Parent Consultation and Student Coaching with a Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team
At Possibilities we offer a unique Coaching Service with a Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team to support academic success for students up to age 21. This service includes a needs overview and parent consultation component where current strengths, challenges, and concerns are reviewed by our Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team and discussed with you. Then coaching sessions are offered to your child by our Teacher, in consultation with our Neuropsychologist, to support school success. The coaching sessions focus largely on Executive Functioning skills, or EF for short, that help students regulate actions, thoughts, and emotions to support starting and completing all kinds of tasks. The perspective we offer is heavily informed by neuroscience—how the brain works and learns, especially in the context of ADHD and Learning Disabilities—so you can think of this service as very “brain-based.”
Here are some questions we are asked about this option, along with our responses.
This service offers you a Teacher and Neuropsychologist working together to support school success for your child or adolescent. There are 3 components to this service, with an optional add-on meeting if you feel you require it.
- Document Review by our Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team: Before you meet with the Teacher and Neuropsychologist for the first time, they will review all the documents you have provided. Documents they review typically include report cards, psychoeducational assessments, some medical reports that relate to learning and attention like NICU Discharge Summaries for students born prematurely who experienced a prolonged hospital stay, and any other information you feel might be relevant for learning.
- Parent Consultation Session: The first appointment is a 50-minute session where you speak with the Teacher and Neuropsychologist together about your concerns and goals. They will also discuss their thoughts about the documents they reviewed, and next steps for navigating options and systems moving forward. Recommendations for coaching to support your child are also addressed in this initial meeting.
- Coaching sessions: After the Document Review and the Parent Consultation sessions have taken place, the teacher begins providing coaching sessions to your child or adolescent to help support success. Coaching sessions are 50-minute appointments. Sessions cover topics and action items that are most relevant for your child’s school success. Coaching sessions are booked in 6-session blocks. Within each 6-session coaching block, our Teacher will consult with the Neuropsychologist for a total of 30-minutes to review progress and support next steps forward.
- OPTIONAL Add-on Meeting with the Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team: As the coaching sessions progress, you may want to meet with the Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team again for further discussion on how to navigate options going forward. You are welcome to do so. Please note that there is an extra fee for any additional meetings with the Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team beyond the initial parent meeting and the consultation that happens between the Teacher and Neuropsychologist within each of your child’s 6-session coaching blocks.
Neuropsychology is a highly specialized branch of psychology focused on brain development, structures, and functions, and how these factors contribute to challenges and successes over time. Neuropsychologists consider the brain science underlying conditions like ADHD and Learning Disabilities. They understand how the brain’s neuroplasticity—the capacity to change with specific interventions—can be leveraged to make meaningful gains. Neuropsychologists typically receive training in medical and rehabilitation settings, so they also know a great deal about how different conditions—like prematurity, head injury, epilepsy—can add further barriers to school success. So if your child has ADHD, a Learning Disability, or an additional condition affecting daily functioning and learning, then the Neuropsychologist will consult with you, and work with our Teacher, to offer suggestions based on brain science and the latest research on effective interventions.
In Coaching, the Teacher will work collaboratively with your child—in consultation with the Neuropsychologist—on skills important for school success, including Executive Functioning. These skills could include:
- Breaking down big tasks into smaller ones
- Setting deadlines and following up to see if tasks were completed
- Creating organizational templates to support essay and book report writing
- Helping create systems and strategies for homework completion
- Sharing ideas for promoting self-advocacy at school
- Using Assistive Technology programs and applications effectively
As your child works through coaching, the Teacher will meet with the Neuropsychologist to review progress and discuss helpful strategies going forward. Teacher consultation with the Neuropsychologist happens for a total of 30 minutes for every 6 sessions of coaching with your child.
Yes. Our team will work with you to support your own advocacy and the advocacy efforts of your child. If you feel that a meeting with the school is necessary, our Teacher can certainly reach out to the school on your behalf. Extended school meetings that go beyond what we offer as part of the coaching sessions or the Teacher-Neuropsychologist consultation session with you in this service—like attendance at an IEP meeting, for example—are offered at an added cost. We can certainly talk about options as needs arise, but our goal is to make you and your child collaborative, compassionate, and effective advocates on your own behalf. Sometimes you might need extra support speaking with teachers and administrators at the school. We understand that extra support might be needed at times, and we can discuss those possibilities with you, too.
Yes, it may be. This service involves a Psychologist in the initial Document Review and Consultation Session that happen collaboratively with the Teacher. The Psychologist also provides consultation with the Teacher once coaching sessions begin. This offering falls under our Psychology Intervention Services (as well as our Academic Services) since a Psychologist collaborates with an Ontario Certified Teacher in all components.
Please check with your insurance provider to see if this Psychology Service—combined with an education specialist—is covered.
Yes! The consultation meeting with the Teacher and Neuropsychologist, as well as the coaching services, are offered remotely through secure video sessions. Clients enjoy the convenience of this option, rather than traveling frequently to our Toronto office. Currently this service is available to clients in Ontario.
Recommendations will vary—but they are always made with the goal of helping your child. Many recommendations will relate to what is happening in coaching. For example, how can you extend strategies that are working in coaching to systems at home? Recommendations might also relate to larger questions. If the Neuropsychologist has concerns about possible diagnoses that can affect learning, like ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities, the team will suggest a comprehensive assessment, like a Signature Assessment, to get a more complete picture. If there are significant mental health challenges, like anxiety or depression, then focused psychotherapy with a Psychologist or Psychotherapist will be recommended. Evidence-based reading intervention, with programming like Rewire 4 Reading, will likely be suggested if your child is struggling to read and traditional tutoring isn’t working. Assistive Technology Coaching might also be recommended if your child could benefit from systems and technology to address challenges that obscure strengths and make work harder than it has to be.
The total cost for this service is $1797.50. This includes a comprehensive document review with the Teacher-Neuropsychologist team and the Consultation Session to share recommendations between the Teacher-Neuropsychologist team and the Parents. It also includes 6 coaching sessions with the teacher in consultation with the Neuropsychologist as your child works through each coaching block. Please check with your insurance provider to determine if any costs are covered for Psychology Services.
For more information about our Parent Consultation and Student Coaching with a Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team, please contact us at info@possibilitiesclinic.com or call 1-833-482-5558.
You can also get started right away by completing our Intake Form. Once this form is received, the Care Coordinator will book your appointment with our Teacher-Neuropsychologist Team for your consultation session. You will be asked to provide documents for review prior to your meeting. Coaching sessions are booked and reserved in 6-session blocks happening once a week, or once every 2 weeks.
