What if executive function skills weren’t taught through worksheets, but through adventure?

In this episode, we sit down with Rhina Guzman, executive function coach at Untapped Learning and creator of our Dungeons & Dragons Executive Function Program.

Rhina explains how a tabletop role-playing game becomes a powerful tool for building organization, emotional regulation, task initiation, planning, and social problem-solving. Students manage character sheets, navigate uncertainty, regulate emotions under pressure, collaborate in group decisions, and initiate problem-solving—all in a fully screen-free, high-engagement environment.

This is executive function development through experience, not lectures.

If you’re a parent looking for creative, real-world ways to help your child build independence and confidence, this episode will shift how you think about skill development.

Learn more about Untapped Learning:

🌐 https://untappedlearning.com

📥 Free resources: https://untappedlearning.com/resource-type/downloads/

📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/untappedlearning

Hosted by Brandon Slade. Produced by Nathan Weinberg.

If your teen says “I have anxiety” before every test, presentation, or big moment… this episode will change how you understand what’s actually happening.

Licensed clinical social worker Nick Thompson joins us to unpack the truth about anxiety, performance pressure, and why students shut down under stress. With over 15 years of experience working with adolescents and families in schools, private practice, residential treatment settings, and early intervention programs, Nick specializes in helping teens navigate anxiety, identity, and academic overwhelm without shame.

In this conversation, we break down the difference between anxiety and worry, why the brain mistakes discomfort for danger, how stress impacts focus and decision-making, and the connection between ADHD, creativity, and spiraling thoughts. Nick also shares practical tools students can use before tests or presentations, including grounding techniques, breathwork, and how to work with anxiety instead of fighting it.

If you’re a parent, educator, or student trying to make sense of performance anxiety and shutdowns, this conversation brings clarity, science, and real strategies you can use right away.

Learn more about Nick's work here: https://www.nicholasdthompson.com/

Explore Untapped Learning’s mentoring and free resources:

https://untappedlearning.com/

Few things are more frustrating than feeling like your brain just won’t hold onto information.

You try to follow directions.

You lose track halfway through.

You ask a question that was just answered.

And eventually, you start wondering if something is wrong with you.

In this episode of Executive Function for All, Brandon sits down with Andrew Watson — former high school teacher, Harvard M.Ed. in Mind, Brain, and Education, and author of Learning Begins — to unpack the science of working memory.

Here’s the hard truth:

Working memory capacity is limited for everyone. And despite what some programs claim, research does not strongly support that we can artificially increase it.

But here’s the hopeful part:

We can design systems that reduce overload and make learning more manageable.

Andrew shares:

• What working memory actually is

• Why it feels so frustrating

• Why low scores are not an academic death sentence

• The 3-question framework: Anticipate. Identify. Solve.

• Signs of overload that look like “not listening.”

• How dual coding (visual + verbal instruction) increases usable capacity

• Why emotional safety matters for cognitive performance

This episode reframes memory struggles from character flaws to capacity constraints.

Learn more about Andrew’s work at: https://translatethebrain.com/

Explore Untapped Learning’s mentoring and free resources: https://untappedlearning.com/

#WorkingMemory #ExecutiveFunction #ADHDSupport #EducationPodcast #UntappedLearning