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 · 11 EF domains assessed · ~4 months of support · 1 integrated plan
The 6 hours are yours to use across the program — structured around four areas, flexible in how and when you use them.
EF Discovery — Dan's prep work before we begin. He synthesizes your child's evaluation, teacher feedback, and your intake form into a clear strengths-and-challenges profile across 11 EF domains. This becomes the Brain Blueprint — the living document everything else is built on.
Launch Sessions — 2-3 hours · August & September
Direct student sessions to activate the Blueprint. Planning, organization, tech tools, self-advocacy — introduced and practiced as the year begins.
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:
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Planning and organization — breaking down projects, managing deadlines, building routines that stick
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Test and project preparation — strategies for studying, pacing long-term work, and showing up to the hard stuff prepared
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Tech tools — the right apps, systems, and shortcuts matched to how your child actually thinks and works
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Self-advocacy — helping your child understand their own brain well enough to ask for what they need — from teachers, from you, from themselves
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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.
Getting on the Same Page — 1 hour · Parent session
A focused introduction to the PAUSE People System so you and your child are speaking the same language at home.
The Lifeline — remaining hours ·
Yours to use when real life calls for them — a rough stretch, a project crunch, a moment when the Blueprint needs refreshing. Student sessions, parent sessions, or both.
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
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.