Monday, December 28, 2015

Happy New Year from Linder Educational Coaching!

Wishing all of our clients, friends and family a happy and healthy new year! 2015 was a wonderful year for Linder Educational Coaching and we have high hopes for 2016 as well! Thank you for your continued support and helping to make us the best tutoring service 2016 in all of the Nova/DC region by Arlington Magazine!


Monday, December 21, 2015

It's Official! Best Tutoring Service in Arlington!

Good afternoon!

We are honored and thrilled to announce that we have been voted 'Best Tutoring Service' of the 'Best of Arlington 2016!' We are so thankful for our wonderful staff and clients who have helped make this possible. Here's to a wonderful new year!


"When Linder Educational Coaching opened The Hub in May next to the Lee Harrison Shopping Center, the idea was to create a positive, collaborative space where middle and high school students could gather to do homework or study for tests. The main room is set up like a coffee shop with a countertop, tables and comfy sofas, and stocked with snacks and beverages. Many students walk over in groups after school (Williamsburg, Swanson, Yorktown and Washington-Lee are nearby), says founder Kristin Linder Carpenter, and that’s part of what makes the experience fun. When students arrive, they check in with a coach, surrender their cellphones and other devices, make a to-do list and pick a place to work. There’s a designated quiet space upstairs, and coaches are on site to help with homework if needed."
–Lisa Rabasca Roepe

To view the original article visit:

To visit our website to learn more information about The Hub and some of our other services visit: 

Monday, December 14, 2015

Why Identity and Emotion are Central To Motivating the Teen Brain

Good Morning!

Today we are sharing another article from KQED News focusing on the teenage brain. Read below for the first part of the article and then follow the link to view the entire publication!

Why Identity and Emotion are Central To Motivating the Teen Brain
By MindShift
DECEMBER 10, 2015
By Emmeline Zhao



For years, common experience and studies have prescribed that humans learn best in their earliest years of life – when the brain is developing at its fastest. Recently, though, research has suggested that the period of optimal learning extends well into adolescence.

The flurry of new findings may force a total rethinking of how educators and parents nurture this vulnerable age group, turning moments of frustration into previously unseen opportunities for learning and academic excitement.

New evidence shows that the window for formative brain development continues into the onset of puberty, between ages 9 and 13, and likely through the teenage years, according to Ronald Dahl, professor of community health and human development at the University of California, Berkeley. Dahl spoke at a recent Education Writers Association seminar on motivation and engagement.

To view the rest of the article, click HERE.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Coach Biographies: Meet Lindsey!

In continuing our 'Meet the Coaches' series, next up is Lindsey Drummond!

Lindsey comes to Linder Educational Coaching with ample coaching and teaching experience. She first discovered the pleasures of the trade while teaching horseback riding lessons in high school. It was at this time that she fell in love with the challenge of breaking down difficult, abstract concepts into digestible bites dependent on each student’s learning style. She continued to teach lessons throughout college. Although she seriously considered teaching professionally, she ultimately decided to pursue a slightly different route.

After graduating Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science, Lindsey spent a year teaching English and studying Arabic in Jordan. Arriving to the country fascinated by the systemic problems the country faces, Lindsey was surprised to find that many of the most troubling issues stem from the country’s memorization-based education system. She took her position as an English teacher as an opportunity to teach her students the critical thinking skills they do not receive from their schools. Using a student-centered, growth mindset approach, Lindsey encouraged her students to see the gray in a typically black and white environment, work independently with minimal direction, and think about solutions to problems normally passed off to others. She used this same approach when she returned to the US and began working for the progressive Higher Achievement after-school program in D.C.

Lindsey is currently working on developing an Arabic curriculum for Marine Special Forces as a contractor, where she has benefitted from trainings in the latest pedagogy. She looks forward to using her various educational experiences to encourage Linder students to become organized, proactive young adults.


For more information about our coaches or to set up an appointment for your child, please visit: www.lindereducationalcoaching.com 

Monday, November 30, 2015

Coach Biographies: Meet Carmen!

Good morning,

Today we are continuing our 'Meet the Coaches' series by highlighting Carmen!

Carmen Rodriguez holds an M.F.A. in fiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a B.A. in English from Florida State University, graduating from both institutions with honors. She has dabbled in several literary-careers: employed as a publicist for a historic, nationally-acclaimed theater; a reader for a successful New York literary agency; and a journalist. Teaching, however, has proven to be one of her greatest loves.

Her journey in education has taken her into the classrooms of New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, and, most recently, Virginia. She believes that each student’s academic journey is unique. To this end, her process-based approach, supported by the foundational development of executive function skills, encourages students to drive their learning experiences through the exploration of their own curiosities within each subject matter.

Beyond teaching, she is the author of two young adult novels—34 Pieces of You and Not Anything.  Her third young-adult novel, Carry You With Me, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in 2017.



