The Student Mastery Program was created for those students who:

1) could benefit from a more holistic framework for practices that are useful in all subjects and,

2) would like long-lasting academic performance lessons designed to endure throughout their academic careers.

Our best practices program will lead to getting better grades. But, the real hope of the program is that success in school will build a greater appreciation for a lifetime of learning. At the very least, students and parents are delighted by the simple fact that their daily battles over studying substantially decrease or disappear altogether.

How do you train students?

We motivate students and we teach best practices for each significant area of student life to help our clients happily succeed in school.

• Study skills
• Time management
• Executive Functioning
• Test-taking mastery
• Homework-busy work mastery
• Classroom/ teacher relationships

Self-motivation is the first key.

Most students study to avoid nagging and most parents come to us because they are tired of nagging.

The Student Mastery program’s first priority is moving students from acting solely due to outer-direction (studying only because they are told to do so) to self-direction (performing to their potential for their own reasons).

The immediate desired end result — no more need to nag — is good for the whole family.

The even more desirable higher end objective — learning to love learning — leads to a lifetime of success.

We’re often asked, “How did you help change our child so dramatically?” That’s a complicated question. But, the simple answer revolves around the effect that any good coach can have on a trainee. We convince our students to care for their own sake.

The “how” involves a deep understanding of psychological patterns in order to uncover each student’s unique motivational triggers. Some part of this philosophy is unveiled in Motivate Your Son, Learning Consultants’ founder Daryl Capuano’s book on the subject.

Parents usually attempt to motivate students as if they were asking themselves: “what would motivate me?” If your student-child were exactly like you, and the same age as you, then the question might lead to effective insights. But given the age and personality differences between parent and child, the better question is: “What would motivate my specific child?”

Regardless of the parent’s psychological insight and even ability to communicate those insights, most parents lose their effectiveness to motivate their children sometime during the advent of the teen years. At that point, the parent-child relationship is so immersed in psychological baggage that parents often exhaust their ability to inspire their children.

The main reason is the inherent conflict in your dual roles of boss (you could be doing this better) and unconditional love giver (I love you regardless). Even well-meaning and kindly communicated attempts to help are usually interpreted by the child as nagging.

The deterioration of the relationship is often an unforeseen consequence of this dynamic. Certainly, teens enjoy being with their friends more than their parents but they would enjoy being with their parents more if nagging was minimized.

This is the point where The Learning Consultants can best help. Our method involves discovering what motivates each unique younger person at their stage in their development.

We have also discovered common personality and psychological patterns well beyond the obvious among young adults. For this reason, we understand how these patterns might play out and how we can intervene effectively. Our most fulfilling successes have come from helping students develop their own self-awareness and desire to achieve success.

The Best Practices

Most every Connecticut parent, particularly in Fairfield County, has immersed their children in a myriad of activities. Consider the development of any of those new skill sets: Tennis. Dance. Violin. Each required lessons for improvement.

Remember your first day on any new job? There likely was some type of training.

Now consider the “job” of your child. Student. It is, in fact, the longest job that many people will ever have. Yet, there is no training for the job of student. Students attend classes in individual subjects. Teachers teach their subject matter, not study skills. Sure, some schools provide generalized study tips in pamphlets (unread) or quick orientation programs (minimal attention given). But, most students are left completely on their own to train themselves. And, most do not do a very job.

In each area, we have a methodology for student success– a genuine training manual for “students” – that is imparted to our clients.

Self-motivation plus training leads to success.