What is LifeFx all about?
As a clinical psychologist and neurodevelopmental specialist, Dr Rachelle Hansen found the majority of her patients benefited from having executive function training as part of their treatment plan. However, there was often a disconnect when patients left the session and tried to apply the skills learned in therapy to their everyday lives. She knew this would be a continual issue since generalizing and applying information from one environment to another is a direct feature of executive dysfunction!
She wanted to find ways to make therapy more effective in between sessions, Dr Hansen drew upon her experiences as an educator, reading specialist, in-home therapist, and specialist in neurodevelopmental disorders. Based on research-backed interventions that have shown to improve executive functions, Dr. Hansen created an Executive Function Training and Homework Help curriculum. That is how Lifefx was born!
Why should parents/students/families consider LifeFx?
- We keep our team small so that students can get to know each member of the team on a more personal level – and the coaches can get to know the students.
- Each student undergoes an initial assessment so we understand their unique executive function profile. This allows us to tailor the curriculum to their strengths and challenges as well as track their progress in learning new skills and continuing to build up and use the skills they already have. Our curriculum uses a strength-based approach that emphasizes working with your brain instead of working against your brain so you can work smarter not just harder.
- We consistently hear feedback that confidence is the greatest byproduct parents see in their children from participating in our program. Confidence in themselves, confidence in trying out new activities or tasks with their new tools, confidence in asking for help and advocating for ways their brain works best, even confidence in what might look like failing and knowing they can try again because that is part of trying out different tools.
- 1:1 coaching means more individual attention, increased participation, better feedback and better communication between the coaches, students and parents.
- Group programs allow students to meet peers who are struggling in many of the same ways. We create a safe place to practice social skills and learn from one another, while parents gather together in a separate group to offer support and community as they share in the joys and challenges of raising teens.
What kind of people/students benefit from LifeFx?
- We work with individuals from all stages of life.
- Many of our students are neurodiverse and have diagnoses such as; ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mood Disorders, or Learning Differences such as Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, or Dyscalculia.
- You do not need a diagnosis or medical referral to work with LifeFx. We can help anyone looking to improve their Executive Function skills.
- LifeFx is a great program to add to therapy or school services to help reinforce skills and goals.
What programs do you offer beyond 1:1 coaching?
- Summer Camp
- Grades 3-6
- 9-4 PM, July 11-15, 2022
- Building Conversations: Social Skills and Connection for Teens
- Offering sessions for Middle School (9-10:30 AM) and High School (11-12:30 PM) the first Saturday of every month.
- Parent Support Group
- The first Saturday of every month, 90 minutes, 9 AM and 11 AM
- School Prep
- School Prep is a day program, 9-1 PM, focused on academic tools with executive function in mind. Students will build essential skills to thrive and succeed in the new school year.
- Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 – Grades 5-8
- Wednesday, Aug, 24, 2022 – Grades 9-12
- Summer Excursions!
- We offer one-off day excursions throughout the summer to facilitate building social skills and connection amongst teens.
Learn more at our Open House on Saturday, May 21 from 10a to 1p at our Learning Center, 6625 Lyndale Ave S. Richfield 55423!
The LifeFx Curriculum assessed and addressed these 13 Executive Function skills:
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- Cognitive Flexibility
- Emotion Regulation
- Goal-directed Persistence/Motivation
- Metacognition/Self-Monitoring
- Organization
- Planning & Prioritizing
- Response Inhibition
- Stress Tolerance
- Sustained Attention
- Task Initiation
- Time Management
- Working Memory
- Self-Advocacy
You can complete a self-assessment for free here!
What are Executive Function skills?
Executive Functioning is the mental processes that allow us to plan, focus, remember things, and juggle multiple tasks successfully.
Executive function skills help you get things done! These skills are controlled by the prefrontal cortex, part of the frontal lobe, the part of the brain behind your forehead.
Executive functioning develops at different ages and stages across the lifespan making the brain more effective, efficient, and consistent in processing information and performing tasks. A basic set of executive functioning skills are generally available around age 6 to 8 years old, with full executive functioning skills peaking between ages 20-29 and then declining as the brain ages. However, even with delays, detours and differences in the development of these skills, research has consistently shown that executive function skills can be improved through training and interventions.
Everyone has different strengths and challenges in their executive function “profile”. Some children and even adults may be late to develop or may not fully develop a full set of executive function skills.
Since Executive functioning is the action part of the brain, when people have an Executive Dysfunction or and Executive Function Disorder it is as if they have an “action disorder”. It isn’t necessarily that they are missing or impaired in a specific ability, rather they struggle with to “do” or carry out the ability. They struggle to consistently show what they know. This can be confusing to others around them and to the person themselves.
What is Executive Function Coaching?
Executive Function coaching teaches tools needed to improve Executive Function skills. Together, we will work to strengthen skills that already exist in your brain and learn new tools to manage three main areas: how we act, how we feel and how we think.
It’s like a learning coach – helping you learn how your brain learns and operates in life. Executive function coaching is much more than tutoring – students learn how to learn not just what to learn.
Learn more about LifeFx on their website.
Understood.org Understanding Executive Functioning Issues
Penn State Extension: Building Brain Power, Executive function and young children. April 3,2014.