Monday, November 23, 2015

Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions

Good morning,

Today we are sharing an article from KQED News on the growth mindset. This article explores what a growth mindset really is and some common confusions that have recently arisen. This is not only important to understand for parents but also to be able to foster positive thinking for our students.  If you or someone you know is looking for extra help for a student, please visit us at: lindereducationalcoaching.com

Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions
By Eduardo BriceƱo


A growth mindset is the understanding that personal qualities and abilities can change. It leads people to take on challenges, persevere in the face of setbacks, and become more effective learners. As more and more people learn about the growth mindset, which was first discovered by Stanford Professor Carol Dweck, we sometimes observe some confusions about it. Recently some critiques have emerged. Of course we invite critical analysis and feedback, as it helps all of us learn and improve, but some of the recent commentary seems to point to misunderstandings of growth mindset research and practice. This article summarizes some common confusions and offers some reflections.

To continue reading the full article, visit the article HERE


Monday, November 16, 2015

Coach Biographies: Meet Founder Kristin Linder!

Good morning,

We pride ourselves in the many services we offer but we couldn't do it without the wonderful coaching staff here at Linder Educational Coaching. We would love to introduce you to them one by one! Up first is Linder's founder, Kristin!

Kristin Linder Carpenter – Founder, Educational Coach, ACT tutor, and College Advisor

Having grown up in Louisiana, I spent most of my childhood in one of the worst school districts in the country. I saw how children lost motivation and perspective, and made incredibly detrimental choices when it came to their education. In the tenth grade I scored in the top .01% of students in Louisiana on the standardized test and was subsequently chosen to attend the prestigious Louisiana School of Math, Science, and the Arts. My education at LSMSA highlighted the tools and techniques that successful students use, from active reading strategies to different sets of study skills. I was accepted to Louisiana State University with a full academic scholarship after my junior year of high school. I tutored privately in college, and worked with undergraduates through law students. During college I spent a year and a half on an internship training with an Olympic selector for three-day eventing.  In 2005, I participated in the North American Young Rider Championships, receiving a team bronze medal.

I knew I wanted to spend my life sharing the tools and techniques of successful students and teens, academically and in life.  I graduated with a Bachelors in History and two years of Biochemistry, top 3 in my class of over 800. After college I spent three months traveling through Europe and the Balkans, and I completed a summer study semester in Germany. Upon my return to the states I moved to Arlington, VA, where I started my career in education as a private tutor. At first, I worked for a number of large tutoring firms here in Northern Virginia. However, after working under the limits and constraints of subject tutoring, I decided to make a program that does education justice. Instead of just giving children answers, I focused on teaching them how to find the answers. Instead of spending an hour quizzing them on topics, I spent an hour teaching them the strategies of studying that work with how they, as individuals, learn. Instead of treating the symptoms, I focused on finding the problems. My program was incredibly successful, especially with families that had tried many other options. In 2013 I received my Master’s from Georgetown University. More than ever, I appreciated how important it is for students to get an excellent grounding in writing, study skills, and reading while in grade school.

Since the founding of Linder Educational Coaching, I have worked closely with local doctors and psychologists to learn about executive functioning issues, which is how ADD/ADHD and many other learning disabilities express themselves. We now specialize in helping students develop executive functioning skills and manage learning disabilities. These skills are important to be both successful students and adults. We expanded business in 2015 to a commercial property to create the first after school program in the area that focuses on executive functioning issues.

We get referrals from local principals, guidance counselors, teachers and doctors. There is a demand here for a comprehensive and holistic approach to learning, and I am proud to meet the needs of families through my educational coaching program.

For more information on the programs & services we offer, please visit: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/

Monday, November 9, 2015

The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet, an article from npr.org

Good morning,

Here at Linder Educational Coaching we work will many school-age students on a daily basis to help them achieve their goals and do well in their studies. With so much emphasis on college applications many of our clientele are teenagers. We have experienced the frustration that can arise between teenagers, their parents, teachers, etc. during the school years.

Today we are sharing an article from NPR.org which talks about how the teenage brain isn't just lacking the experience to make the best judgements, but how it actually isn't fully developed yet.

The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet
Neurologist Francis Jensen examining a teenage patient. Jensen decided to study the teenage brain when her own sons became teenagers. Now Jensen lectures to teens and parents about how teenagers' brains are different.
Richard Knox/NPR

"When adolescence hit Frances Jensen's sons, she often found herself wondering, like all parents of teenagers, "What were you thinking?" "It's a resounding mantra of parents and teachers," says Jensen, who's a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Jensen is a Harvard expert on epilepsy, not adolescent brain development. 

As she coped with her boys' sour moods and their exasperating assumption that somebody else will pick up their dirty clothes, she decided to investigate what neuroscientists are discovering about teenagers' brains that makes them behave that way. She wanted to find out what was causing his maddening teenage behavior. She learned that that it's not so much what teens are thinking — it's how.

Jensen says scientists used to think human brain development was pretty complete by age 10. Or as she puts it, that "a teenage brain is just an adult brain with fewer miles on it." But it's not. To begin with, she says, a crucial part of the brain — the frontal lobes — are not fully connected. Really."

To continue reading more of this great article please visit the original source:   http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124119468

Monday, October 26, 2015

How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty

Good afternoon!

