Focus Forward: An Executive Function Podcast

I’m so happy to be able to bring this conversation to you today! My guest is Lizzett Cuervo - a first-generation Cuban American, executive function specialist, and co-founder of the nonprofit Circle Match. I first connected with Lizzett over LinkedIn and then we got to meet in person when she attended my presentation on college students and executive functioning at our local public library. Lizzett is such a fantastic person doing such important work that I knew I had to have her on the show. As you’ll hear, Lizzett’s personal journey through life has moments of discouragement and frustration that many of you may relate to - either directly or in your own way. Her experiences are also deeply inspiring. I know I was very moved by her story. From being told by her high school counselor that she wasn’t “smart enough” for college, to later discovering a love of learning and receiving a life-changing ADHD diagnosis in adulthood, Lizzett has used her experiences and this deep love of learning to create a future for herself, her son, and others that is full of hope and opportunity. In this conversation, you’ll hear about how Lizzett’s own academic struggles lit the spark - hah! for Chispa, a company she started that helps adults and students strengthen their executive function skills and conquer their challenges—and how Circle Match, a non-profit she started with her son, Michael, opens doors to Ivy League and other top tier colleges by offering free college admissions advising and executive function support to students and their families who have historically been left out of those spaces. Lizzett is living proof of what happens when young people are given not only access and knowledge, but also a place to belong. This is a story about overcoming shame, challenging broken systems, being brave enough to do things differently, and creating something better for the next generation. I can’t wait for you to hear it. Show notes: Learn More About Lizzett and Her Work https://chispaefc.com/ Circle Match https://circlematch.org/ Other Resources Focus Forward Ep 32: College Admissions Made Simple: An Executive Function Approach to Success in College https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=q38ax8pzj7 Making College Affordable: 5 Tips for Securing Scholarships https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/making-college-affordable-5-tips-for-securing-scholarships How to Navigate Student Supports in College https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/how-to-navigate-student-supports-in-college

This week, we’re revisiting a topic & conversion that I’ve been thinking about a lot a lately. I had the opportunity to speak to the public at our local library about Executive Function skills for four different age groups, ranging from early elementary students to adults. In all four groups, we talked a lot about the importance of self-regulation and coping skills to get through challenging times. As we learned from Megan McClelland in the last episode, our ability to persist through challenges is hugely important, even as early as age four. This episode brings our attention specifically to our upper high school students, college students, and young adults. The challenges that teens and young adults face during those years bring all kinds of emotional and logistical hurdles, and having a set of reliable coping tools can make a huge difference in how successful and grounded young people feel during that time. To explore this further, I spoke with Dr. Jackie Wolfman, a therapist based in the Boston area. She teaches her clients coping strategies through DBT—or dialectical behavior therapy. If you’re familiar with CBT, or cognitive behavior therapy, DBT is a related approach that also focuses on how our thoughts and behaviors interact. CBT helps people notice and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, while DBT adds tools specifically for managing intense emotions and building practical coping skills. The tools and strategies Jackie shares from DBT are for everyone, regardless of age or mental health needs, so I know that this episode will truly be useful to anyone. I even use these strategies myself! Thank you for listening! Here are the show notes from today’s episode: Learn More About Dr. Jackie Wolfman and DBT https://villagepsych.com/ DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition, by Marsha Linehan https://www.guilford.com/books/DBT-Skills-Training-Handouts-and-Worksheets/Marsha-Linehan/9781572307810 Dialectical Behavior Therapy https://dialecticalbehaviortherapy.com/ What Is Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents - A helpful YouTube video https://youtu.be/Stz--d17ID4 Other Resources Mentioned And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School by Judith Warner https://www.amazon.com/Then-They-Stopped-Talking-Me/dp/1101905883 Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman https://www.oliverburkeman.com/meditationsformortals Learn More About Our MAP Program https://map.worksmartcoaching.com Learn More About 1:1 Coaching https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/how-it-works Get in Touch podcast@beyondbooksmart.com Instagram/Facebook/Tiktok: @beyondbooksmartcoaching www.beyondbooksmart.com

