Serving Marin County & Beyond
Your Child Is Managing. But You Know There's More in There.
Maybe things have been fine enough. Your child is getting by — teachers aren't raising alarms, grades are holding. But you sense a gap between who they are and how they're actually showing up at school, at home, in the morning, at homework time.
You're not imagining it. And you don't have to wait to hit the wall to do something about it.
The EF Launchpad is a focused, high-touch, flexible program for students entering grades 6–12. This isn't ongoing therapy or weekly sessions — it's a concentrated, expert-led process: a thorough assessment, a personalized roadmap, dedicated sessions to launch the plan and align the whole family, and coaching -scheduled and available on demand when it's useful — through December.
Flexible. Personalized. High-touch where it counts.
6 hours total coaching · 10 EF domains assessed · ~4 months of support · 1 integrated plan
Piece 1- The EF Discovery Student - EF Intake
Think of it as a 360 assessment of your child's workflow skills — a complete picture of how they plan, start, organize, manage time, and regulate themselves through the real demands of a school day.
Using Peg Dawson's executive function framework, Dan synthesizes three essential sources into one coherent picture:
The neuropsychological evaluation — the clinical data, translated out of jargon and into something you can actually use
Teacher feedback and comments — how your child shows up in the classroom, what patterns the adults around them are noticing
The Parents Discovery Form — what's been tried, what's helped, what makes things worse, and the history behind the patterns that only you can see (a shared Google Doc, easy to fill out)
The result is a clear, honest read on where your child is strong, where they have room to build, and why things keep showing up the way they do — at school, at home, and everywhere in between.
That picture becomes a living document we work from, return to, and refine together throughout the program.
Piece 2 — Launch Sessions Student · 2-3 session hours · August & September
A plan that stays on paper isn't a plan. These sessions make it real.
Two to three personalized 50-minute sessions — used when they're most useful for your child. Some families front-load them in August and September, activating the Blueprint right as the year begins. Others hold one back for a rough patch in October, a big project crunch, or a moment when recalibration is exactly what's needed.
Each session is a combination of activation and calibration — introducing systems, testing what works, and adjusting in real time so the strategies actually take hold. Depending on what your child needs, sessions might focus on:
Planning and organization — breaking down projects, managing deadlines, building routines that stick
Test and project preparation — strategies for studying, pacing long-term work, and showing up to the hard stuff prepared
Tech tools — the right apps, systems, and shortcuts matched to how your child actually thinks and works
Self-advocacy — helping your child understand their own brain well enough to ask for what they need — from teachers, from you, from themselves
In-the-moment strategies — practical tools for the moments that tend to go sideways: starting, transitioning, managing frustration, following through
Front-load them. Spread them out. Use them when your child needs them most. That's the point.
Piece 3 — Getting on the Same Page Parent · 1 hour · PAUSE People orientation
The most important variable in your child's success isn't the plan — it's how you show up around it.
This dedicated 1-hour session introduces you to the PAUSE People System so your whole family is speaking the same language and moving in the same direction.
In the space between stimulus and response, there's a moment. The PAUSE is where the magic happens. With real-time guidance, you learn to interrupt the autopilot patterns, slow down, and consciously shape the spaces, routines, and interactions that define daily life at home.
Small moments create big ripples.
Piece 4 — The Lifeline Student and/or parent · 3 hours · October through December
School & life demands don't follow a neat arc. Neither does this.
Three coaching hours available through the end of December — some scheduled in advance, some used when real life calls for them. A rough grading period. A hard stretch before break. A moment when the Blueprint needs refreshing or the home dynamic needs recalibrating. You book them when they're useful, not because a calendar says so.
Student sessions: Direct work on EF skills and Brain Blueprint strategies as the year gets harder and the stakes get higher.
Parent sessions: PAUSE-based support for you — staying regulated, reducing friction, and reinforcing what's working at home when it matters most.
Use all three hours for your child. Use them for yourself. Mix and match. The Lifeline is yours — and it's there when you need it.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
The EF Launchpad is the right fit if any of these sound familiar:
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Your child is capable — you've always known it — but something keeps getting in the way and you can't quite name what it is
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A new school, a new grade, or a harder year is coming and you want to prepare, not react
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You've had your child assessed before but never had a plan that was actually implemented and supported
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You and/or school are doing most of the executive function work — reminding, organizing, tracking — and you know that isn't sustainable for either of you
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Your child is heading into middle or high school and this feels like the year to get ahead of it
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Your family is trying hard. The house still runs on friction. Something needs to shift.
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Your child's school has been accommodating, and you want to ensure there's a plan to build real skills — not just get by with supports.
Designed for students entering grades 6–12. Not sure if it's the right fit? Book a free discovery call and we'll figure it out together.
FAQ
Who is this program designed for?
Students entering grades 6–12 — the years when academic and organizational demands increase significantly, executive function gaps become harder to hide, and the cost of not having a plan starts to compound. It's for students who are capable of more than the current year is asking of them, and families who want to get ahead of that gap before it widens.
What is the Brain Blueprint?
The Brain Blueprint is the personalized document Dan builds from the EF Discovery — synthesizing the neuropsychological evaluation, teacher feedback, and the Parents Discovery Form into one clear, practical roadmap. It's not a report that sits in a drawer. It's the living reference point we work from, return to, and adjust throughout the entire program.
What are executive function skills?
Executive function is the set of mental skills that help us plan, initiate, organize, manage time, regulate emotions, and follow through — the brain's management system. When EF skills are strong, school feels manageable. When they're underdeveloped, even capable, intelligent kids can seem disorganized, forgetful, or unable to get started — not because they're not trying, but because the underlying skills aren't yet in place.
What is the Peg Dawson EF framework?
Peg Dawson is a clinical neuropsychologist and co-author of Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents and Smart but Stuck — one of the most respected researchers in the practical application of executive function theory. Her framework identifies 11 discrete EF domains and is among the most widely validated and applied in educational therapy and school psychology.
What is the PAUSE People System?
The PAUSE People System is a parent coaching framework developed by Dan Leibowitz and Yulia Rafailova that helps parents understand their own patterns — how they show up in the hard moments, what their child's nervous system is responding to, and how to create the conditions at home where their child's EF skills can actually grow. Learn more at pausepeoplecoaching.com.
What documents should I submit before we begin?
Send whatever you have — psycho-educational or neuropsychological evaluation, IEP or 504 plan, teacher comments, prior testing, or any relevant records. The more Dan has in advance, the richer and more personalized your Brain Blueprint will be. If you don't have documents yet, the EF intake and Parents Discovery Form are designed to stand on their own.
How are the Lifeline hours scheduled?
Some are scheduled in advance, some are booked when you need them — through a simple online link, through December 31st. No pressure to use them on a rigid schedule. They're there when real life calls for them. Use my contact page to book 25 or 50-minute sessions.
Is this program in person or virtual?
In-person is the best, but sessions are also conducted via Google Meet. Depending on availability, in-person sessions in Marin County can be arranged.
What if my child already has a therapist, tutor, or other support?
The EF Launchpad is designed to complement existing support, not replace it. The Brain Blueprint is a useful document to share with any provider — it gives everyone a common language and a shared understanding of your child's profile.