Today we are sharing an article from KQED news entitled, 'How to Spark Curiosity in Children Through Embracing Uncertainty.'  "In the classroom, subjects are often presented as settled and complete. Teachers lecture students on the causes of World War I, say, or the nature of matter, as if no further questioning is needed because all the answers have been found.'

'In turn, students regurgitate what they’ve been told, confident they’ve learned all the facts and unaware of the mysteries that remain unexplored. Without insight into the holes in our knowledge, students mistakenly believe that some subjects are closed. They lose humility and curiosity in the face of this conceit."

As we know, our understanding of any subject matter is never fully complete. It's important that we are able to embrace these unanswered questions to spark excitement in the minds of our children and allow them to want to explore and in turn, learn more.

To continue reading the full article on this, please visit: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/10/21/how-to-spark-curiosity-in-children-by-embracing-uncertainty/


If you or someone you know is looking for help and guidance on encouraging your student to want to learn more, please contact us at: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/ where we offer several programs to help students and their parents.

Monday, October 19, 2015

When Your Child is Struggling Academically

Good afternoon!

Most children at some point in their academic careers will struggle in one area or another. Here at Linder Educational Coaching, each family calls us for a different reason, and we are very sensitive to the needs of each client. Some families want to make sure their child is prepared for the next grade, others call because their child has become detached from school and is doing poorly in multiple classes. We work with many students on specific areas that are weaker for them, whether it is language arts or math and sciences.

It is also important that parents are able to recognize when their students are struggling and how to help them with their work when they are at home, or on the days in which they do not come in to work with us.

Today we are sharing an article from PBS with some helpful tips for parents for those times we can't be there to help guide their students.

 http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/going-to-school/supporting-your-learner/struggling-academically/

Monday, October 12, 2015

Let this school year be different! Learn More about 'The Hub'

Good morning,

Do you have a scattered student? Are missing assignments and test scores an issue? Do projects get done last minute?

Here are Linder Educational Coaching we have a solution which can help your student succeed! The Hub provides an after-school solution and a path to success for your student. The Hub is conveniently located next to Harrison Shopping Center which is just a short walk from Williamsburg, Yorktown and Washington-Lee. So, how does The Hub work?

With a per visit fee, students will:
-Check in with a professional coach to:

  • Privately review grades
  • Address any missing assignments
  • Review teacher websites and Blackboard
  • Update student calendars and agenda
  • Create a to-do list for that night of both assigned homework as well as needed studying

-Once students are checked in, they:

  • Hand over their cell phones and computer so that they can focus on their work (we have WiFi and computers if needed for their assignments)
  • Grab a free snack and drink if they want
  • Choose a space to work
  • Ask any questions they have about their work
  • Stay as long as they like

-Once a student’s work is complete, or at a time determined by the parents to leave:

  • The student is checked out to make sure all work is done well and packed
  • Parents get a report of remaining work to be done if a student must leave before all work is complete

Why The Hub you may ask?

  • A Distraction-Free Environment 

With cell phones and computers in class, and TV and Internet at home, very few students understand what it really means to focus and work efficiently. We provide a relaxed, coffee house-like environment where students can work free of buzzing phones and social media alerts. We admit only 10-15 students per day, so in our two-story space the environment is conducive to success. The Hub has both private and group work spaces, as well as one quiet floor and one floor where low talking and background music are allowed. The Hub provides an appropriate space for every preference.

  • Building independence

While we are here to help students coordinate their day and plan their work, The Hub encourages independent action. As we answer questions on subject matter, we push students to seek resolutions by helping them set up meetings with teachers or plan to visit review sessions in school or at The Hub.

  • Collaboration 

As any college graduate is aware, one of the best ways to focus is to surround yourself with others in a positive and supportive environment. We help students in the same classes coordinate to come at the same time, so that they can create study reviews together, compare notes, and quiz each other in preparation for exams.

  • Accountability

Students who want their parents “to quit nagging them”—but who continually struggle to complete work and prepare properly for exams—find The Hub a refreshing solution. We make sure they know what needs to be done and have a plan to tackle everything. Further, if parents wish, students can stay as long as needed to complete all work. This means family dinners can go back to being about family—and no more arguments and midnight homework sessions

The Hub is Perfect for:

-Supplemental coaching
-Students who don’t need full private assistance
-Students transitioning out of private coaching
-Students with shifting sports schedules
-Weeks overrun with exams & projects
-Parents who work late and want to be sure their child has done everything needed before they get home

To find out more about The Hub or contact us to get your student started today, please visit: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/the-hub/

Monday, October 5, 2015

Sharing an article: 'Understanding Dyslexia and the Reading Brain in Kids'

Good morning!

Today we are sharing an article by Holly Korbey featured on http://2.KQED.org regarding often misunderstood Dyslexia and how it relates to kids in their reading and comprehension. Do you have a student who you think has Dyslexia? If so and you are looking for help and understanding take a look at the following article. Also remember, we are here to help your student succeed together! Please visit us at: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/

Understanding Dyslexia and the Reading Brain in Kids

(Getty Images)
By Holly Korbey
OCTOBER 1, 2015

At a recent talk for special education teachers at the Los Angeles Unified School District, child development professor Maryanne Wolf urged educators to say the word dyslexia out loud.