Today’s episode is one I’m especially excited to share with you. Whether you’re an Executive Function expert or you’re just starting out learning about these essential life skills, you’ll want to listen because we have not one but *two* Executive Function leaders featured. First up, I’m so happy to have been joined once again by the OG of Executive Function awareness, Ellen Galinsky, who sat down with me on Focus Forward in March of 2024 when her book, The Breakthrough Years, came out. Ellen is the President of the Families and Work Institute and the elected President of the Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN). She also serves as senior research advisor to AASA, the School Superintendent Organization. Previously, she was the Chief Science Officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and faculty at Bank Street College. Her research has focused on the impact of work-life on families, child and adolescent development, youth voice, child-care, parent-professional relationship, and parental development. Ellen’s work has contributed deeply to how we understand children’s learning and development - and how we, as adults, can nurture it. Our second Executive Function leader is Dr. Megan McClelland, an internationally recognized expert on school readiness and self-regulation in very young children. She is the Katherine E. Smith Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University, where she also directs the Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families. Megan’s research focuses on optimizing children's development, especially as it relates to children’s self-regulation, early learning, and school success. Her recent work has examined links between self-regulation and long-term outcomes from early childhood to adulthood and intervention efforts to improve these skills in young children. She is currently involved with multiple national and international projects to develop measures of self-regulation and improve school success in young children. Megan is also the co-author of Stop, Think, Act, a book all about how we as educators and parents can help our kids strengthen their EF skills through play. Today, you’ll hear us talk about why executive function skills matter and how we can help kids strengthen them through everyday activities - Megan and Ellen help parents and educators see that we learn when we play! Whether you’re a parent, educator, or just someone who cares about kids' success in the long run, this episode is full of insights you won’t want to miss. I hope you enjoy listening! Here are the show notes from the episode: Learn More About Ellen Galinsky Ellen Galinsky’s Website www.ellengalinsky.com The Breakthrough Years https://ellengalinsky.com/the-breakthrough-years/ Mind in the Making https://www.mindinthemaking.org/ Families and Work Institute https://www.familiesandwork.org/ Learn More About Megan McClelland, PhD. https://health.oregonstate.edu/directory/megan-mcclelland Stop, Think, Act by Megan McClelland and Shauna Tominey https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Think-Act-Integrating-Self-Regulation/dp/0415745233 Executive Function Resources Vroom www.vroom.org Institute for Education Sciences: "Preparing Young Children for School" - A research-based guide with specific tips and activities for educators. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/30 Focus Forward Ep 23: Parenting for Success: How to Nurture Executive Function Development in Early Childhood https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=rgbq6nrrvf Focus Forward Ep 26: Navigating Stress, Parenting, and the Brain: A Conversation with Dr. Alison Roy https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=oygnbqkqqq

Today, I am so excited to share this conversation I had with Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg. If you are a parent, a caregiver, an educator, a coach, a therapist, a human who interacts with children, young and old, this episode is for you. We all have something to learn from Dr. Ginsburg’s insightful and engaging interpretation of these decades of research on what works in parenting. Dr. Ginsburg practices adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, a founding director of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication, the Director of Health Services at Covenant House Pennsylvania, an agency that serves Philadelphia’s youth enduring homelessness and a father of two young adults. This vast experience and deep passion for supporting children of all ages and their families, in my opinion, makes him the perfect lighthouse for us as we navigate the sometimes murky or stormy waters of raising our own children and supporting the children of others around us. You’ll hear Dr. Ginsburg and I speak highly of Ellen Galinsky who was a guest on Focus Forward and who wrote the highly acclaimed books Mind in the Making and The Breakthrough Years, all about EF skills in children and adolescents. If you’re interested in learning more about Ellen’s work, check out the show notes and Focus Forward episode #40, which coincidentally dropped exactly a year ago this week. Ellen will be joining me again in a few weeks to talk more about Executive Function skills with early childhood development researcher, Megan McClelland. In the meantime, thank you for listening! Show Notes: Learn More About 1:1 Coaching https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/how-it-works Learn More About Dr. Ginsburg https://www.fosteringresilience.com Center for Parent and Teen Communication https://parentandteen.com/ Ellen Galinsky’s books https://ellengalinsky.com/

