Kate Lamanna

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Kate Lamanna Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Kate Lamanna, Educational consultant, 73 Turnpike Street, #1178, North Andover, MA.

Founder of Study Sense Coaching | Executive Function Coach

I help parents of smart but struggling students end nightly homework battles by teaching them how to uncover the real root causes behind school stress.

10/14/2026

"If I don't do it, it won't get done."

I hear this every single week. And the parents who say it are usually right. They've become the system. They've had to be.

But here's the problem. As long as you're the backup, the skill doesn't have to grow. Your child's brain never has to develop the part that plans, remembers, or initiates, because you're already there doing it.

That doesn't make you a bad parent. It makes you a problem-solver who got stuck in the role.

The shift isn't about stepping back and hoping for the best. It's about building a plan that develops the skill alongside the fade. Teaching the routine. Practicing it. Then slowly reducing the prompt until your child is running it themselves.

That's not wishful thinking. That's a specific, structured process. And it's the difference between compliance while you're watching and actual independence.

If you've been carrying all of it and you're ready to put some of it down in a way that actually works, that's what I help with.

Drop DONE in the comments if this is your daily reality.

Drop DONE in the comments.

Evenings are where screen use does the most damage, and where a routine does the most good.Here's the shape of one that ...
10/13/2026

Evenings are where screen use does the most damage, and where a routine does the most good.

Here's the shape of one that works:
8:00 — Warning. 8:05 — Finish the activity. 8:10 — Device away and charging. 8:15 — Bathroom. 8:20 — Pajamas. 8:25 — Reading or something quiet. 8:30 — Bed.

The exact times don't matter. Shift the whole thing later for a teenager. What matters is that the sequence is the same every night, in the same order, so his brain stops having to decide and starts just following.

A few things that make a real difference: devices charging outside the bedroom when that's appropriate for your family. Less stimulating activity as bedtime gets closer. And anything that needs to be ready for tomorrow gets prepared before screens, not after.

That last one saves more mornings than anything else on this list.

The goal isn't a stricter night. It's a predictable one. Predictable is the thing an ADHD brain can actually run on.

Save this and try the sequence for a week. Then tell me how bedtime went.

In almost every intake call, I hear the same thing.Mom knows where every assignment is. She knows what's due, what's mis...
10/13/2026

In almost every intake call, I hear the same thing.

Mom knows where every assignment is. She knows what's due, what's missing, what needs to be printed, and which teacher to email.

She has the login saved, the backpack checked every night, the calendar tracked.

Her child has no idea.

Not because he doesn't care. But because he's never had to.

When a parent holds the entire executive functioning system, the child's brain never has to build one. There's no gap to fill. The reminder always comes. The backup is always there.

Independence doesn't grow in that environment.

The goal isn't to do all of this better. It's to build a plan that gradually hands each piece back to your child, with coaching and structure, until they're running it themselves.

That's what fading prompts looks like. Not abandoning your kid.

Building the skill alongside the fade, step by step, until your involvement shifts from manager to occasional check-in.

If you're carrying the whole system right now, that's exactly where we start.

Save this if it hit close to home.

Save this post.

10/12/2026

A screen rule set on top of no other coping tools will fail. Not because the rule is wrong, but because you're removing regulation and calling it a boundary.

Ask what the screen is doing for your child. Escaping stress? Avoiding a hard task? Recovering after school? Getting stimulation? Managing an emotion he can't name?

Whatever job it's holding, something else has to be able to hold that job before the limit will stick.

So build the larger toolbox first. Exercise, music, Legos, reading, drawing, outdoor time, connection, quiet. Not as a lecture — as things that are genuinely available and genuinely appealing.

Then set the limit. It'll hold, because it isn't the last thing standing.

Comment TOOLBOX and I'll send you the list I use with families.

One of the most common mistakes I see parents make is trying to introduce a new homework system the moment homework star...
10/12/2026

One of the most common mistakes I see parents make is trying to introduce a new homework system the moment homework starts.

It feels efficient. You're both right there. The timing seems obvious.

But the ADHD brain doesn't have bandwidth for two demanding tasks at the same time. Learning something new and completing work under pressure are both hard. Doing them at the same time usually means both fall apart.

Skill-building belongs in calm, low-stakes moments. Not at 7pm when there's a deadline and everyone's already frustrated.

Once a routine is practiced enough outside of pressure, it can run on its own when pressure is high. That's what you're building toward.

If you've tried a new system and it didn't work, it's worth asking: did you teach it during the task, or before it?

If you're not sure where to start with your child's ADHD routines, drop ROUTINES in the comments and I'll share what I'd look at first.

Drop ROUTINES in the comments.