“Don’t ever succumb to the idea that it’s going to develop out of something, or that it’s a disease,” she recalled telling teachers. “Dyslexia is a different brain organization that needs different teaching methods. It is never the fault of the child, but rather the responsibility of us who teach to find methods that work for that child.”

Wolf, who has a dyslexic son, is on a mission to spread the idea of “cerebrodiversity,” the idea that our brains are not uniform and we each learn differently. Yet when it comes to school, students with different brains can often have lives filled with frustration and anguish as they, and everyone around them, struggle to figure out what is wrong with them.

Diagnosing Dyslexia

“Oh, she just hasn’t caught up yet,” is what Zanthe Taylor recalled her daughter Calliope’s teachers saying throughout first and second grades. Calliope, now 12, was in the slowest reading group at her Brooklyn private school, but teachers assured Taylor that Calliope was very bright and would catch up shortly.

In truth, Calliope wasn’t catching up. As peers began whizzing past her in reading, Taylor became more anxious and worried. Their collective frustration levels — both Calliope’s and her parents—soon reached a breaking point, especially after they’d hired a private tutor to help speed up her reading in the fall of second grade.

“She’d have massive tantrums over homework,” Taylor said. Calliope would be happy and fine all afternoon, but when it came time to do homework, she would refuse to begin. “She would scream and cry, then I would scream and cry,” Taylor said. “I once crumpled up the whole assignment and yelled, ‘What are we going to do?’ ”

Then one night, after four months of intensive (and expensive) tutoring, Taylor’s husband, Matthew, was talking to Calliope’s tutor on the phone when she mentioned the word “dyslexia.” A light went on. Taylor recalled that up to that point, everyone had been very careful not to say the word, but the tutor suggested that it might be time to have Calliope officially evaluated in order to receive more targeted instruction.

An intensive two-day battery of tests provided the data that Taylor, by this time, already knew: Calliope had dyslexia. Although she was very bright and displayed above-average social skills, without intense and specific intervention, she would never “catch up” in reading.

Taylor now knows that an overly emotional response to homework is common in those with dyslexia: Calliope didn’t know why she couldn’t read either. Now with a diagnosis and intensive intervention, Calliope is entering seventh grade with her peers. She’s able to accomplish all the work, although she requires more time. “I always disliked the words ‘learning differences,’ ” Taylor said. “But the more I get to know about this, the more I think it’s true.”

This kind of anxiety and frustration can be largely avoided, said Wolf, who is also director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University and author of “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.” She and colleague Martha Denckla designed a simple test to quickly know whether there is a problem in the reading circuit very early on, as early as kindergarten or first grade. Called the RAN/RAS test (Rapid Automatized Naming/Rapid Alternating Stimulus), students are timed on how fast they can name letters, numbers, colors and objects.

RAN/RAS or a comparable evaluation is one of the single best predictors that there’s something different in how the brain is putting together letters with their name, which is like a mini-version of the later reading circuit. While RAN/RAS cannot diagnose a reading problem, it does provide educators with a red flag, suggesting that students may need further evaluation.

In “Proust and the Squid,” Wolf writes that if she were given five minutes with all teachers and parents everywhere, she’d want them most to know that “learning to read, like Red Sox baseball, is a wonderful thing that can go wrong for any number of reasons.” For students accused of being stubborn or not working to their potential, often neither is true: Children with dyslexia need immediate and intensive intervention to connect the pieces of the reading circuit.

The Science of Reading and Dyslexia

The act of reading itself is anything but natural. Human brains weren’t designed to read: There is no “reading center” of the brain, and there are no “reading genes.” Instead, in order to read, each brain must fashion new circuits between parts originally designed to do other things, like retrieving the names for objects. These new circuits must not only combine many processes from different areas of the brain to form a specialized circuit just for reading — in order to become a fluent reader, the circuit also needs to run lightning-fast, nearly automatic.

Wolf has spent her career studying how the brain reads and, in some cases, how it doesn’t. “Because we have no pre-programmed wiring for reading [in the brain], we have to do something very different,” Wolf said. “What the brain does have — which is fantastic — is the ability to make new circuits based on new connections among its already-there parts. So, when I said [in the book] we were never born to read, that is the absolute truth. We weren’t. Each child has to do it by themselves.”

Since each brain must learn to read from scratch, as Wolf put it, “many things can happen along the way.” Dyslexia, originally called word-blindness, is a neurobiological condition describing the failure to read words and letters affecting an estimated 10-20 percent of schoolchildren, depending on whom you ask.

While classified as a “learning disability,” dyslexia is not a brain disorder or a disease, nor is it flipping letters backward. Often the failure to read is in direct opposition to a brain’s cognitive ability, leaving parents and teachers stymied when an otherwise intelligent child can’t spell words they’ve seen a thousand times, or put a sentence together.

Dyslexia, Wolf said, is the result of a brain that’s organized in a different way. In many children, this is because the right hemisphere tries to muscle the strengths of the left, specifically at tasks that are the domain of the left, like many language functions. When the reading circuit is being dominated by the right hemisphere, it takes longer for the information that goes to both hemispheres to get together.

