ADHD coaching for young adults (with Lori Melnitsky)

When it comes to working on executive functioning and “social skills”, one of the biggest complaints I hear from therapists is that their clients don’t generalize.   That’s often because when it comes to working on these types of skills, direct therapy alone isn’t enough to help kids apply skills. I often encourage SLPs to think beyond just direct therapy when it comes to designing services.   That’s why I invited Lori Melnitsky to come on for episode 59.   Lori is a private practice speech-language pathologist who has been in the field for over 30 years. She specializes in stuttering therapy, and also does coaching for young adults with ADHD who need support with executive functioning.   In this interview, Lori and I discuss: ✅How to know if kids need support with executive functioning in elementary school, middle school, and high school. ✅How to know when you should coach the student vs coach the parents to support executive functioning (and when you need to focus on both). ✅The relationship between executive functioning and anxiety, and how they both impact each other ✅The importance of consistent positive praise and feedback for people with ADHD; no matter the age. Lori Melnitsky, MA CCC-SLP has specialized in stuttering for over 25 years for children and adults. She founded All Island Speech and Stuttering Therapy and is now online in NY, NJ, CT, and PA. Lori is a person who stutters and entered the field to help others communicate. She has run National Stuttering Association Chapter meetings and taught graduate courses on stuttering. She is a sought after speaker at local school districts and speech associations on the topics of stuttering and ADHD. Lori is Lidcombe trained, Prompt Certified, MPI 2 certified for stuttering, and an ADHD coach. Additionally, Lori founded the FB group and podcast Stuttering DeMystified. Lori was also a mentor on an episode of the Children’s show Arthur and is a published author in the Journal of Fluency Disorders. Her website is Home | All Island Speech and Stuttering Therapy | Plainview, NY To learn more about how you can connect with Lori and learn more about her courses and services for stuttering and ADHD/executive functioning, you can visit her website here or follow her on Facebook here.  You can also check out her podcast “Stuttering Demystified” here. In this episode, I also mentioned Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that teaches SLPs a systematic process for building the language skills kids need to support comprehension and academic skills. You can learn more about how to become a member here. I also shared that I’m currently reworking my program offerings relating to executive functioning and social-problem solving. However, you can get more information about executive functioning and how it impacts kids in my free parent guide. You can get a free copy of the parent guide here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL and Renaissance:Learn more about Renaissance:As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation. We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.