Dear Parent or Guardian,

Thank you for your interest in Executive Buddies. I am so glad that you found us!

My name is Leah Bennett. I am a proud wife, the mother of two wonderful boys, and a passionate educator. For the last two decades, I have been deeply committed to creating supportive, nurturing environments where students, families, and educators feel valued and empowered.

If you'll humor me for minute or two, I'd like to give you a little peek into my story and also share how Executive Buddies came to be.

My path to education is deeply personal. I was raised in a loving home where my parents were highly involved in my education; my mother played a pivotal role in supporting me when I struggled academically. Experiencing how they advocated for me, guided me with patience, and believed in my abilities helped shape the person I am today, and motivated my career in Special Education.  

My teaching and administrative career has spanned public, non-public, and private school settings. Supporting students, families, and teachers across many varied walks of life and educational environments has exposed me to a wide spectrum of learning challenges and given me a broader perspective on the types of programs that tend to get resourced versus where support is often lacking or inaccessible.

Over the years, I noticed an emerging trend. An increasing number of students were struggling with school expectations at home—but not because they didn’t understand the material. Rather, they struggled to follow through independently. Some of the brightest students can still struggle with skills such as: planning ahead for tests/long-range assignments (to avoid cramming), time and calendar management, task initiation, study strategies, and organization.

These are students who may not be best served by an academic tutor or traditional school resources because what they need is not purely academic. Their challenge actually lives in an entirely different part of the brain, away from where comprehension takes place. Namely, the frontal lobe - the part of the brain responsible for looking into the future and reverse-engineering a plan of action to achieve a desired outcome. Middle school is one of the most critical developmental periods for the frontal lobe.

Why some students struggle more than others with executive functioning is a whole subject area worth exploring. For now, suffice it to say that a mix of ADHD, anxiety, learning differences, and chronic stress (every nervous system is unique) make planning, focus, and self-regulation much harder for some.

Despite their best efforts, students with these challenges often feel frustrated, discouraged, and at times defeated. Some begin to disengage entirely, no longer caring about their grades, or just resorting to rote memorization in order to make their scores. Many resist help from the adults in their lives, even when they are struggling. This often leads to tension at home, with parents wanting to help and children pushing back, resulting in frustration on both sides.

To make matters worse, parents/guardians often misinterpret their child's behavior as procrastination or laziness, since executive functioning challenges still have a ways to go before they are fully understood by our mainstream societies and communities.

The Executive Buddies approach emphasizes habit-forming through consistency. With a cost-effective model, students can meet with their coach multiple times per week to reinforce the foundational skills they need to be successful in school and beyond.

I created Executive Buddies as a reflection of my educational journey—and of my belief that every child deserves consistent, compassionate support as they grow into confident, independent learners.