In the dyslexic brain, there are several major areas that could develop problematically. (While there is no singular form of dyslexia, there are several profiles that appear most prominently.)

* Phoneme awareness, or knowing the sounds that correspond with letters and words, is the No. 1 deficiency in the dyslexic brain. “Our language is made up of 44 sounds called phonemes,” Wolf said. “English is trickier because we have phonemes that can be expressed in different letters, and we have letters that can stand for different phonemes. It’s an irregular language, and that adds to the complexity, but the underlying issue for many, but not all, children is problems in the basic representation of those phonemes.” Wolf said there are multiple areas of the brain contributing to our ability to represent phonemes, and that many dyslexic children have issues with developing phonemes, as well as knowing which sounds are assigned to which letters.

* Fluency, or getting the reading circuit to work together quickly, is the second-biggest issue.  “Children can have perfectly represented phonemes, but can’t get the phonemes together with the letters, because there’s a speed-of-processing issue,” Wolf said. “And part of that may well be because that right hemisphere is taking a longer time and trying to do what the left hemisphere usually does, in getting that circuit to work very fast together. That can mean not just the phonemes aren’t represented very well. It might also mean that letters aren’t getting represented very well, and that the circuit is not becoming automatic.”

* Comprehension is the third but no less crucial issue to reading. “After making letters and sounds work together, and getting the whole circuit to work in time, then words have to be connected to meanings and functions of grammar,” Wolf said. “It takes explicit work to get the visual representation, meaning, sound and grammatical function all working together, and that’s what dyslexic children must do.” Wolf said that often this kind of dyslexia doesn’t show itself until the child is older, third grade and up, when a child switches from learning to read to reading to learn.

“Some of our children can read words, but read them laboriously,” Wolf said. “And by fourth grade they’re a major failure and have never become fluent.” Many of these children are bright and have compensated up to this point by memorizing words, but have never learned to read fast enough to comprehend what they’re reading.

Understanding that these developments are nothing more than brain differences that can be aided with systematic and explicit instruction, Wolf said, is a large but necessary step for everyone involved: students, parents and teachers. When children find they’re unable to read or read with much difficulty, they often believe that it’s the result of a bad or broken brain. Some teachers may also unwittingly hold beliefs that reading happens for all children by a kind of osmosis.

Wolf insists that three decades of research has shown that neither are true, but keeping the truth about dyslexia hidden or misunderstood only hurts the students, their parents and the educators trying desperately to help them.

To view the original article source visit: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/10/01/understanding-dyslexia-and-the-reading-brain-in-kids/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202503

Monday, September 28, 2015

Restore Your Relationship.

Tired of fighting over school? One of our main roles is to offer mediation between parents and students, as well as the students and school. We can help reduce the conflict in the home by taking over the management of a student. We will encourage them, hold them accountable, and also teach them how to advocate at school. This allows many families to get their relationships back with their children, and leave the worry and stress of school to us.

If you are looking for this kind of help for your student, please contact us today at: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/

Monday, September 21, 2015

Did you know? Linder Educational Coaching's Flagship Academic Success Program

Did you know that here at Linder we offer private coaching with our Flagship Academic Success Program? Most students are bombarded with readings, powerpoints, lectures, homework, tests, and projects, yet have never been taught the strategies to succeed in managing these things. Very rarely do teachers in school have the time or ability to focus on one student and understand the struggles and problems with that student’s learning method. Sadly, there is no required class in study skills for school and, even if there was, there is no system that works for everyone. Each person learns differently and needs to find a way to use his/her natural abilities in school.

With private coaching we work with students intensively, at least a few hours a week at first, to analyze what their current strategies are and how we can improve on them. Each student goes step-by-step through the following aspects of our program:

Evaluate Executive Skills

Executive skills are what allows any individual, student or adult, to envision, plan, and execute tasks, as well as evaluate their performance and learn from mistakes.  Many children have weaknesses in certain areas, and children with ADD/ADHD are strongly deficient in multiple areas. As stated by Dr. Guare, “Executive skills have recently been identifies as the foundation that all children need to negotiate the demands of childhood, and these brain-based skills become more and more critical as children venture into the world with decreasing supervision and guidance. Ultimately, they are essential to successful management of adult life.” Executive Skills are broken down as follows:


  • Response inhibition: The capacity to think before you act—this ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows your child the time to evaluate a situation and how his or her behaviour might impact it. For example, a young child can wait for a short period without being disruptive. An adolescent can accept a referee’s call without an argument.
  • Working Memory: The ability to hold information in memory while performing complex tasks. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or project into the future. For example, a middle school child can remember the carrying expectations of multiple teachers.
  • Emotional Control: The ability to manage emotions to achieve goals, complete tasks, or control and direct behaviour.
  • Sustained Attention: The capacity to keep paying attention to a situation or task in spite of distractibility, fatigue, or boredom. For example, a teenage child can pay attention to homework, with short breaks, for 1-2 hours.
  • Task initiation:  The ability to begin projects without undue procrastination, in an efficient or timely fashion.
  • Planning/Prioritization: The ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task. It also involves being able to make decisions about what’s important to focus on and what’s not important.
  • Organization: The ability to create and maintain systems to keep track of information and materials.
  • Time Management: The capacity to estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines. It also involves a sense that time is important.
  • Goal-Directed Persistence: The capacity to have a goal, follow through to the completion of the goal, and not be put off by or distracted by competing interests.
  • Flexibility: The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information, or mistakes. It relates to adaptability to changing conditions.
  • Metacognition: The ability to stand back and take a bird’s-eye view of yourself in a situation, to observe how you problem solve. It also includes self-monitoring and self-evaluative skills (“How am I doing?”). For example, a young child can change behaviour in response to feedback from an adult. A teenage can monitor and critique his performance and improve it by observing others who are more skilled.

