Christine, Author at Strategies for Learning

Why Systems Matter More Than Goals for Neurodivergent Learners

Discover why shifting from goals to systems can help neurodivergent learners build confidence, strengthen executive functioning skills, and make sustainable academic progress. Learn practical strategies for creating routines that turn big goals into manageable daily actions.

Executive Function at Home: Helping Teens Build Independence

If homework has become a nightly cycle of reminders, negotiations, and unfinished assignments, you may find yourself managing more of your teenager’s responsibilities than you intended.

How Executive Function Challenges Affect Academics

A teenager with Excutive Functioning challenges and how it affects academics

Executive functioning involves the mental skills we use every day to plan, focus, organize, remember details, and manage multiple tasks at once. When a student struggles in these areas, academic content becomes hard to access—not because the material is too difficult, but because the process of producing the work is overwhelming.

Tutor or Educational Therapist? How to Know What Kind of Support Your Child Needs

Not sure whether your child needs a tutor or an educational therapist? Learn the key differences between these types of support and how to determine which approach may best address your child’s academic and learning needs.

From Knowing to Doing: Executive Functioning Framework

Students often know what they are supposed to do. They may understand the assignment, own a planner, and even be able to explain the strategy that would help. Yet the work still does not begin—or it begins but does not continue. This gap between knowing and doing is at the heart of many executive functioning challenges.

Key Indicators of Learning Progress

For children with underlying learning differences, learning takes more repetition, practice, and time. When working with an Educational Therapist, the goal is not to see how much can be taught in a single session but to help your child truly learn, remember, and apply what they have been taught independently.

The Stamina Gap: From Distraction to Engagement

If you’ve recently watched your child throw up their hands at a multi-step homework assignment, or noticed a profound resistance to tasks that require sustained focus, you may be witnessing the “stamina gap.” We must view stamina as a cognitive muscle that has been weakened and needs to be systematically rebuilt. Here are three high-leverage strategies to turn academic avoidance into sustainable engagement.

A Comprehensive Guide to Dyslexia Assessments and Support

Choosing the right dyslexia assessment depends on your goals. Most importantly, an assessment is not just about receiving a diagnosis—it’s about understanding how your child learns. With early identification, appropriate support, children with dyslexia can become successful, confident readers and learners.

Understanding the Education Recession: What Parents Can Do to Support Their Child

A recent article in The New York Times examined the troubling long-term decline in U.S. student achievement. In this article, we will dive into the causes, the exceptions, and what parents can do to support their child.

Choosing the Right School for Your Whole Child

For many families, choosing the right school for a child can feel overwhelming — especially when learning differences, attention challenges, anxiety, social-emotional needs, or diagnosed disabilities are part of the picture. Parents are often left trying to balance academics, emotional well-being, peer relationships, school culture, and the realities of what supports are actually available in different educational settings.