this out, all the pieces began to come together and the way I helped kids skyrocketed.
Because of these experiences, and because I’ve had to overcome these learning challenges myself, I’m committed to empowering your kids to navigate their education successfully so they can craft an awesome future.
This blog is shared by a tribe of thousands of concerned parents and teachers who aren’t willing to sit back and watch school dysfunction shortchange kids. They’re everyday people who work hard to advocate in a baffling system, so our kids can get what they need — an education which teaches them how to harnesses their unique gifts, so they can craft extraordinary lives.
I share actionable solutions designed to help these kids turn it around, navigate the system, and get everything they can out of education. I pour my heart into this blog and it’s 100% free. I hope you join us, share it with others who would benefit, and most importantly, I hope you apply what you learn.
About My Blogging
I blog because I believe in education and I want adults to have better answers so their kids can have better lives. I write every word and record every video. My blog is a labor of love and is free.
You can subscribe for free and get all my updates. I don’t have any advertisements, I don’t spam people, I don’t sell anyone’s information. I try to put out one new post a week, generally on Sundays. I spend anywhere from 2-5 hours every week to get one done and out to you.
I appreciate my readers immensely, most of which are parents and educators. I love getting emails from readers because they often tell me their stories. I have more than 8,000 readers from all over the US and many countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil and Japan. I’ve learned that we all share the same universal concerns for our kids. There are many gifts from blogging for me and my readers: connection with great people, people take action, relationships get better, kids experience change, families have small breakthroughs, people grow.
Thanks for going on this journey with me,
Seth Perler
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