Create a Goal List with Students and Parents

Using the information from our evaluation, we discuss the primary areas of concern with the family. We then decide on the skills we will focus on first, and create a goal list for each quarter.

Implement a System

We work with the students to teach them effective systems and strategies for them to be successful in school, foster executive function development, and create a harmonious home environment. Parents and teachers work with us to help support and implement the student’s system.

Assess Learning Style
No two people learn and understand information in the same way. We discern the clear tendencies of each child’s learning style, and then work closely with the student to try different methods of studying tailored to their learning style.  We try to provide each student with a set of study skills that is both efficient and effective for them now and throughout their life.
Develop academic skill sets: Evaluate the reading comprehension, math and writing ability of the student and discuss shortcomings with the parents. The goal is to have the student solidly at his grade level and prepared to handle the progressions of future grades. We like to build an ability in the student to handle constructive criticism and work through struggles, and encourage every student to seek recognition for his work.

  • Reading & Writing Skills: Build reading skills beyond the basic comprehension and into the realm of synthesis and analysis. Develop writing skills for essays, exams, and SATs. Stress the importance of grammar and organization. We teach strategies for active and engaged reading. We also teach students the analytical skills necessary for academic pursuits. We work with students on vocabulary learning methods to aid in their reading comprehension and writing abilities.
  • Study Skills: work with each student as an individual to gauge what their learning style is and show them how to capitalize on their natural learning preferences. Go through an intensive study skills method that is applicable for all their learning endeavors, now and in the future. We focus on memory techniques, active reading strategies, and building a study system.
  • Test-taking skills: work with students (and their teachers) to analyze their test-taking skills. Work with the student on how to handle the stress of a testing environment and the different types of tests, as well as build an ability to recall the information from the study sessions.
  • Independence: build confidence and knowledge in how to find answers, balance multiple projects, and engage in the learning process. We are very big on a student carrying his own weight. We are here to help, but know when to make them stand on their own. We expect a lot from our students, but they find that working hard on specific tasks and gaining results is much more satisfying than wading through unhappily on their own. We give them the tools to succeed, which is normally all that is missing.
  • Mentoring: So much of what we do is provide a role model for the children. Each associate I have hired is exceptional in a variety of ways and each has a different advantage in working with children. As a whole, my program focuses on putting someone in the child’s life they can comfortably ask questions to or seek advice from. As a group, we have a junior Olympic medal, Magna Cum Laude graduations, Non-Profit founders, Teaching Award Winners, and many other magnificent achievements.

Our system is not an overnight fix or a simple subject clarification; it is truly a system of learning skills that take time and dedication to conquer. We hope to make their weekly study time decrease but their productivity increase, which is as much a relief for them as the parents.

Subject Tutoring

While we like to go beyond just basic subject tutoring, we are happy to work with any of the students on specific issues they have with comprehension in any subject. The difference between us and a normal subject tutor: We would rather teach them how to work out a problem themselves, find the answer, or be ok discussing issues with their full-time teacher. We want our students to be resourceful, not reliant.

If you want to set up an appointment for your child today to receive private coaching, please visit: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/

Monday, September 14, 2015

1 Tutor + 1 Student = Better Math Scores, Less Fear

1 Tutor + 1 Student = Better Math Scores, Less Fear
By Patti Neighmond for NPR.org 


Math can be as scary as spiders and snakes, at least in the brain of an 8-year-old child. And that early anxiety about dealing with numbers can put a child at a significant disadvantage, not only in school but in negotiating life and a career. Fortunately, a study of third-graders, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests an intervention that can help. One-on-one tutoring does more than teach kids, the researchers say. It calms the fear circuitry in the brain.

"The most exciting aspect of our findings is that cognitive tutoring not only improves performance, but is also anxiety-reducing," says neuroscientist Vinod Menon, the study's senior author and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

Menon and his colleagues knew from their earlier research using MRI scans of the brain that math anxiety activates much the same network of cells that some other common phobias activate — fear of snakes or spiders or heights, for example. And they knew that a behavioral treatment known as exposure therapy helps some people resolve the anxiety of those other phobias. Could the same thing be happening with math tutoring?

To find out, the scientists recruited 46 third-graders who answered questions about math worries and were also tested on simple addition problems while having their brains scanned via functional MRI. Based on their answers, scans and scores in each of the tests, the children were divided into two groups: one deemed to have higher levels of math anxiety and one with lower levels.

Afterward, both groups received eight weeks of one-on-one tutoring in basic arithmetic, a few sessions a week.