Around 6pm on Sunday, something shifts in a lot of houses.Your kid gets quieter, or louder. The project that was due tom...
10/11/2026

Around 6pm on Sunday, something shifts in a lot of houses.

Your kid gets quieter, or louder. The project that was due tomorrow surfaces. The backpack that hasn't been opened since Friday finally gets unzipped. And you feel the whole week arrive at once.

You're not imagining it and you're not being dramatic. Sunday evening is when the gap between what's coming and what's ready becomes visible.

Here's the part worth naming. Your child feels it too, and usually earlier than you do. He just doesn't have the words for it, so it comes out as attitude, avoidance, or a meltdown about something unrelated.

One thing that helps more than it should: move the reckoning earlier and make it small. Fifteen minutes on Saturday to open the backpack, look at what's due, and write down the three things that matter. Not to do the work. Just to look at it.

Dread grows in the space between not knowing and finding out.

Shorten that space and the Sunday feels different for both of you.

You're not failing at Sundays. You've just been finding out too late.

Save this for Saturday. And if Sundays are the worst part of your week, send me a message.

For years, I would feel my chest tighten around 4pm.I didn't even realize I was doing it until someone pointed it out.I ...
10/11/2026

For years, I would feel my chest tighten around 4pm.

I didn't even realize I was doing it until someone pointed it out.

I was bracing.

Bracing for the backpack dump. The meltdown over the worksheet.

The battle over starting homework. The spiral that would take us from 4pm to bedtime.

I thought I was managing it. I thought I was helping.

But really, I was just holding the entire system together with my own body.

I was the reminder. The planner. The one who noticed the missing folder. The one who broke down the steps. The one who stood there until it was done.

And the moment I stopped trying to manage the behavior and started building the skill, everything shifted.

Not overnight. But over time.

I stopped being the homework police. I started being the coach.

And I got my evenings back.

Not because my kid suddenly became compliant. But because he started catching things on his own.

That's what skill-building does. It makes you unnecessary.

If you're tired of being the one holding it all together, let's talk. I'll show you what it looks like to build the skill instead of managing the behavior.

If screen time ends in a fight most nights, try running the same four sentences every day for two weeks.Ten minutes unti...
10/10/2026

If screen time ends in a fight most nights, try running the same four sentences every day for two weeks.

Ten minutes until screen time is over. Five minutes, finish what you're doing. Two minutes, decide where you're stopping. Screens are done, what's next.

Two supports make it work much better. A visual timer, so he can see the time passing instead of being told about it. And two clear choices for what comes next, so he has some control over the part that follows.

What you're not doing matters just as much. No repeated warnings that never mean anything. No threats you won't keep. No long explanation in the middle of a hard moment.

You're not giving him more screen time. You're giving him a landing strip.

Want the full picture behind this? My master coach, Kara, is breaking down screens, transitions, and power struggles in a free live workshop:

Just Turn It Off: ADHD, Screens, and Power Struggles
Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m. EST

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/kEqIee4qQO-4Um8JO648Ig

Save this and run it for two weeks. Then grab your free spot for Kara's workshop at the link in our bio.

10/10/2026

You tried the homework chart. The timer. The planner. The consequence. Maybe it even worked—for three days.

Then everything went right back to where it started.

In this video, I explain why charts, timers, and reward systems often produce short-term compliance without actually building executive functioning skills—and why that distinction matters so much for kids with ADHD.

The goal isn’t to create a better system your child depends on forever. It’s to identify where the skill is breaking down and build support that can gradually fade as your child becomes more independent.

▶️ Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aFmEdVl5xpM

And subscribe to the channel for more practical strategies to help kids with ADHD build executive functioning skills, independence, and follow-through.

10/10/2026

Natural consequences are supposed to teach responsibility, right?

Your child forgets their lunch, so they go hungry. They don't turn in the homework, so they get a zero. They lose the permission slip, so they miss the field trip.

The idea is that the consequence will motivate them to remember next time.

But here's what that advice doesn't account for.

ADHD kids aren't forgetting because they don't care. They're forgetting because their working memory is still developing. They're not turning in the homework because they can't initiate the task or they lose track of the steps. They're not keeping track of the permission slip because their organizational system doesn't exist yet.

So when you let the consequence happen without building the missing skill, all you're doing is creating shame.

The child feels bad. But they still don't know how to remember, start, or organize.

And now they're shutting down instead of learning.

Consequences without skill-building don't create independence. They create shutdown.

If you're tired of consequences that don't stick, let's talk about what skill-building actually looks like. Send me a message.

Address

73 Turnpike Street, #1178
North Andover, MA
01845

Telephone

+19787834411

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