Executive Skills Support for Diverse Learners
Client Testimonials
Deena
"Deena has a very good connection with our son. She is professional and empathetic and has been working with him in getting better at his executive functioning."
- A Student who always refused to use a calendar
"Our son was having tremendous difficulty keeping up with a rigorous academic program. It was at a point that he feared he might fail his English course. We sought out help from Organized Minds and were paired up with Deena to help him with executive functioning. He has said himself that because of the tools she showed him to help him stay organized and manage his time he was able to pass English. He also gained much needed confidence to communicate his needs to his teachers effectively. We are very grateful that he has learned skills to help himself succeed in the future. We highly recommend the services at Organized Minds."
- A client family since 2020
"Deena is a treasure! She worked with our son for four years, starting in Grade 8, and persisted with us through both good and tough times. There were days when he did not feel up to attending sessions on screen, and she patiently worked with him over the phone, continually engaging him in developing skills to address cognitive inflexibility, black and white thinking, other executive functioning challenges as well as high levels of anxiety and procrastination, in the context of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, written output disorder, giftedness and perfectionism.
She was kind and understanding with the challenges that we encountered as parents and this was very helpful to us in addressing our own anxieties and concerns about how things would unfold for our son. We are really grateful to have had the benefit of her skilful expertise and patient kindness."
Thomas
"Thomas is very professional and really nice to work with and our child really enjoys his time with him. He is a very positive influence on him and I can always hear him enthusiastically participating. In our sons’s words, “I get excited for Wednesdays”. It does not get better than that from a 12 year old!"
"I am most happy with Thomas :) He does not have an easy job, and he remains engaged and has made lots of progress. He also has just the right amount of focus on the child and involvement with the parents. I feel like we are a team and making great progress. We are very lucky to have Thomas working with us. I hope that we can work with Thomas for a long time to come!"
"The relationship building is very important. The fact that our child does not avoid the weekly calls and engages with Thomas is a HUGE win for us!"
Drew
"Drew has guided our son's transition from elementary to high school. Drew has an amazing ability to identify learning and behavioural needs and provide alternate teaching strategies. Drew instantly connected with our son and quickly developed a trusting relationship which enables learning without frustration. Our son looks forward to his tutoring sessions!"
- Client of 13 years
"Drew has been a mentor to my 24-year-old son for many years, skillfully guiding him through the challenges of life since elementary school. Drew’s unique brand of wisdom, empathy, and humour has seen my son through some very difficult times. Any young person who gets to have Drew Thompson in his life will benefit enormously from all he has to offer."
- Client of 4 years
"Drew has worked with our son for a year and 1/2. After many years of frustration, we finally found someone who understands our son and is giving him the tools to make him feel confident and willing to try new things. We cannot state how excellent Drew is. His liaison with our son’s teacher, counsellor, and Principal produced results. His presence at the IEP meetings was vital. He directed the meetings and the results were great. All attendees knew what needed to be accomplished and what tools our son needed for the goals set out to be completed. The most important point is our son thinks that Drew is the best. “Drew understands me, he knows when I do not understand, when I am bored, when I am upset, he knows how to make me understand, he makes me laugh and he has the best fidgets”. There were many days when our son did not want to go to school as it was “too hard”. We would tell him that Drew would be at school that day and he would go. The ability to guide a child in school who is unhappy, insecure, thinking he is stupid to a confident child who is willing to learn and use new tools is a gift. Our son now believes that he can learn anything even though his is dyslexic. Drew is a gift"
- Client of 1.5 years