Both groups did better in math at the end of the tutoring, Menon says. But most importantly, he says, the kids who had been anxious about math were 20 percent less anxious at the end of the eight weeks — a finding their brain scans confirmed.

The tutoring was highly personalized, says Menon — if a child got stuck on a particular concept, the tutor would work with the student to "get beyond the bottleneck in a non-negative, encouraging way."

He hopes to next study whether computerized tutoring can produce similar benefits and brain circuit changes, and whether the reduction in math anxiety persists as the children advance to more complex problem-solving skills.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

48 College Scholarships & Contests! (Be sure to check this one out!)

Attending college can be quite expensive for students and their families. Luckily, there are many college scholarships and contests available to help pay for a college education. Students should seek out and apply for scholarships in which they meet the eligibility requirements. Below are 48 college scholarships and contests with October 2015 deadlines. Only brief information about each scholarship is listed. Therefore, students are encouraged to visit the scholarship websites to get further details about eligibility and requirements.


For more details click here: http://jlvcollegecounseling.com/2015/08/25/scholarships-with-october-2015-deadlines/

Monday, August 31, 2015

A Prudent College Path

Good Morning,

Today we are sharing an article for all of those fresh high school seniors that just started their final year! This article highlights promoting honors colleges for some students as a good life path choice for them financially, and academically. Needless to say, this does not mean that the Ivy League colleges are any less important but merely that there are several honors colleges out there which can be viable options for some students. 

A Prudent College Path
Frank Bruni

EVERY year the frenzy to get into highly selective colleges seems to intensify, and every year the news media finds and fawns over the rare students offered admission to all eight Ivy League schools. This year Ronald Nelson, from the Memphis area, was one of those who sopped up that adulation.

But his story had a fresh wrinkle. Nelson turned down Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the rest of them and chose instead to stay in the South, at the University of Alabama, where he’ll begin his studies later this month.

The lower price tag of Alabama, which is giving him a bounty of aid, was one reason. He also cited another: He’ll be taking classes at its honors college, which promises him an environment of especially dedicated, high-achieving students within a larger, more diverse community of more than 30,000 undergraduates.

Nelson’s decision taps into a striking development in higher education. More and more public schools are starting, expanding, refining and successfully promoting honors programs, and particularly honors colleges, that give students some of the virtues and perks of private schools without some of the drawbacks, such as exorbitant tuition and an enclave of extreme privilege.

The honors college at Alabama has been around only since 2003 and has grown steadily since then. It now includes more than 6,500 students. In a neighboring state, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recently put the finishing touches on its own ambitious honors college.

There are dozens more honors colleges like these across the country, and while they’re hardly secrets, they don’t get quite the attention from college applicants — most notably from those fixated on the Ivy League and its ilk — that they deserve. Over the next few months, as accomplished high school seniors finalize the lists of where they’ll apply, they’d do well to consider the honors colleges at Alabama, at U.T.-Chattanooga or at other public universities.

And they’d be wise to consult a website and book that, surprisingly, fly somewhat under the radar in an era when applicants and their parents are hungrier than ever for any college-admissions resource that might help.

The book could use a title snappier and sexier than the one it has, “A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs.” It was first published in 2012 and updated last year. It’s linked to publicuniversityhonors.com, which began in 2011 and, like the book, provides thorough appraisals of individual honors colleges and programs and intelligent thoughts on how they fit into the higher-education landscape.

One recent post explores “College Value: Public Honors vs. Private Elites.” Another, “Honors and Career Success,” explains why a state university honors college or program might be the smartest of all options for some students.

“Because of the broader student body at a public university, there’s a lot more reach in terms of the type of people you’re going to encounter,” John Willingham, the author of the book and the architect of the website, told me.

And it’s likely that at a public university’s honors college, there will be a smaller percentage of students from extremely wealthy families than at one of the most highly selective private schools.

“They’re not all elite,” Willingham said, referring to honors college students, “though most are capable. There’s a more egalitarian quality.”

The honors colleges and programs to which he gives highest praise include the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University, which is widely considered the gold standard; Schreyer Honors College at Penn State; the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina; and the honors program at the University of Kansas.

Generally speaking, honors programs give students who’ve distinguished themselves through their SAT scores, ACT scores or grade-point averages access to, and dibs on, small classes filled with other honors students. Honors colleges are essentially more formal, larger versions of honors programs, and there are often extra resources, even designated buildings and residences, for their students.

In some instances, students are invited to step onto the honors track, based on the strength of their application to the wider university. In others, they must take it upon themselves to go through the extra paces and specific process of admission to an honors college.

There are a few reasons not to applaud these honors tracks. Some universities lavish disproportionate energy on them, eager for bragging rights and trying to draw students whose profiles may bolster the university’s stature and rankings, and they use financial aid money that could go to needier cases for honors college recruits. (Then again, private colleges intent on moving up in the rankings similarly use merit aid to compete for top students.)