Today’s episode is especially important for people to find - we’re covering the topic of eating disorders - it’s a tough one but so important to talk about as eating disorders are so much more than you may realize. Beyond simply affecting what someone does or doesn’t eat, they also impact brain function, emotional regulation, and the other critically important executive functioning skills we use every day like impulse control, focus, and decision-making. To help us understand these challenges, I sat down with Dr. Emily Gordon, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in adolescents and young adults, with expertise in eating disorders, body image, and parenting. Dr. Gordon has worked in clinical leadership roles at McLean Hospital. She helped launch the Klarman Center for Eating Disorders and now runs a private practice in Massachusetts. She’s also a parent of three teenagers. So listen today to learn from Dr. Gordon as she teaches us about the different types of eating disorders, their impact on executive functioning, and the early warning signs parents should look out for. If you're a parent navigating these challenges, you’re not alone. Supporting a child through something like this can be overwhelming, and I’ve seen in my own experience that many families find that the addition of executive function coaching helps bring structure and support in times of stress. If you’re curious to learn more about how we help, you can visit our website at beyond booksmart.com Show Notes Learn More About Dr. Emily Gordon Website: www.dremilygordon.com Instagram: @dremilygordon LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/dremilygordon Subscribe to her newsletter: dr-emily-gordon.kit.com/podcast Learn More About Eating Disorders What are Eating Disorders? https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/eating-disorders/what-are-eating-disorders National Eating Disorders Association https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/resource-center/ Executive dysfunction in eating disorders: Relationship with clinical features https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36181959/ Exploring the Relationship Between Disordered Eating and Executive Function in a Non-Clinical Sample https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0031512520937569 Get in Touch podcast@beyondbooksmart.com Instagram/Facebook/Tiktok: @beyondbooksmartcoaching www.beyondbooksmart.com

In this week’s episode, we’re talking all about routines. If you’ve ever tried to make a lasting change in your life, then you know how hard sustaining new habits can actually be. However, there are proven strategies that you can use to solidify habits into routines. In this short episode, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite practical strategies for building and sustaining routines.Thorugh the science of behavior change, you’ll discover new ways to build healthier habits through small changes that snowball into bigger transformations over time. Most importantly, my hope is that you find some practical approaches to build routines that work for you (even when life changes or gets stressful!) Have thoughts or questions? Feel free to send me an email at podcast@beyondbooksmart.com I hope you enjoy listening! Here are the show notes for today’s episode: Show notes: Ep 12: How to Maintain Progress Through Times of Change https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=p9nb11s6hx Ep 57: Decluttering Your Life: How to Make Space for What Matters (ft. Tidy Dad, Tyler Moore) https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/podcast?wchannelid=y1lzulxlcs&wmediaid=pcr8a1lkgb Atomic Habits www.jamesclear.com/books 11 Personal Hygiene Tips for People With ADHD https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/11-personal-hygiene-tips-for-people-with-adhd Time for Bed! Why Sleep is Essential for Executive Functioning https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/executive-functioning-strategies-blog/time-for-bed-why-sleep-is-essential-for-executive-functioning On-Demand Webinar on Building Healthy Routines https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/building-healthy-routines-webinar-on-demand-recording Tips from Calm.com https://www.calm.com/blog/daily-routine

Happy holidays, everyone! It’s such a special time of year and I’m grateful to all of you for choosing to spend some of it with us here at Focus Forward! Don’t forget to check out Beyond BookSmart’s New Year’s discount on our new monthly coaching subscription, which offers 2 of our 45-minute one to one coaching sessions per month for a more accessible price of $252. You have the choice to add more sessions if you need additional support. You can find more information in the show notes or by going to our website, beyondbooksmart.com. Still have questions? Shoot me an email at podcast@beyondbooksmart.com and I can help you out! Parenting, much like coaching, is a journey full of questions, challenges, and opportunities for growth—both for our children and ourselves. How do we guide without pushing, encourage independence while offering support, and foster resilience in a world full of pressures? Ooof, it’s a lot of work. Today, I’m joined by Neal Elliott, a parent and veteran coach at Beyond BookSmart who has been coaching since our company’s inception in 2006, and whose wisdom has shaped countless lives. I asked Neal to join me to share three stories about coaching. The stories he chose highlight the importance of trust, relevance in learning, and meaningful parent-child relationships. You’ll hear about a student who improved his algebra skills by connecting math to Minecraft, a long-term client who rebuilt confidence through trust, and a special in-person coaching moment from our pre-virtual coaching days. Neal’s stories inspired our conversation and led us to talk about building trust, encouraging progress (even the smallest steps), and reframing failure as a vital learning opportunity. Whether you’re navigating the teen years or guiding a younger child, I hope Neal’s stories and wisdom will inspire reflection and offer some support for the road ahead. And be sure to check the show notes for Neal’s curated collection of books and other resources he wants to share with Focus Forward listeners. Neal knows what he’s talking about and he’s created a treasure trove, people! Show Notes: Neal Elliott’s Resource List https://docs.google.com/document/d/14vTPW7F2IrCF8CDwKp8xTEXMSt5NsR0xiPG5i6boDxE/edit?usp=drive_link Learn more about Beyond BookSmart’s 1:1 Coaching Program https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/how-it-works See our current coaching subscription prices (discounted through January 5, 2025!) https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/contact-us