TRAINING MY DRAGON: IMPLEMENTING A NOVEL MODEL OF BOOSTING LEARNING SKILLS AND ABILITIES FOR TEENAGE STUDENTS TARGETING ON EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Abstract

In our services a considerable number of students, self - report “learning difficulties”. None of them fulfils the criteria of any kind of learning disability but at the same time, all of them self-report considerable difficulties in every day functioning regarding their ability to complete home-work or to get prepared for tests and exams. For students and their parents, the most profound factor for these difficulties is stress. But in a closer look we easily understand that even though stress is indeed present and it is profound, nevertheless, it cannot explain all the difficulties or even when students come with stress control as their primary goal, even if we design a prevention or psychotherapeutic program this is usually not enough. It seems that even among high functioning students, we can spot a considerable number of them who would benefit from training targeting specific skills or abilities that are considered to be related directly to executive functions. Our presentation explains in terms of every – day life, which and how executive functions are related to learning procedures. We also explain how we used our knowledge about executive functions to develop a novel model of academic coaching, which is flexible enough to take into consideration each student’s needs, goals, background and personality.