Grace August 9, 2015
Ronald Nelson's determination to attend his local university's honors program instead of Harvard, Yale or Princeton was a stupid decision,...
thereminion August 9, 2015
The annual cost for an instate resident at the University of Alabama is a bit over $25,000 a year. $12,591.00 per semester.http://www.ua...
LS August 9, 2015
I could not agree with this writer more! As a parent of a recent University of Alabama Honors grad It was the best decision my daughter...


ADDITIONALLY, honors colleges in some ways replicate, within a public school, the kind of stratified, status-conscious dynamic at play in the hierarchy of private schools.

But as Willingham rightly noted, the honors college cocoon isn’t as gilded as that of the most highly selective private colleges, which draw heavily from prep schools and affluent suburbs. And it’s part of a public university with considerable socioeconomic diversity.

Jonathan Fink, a vice president at Portland State University who successfully pushed for its honors program to become a full-fledged honors college, told me, “The students that P.S.U. draws are so different from the ones that my sister teaches at Mount Holyoke or that my other sister teaches at Sweet Briar.”

As a result, he said, P.S.U. arguably illuminates “more about the real world, which is the world you’ll ultimately be immersed in.”

“It gets you exposed to reality more,” he said, referring to the diversity that honors students at P.S.U. encounter. “The role that a place like P.S.U. plays is increasingly important as society becomes more economically split.”

Fink’s daughter graduated last year from Barrett at Arizona State. Its dean, Mark Jacobs, previously taught at a small private college in the Northeast. Fink noted that Jacobs “often talks about having been at Swarthmore and wishing he could have had Penn State next door — at A.S.U., he more or less got that.” Barrett combines the intimacy and academically distinguished student body of a Swarthmore with the scale, eclecticism and sprawling resources of a huge university. It’s two experiences in one.

Perhaps most important, honors colleges provide a supportive, challenging haven to some gifted young men and women who don’t make the cut at private schools with plunging acceptance rates or who aren’t prepared, for financial and other reasons, to pursue higher education far from their homes.

Robert Fisher, for example. A factory worker’s son who was the football captain and student body president at his high school in Clarksville, Tenn., he applied to a variety of schools in the state, including Vanderbilt, which rejected him. He ended up at U.T.-Chattanooga, on its honors track, which was his gateway to special summer internships in Washington for talented African-American students and to a 10-day cultural seminar in London. The seminar, he told me, was his first time out of the country.

He graduated last spring and will be back in England this fall — at Oxford University, as a Rhodes scholar.

To view the original article click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-a-prudent-college-path.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Monday, August 24, 2015

Your brain is particularly vulnerable to trauma at two distinct ages, an article from qz.com

Good Morning,

We hope that everyone had a nice weekend! Today we are sharing an article from www.qz.com on what periods in development in which our brains are most malleable and susceptible to life-long changes to trauma and other experiences. 'According to Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and senior lecturer at MIT, your “terrible twos” and those turbulent teen years are when the brain’s wiring is most malleable. As a result, traumatic experiences that occur during these time periods can alter brain activity and ultimately change gene expressions—sometimes for good.'



To continue reading and find out more about these two critical periods in our life, click here:
http://qz.com/470751/your-brain-is-particularly-vulnerable-to-trauma-at-two-distinct-ages/


Monday, August 17, 2015

The Benefits of Fidgeting for Students With ADHD

Good Morning!

As mentioned last week, here at Linder Educational Coaching & Tutoring Services we work a lot with kids who have ADD/ADHD. This article is from the Wall Street Journal and talks about how new studies reveal that students with ADHD actually perform better when allowed to move freely and fidget in the classroom. To find out more, you can view the full article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-benefits-of-fidgeting-for-students-with-adhd-1434994365

Also remember, we are currently accepting new students for the upcoming school year. If your child could use some specialized help in any area of their school studies, please contact us at: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/

Monday, August 10, 2015

What Most People Don’t Know about ADHD

Hello everyone,

As you may or may not know, here are Linder Educational Coaching we specialize in students with ADD, ADHD, other LDs, behavioral issues and problems with executive functioning. Today we want to share an article with you that focuses on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). There are still many myths, misconceptions and misunderstandings about it in today's world and this article sheds some insight into some aspects of ADHD that you may not know.



For example:

1. ADHD is not caused by our super-busy, tech-consumed culture.

2. ADHD affects all areas of a person’s life.

3. Up to two-thirds of people with ADHD have another disorder.

4. ADHD is highly genetic.


Want to learn more? Please be sure to check out the full article here at it's original source: 

If you or someone you know has a child with ADHD and needs some extra help, please be sure to contact us at: http://www.lindereducationalcoaching.com/


Monday, August 3, 2015

Advice for New Students From Those Who Know (Old Students)

Good Morning!

Today we are sharing an article from the New York Times on advice for younger generations of new college students. This article shares some insight from upperclassmen and graduates for incoming freshmen. Being a new student in college with a new place and routine can be overwhelming. Take a look at this article for some helpful tips that can help your transition into your first year be a little easier!



Thursday, July 30, 2015

Welcome to the new blog for Linder Educational Coaching!

Good morning!

Welcome to our new blog. Here we will post various updates, share articles and other relevant information to our educational coaching services in Virginia & the DC Metro area. Stay tuned!

-Linder Educational Coaching