Episodes

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss the role of the educational therapist as a middleman. We dig into the middleman role educational therapists often end up playing — between parents, teachers, clinicians, tutors, and everyone else on a child’s support team. They discuss the benefits and challenges of this role and how to keep boundaries that are in alignment with your values. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with ...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome Claudia, a former parent from My Ed Therapist, to the podcast. Claudia shares her journey with her daughter, Emma, who is autistic, has ADHD, and has Pathological Demand Avoidance (or “Persistent Demand for Autonomy”). Claudia shares about the impact of these diagnoses on her relationship with Emma and the family. She shares about how Stephanie’s rapport had a tremendous impact on Emma’s ability to be more flexible. She shares ab...

In this re-air of episode 169 (originally aired August of 2021), Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET talk with Dr. Sharon Saline, author of What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life. Dr. Saline discusses her goal of improving the connection between parents and learners with ADHD through improving conversation. She walks them through her 5C’s of parenting, which are self-control, compassion, collaboration, consiste...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET are back to chat about commitment overwhelm. Families often say things like “We’re too busy right now” or “Let’s wait until next semester.” But sometimes those words aren’t about scheduling — they’re about commitment overwhelm and that heavy feeling that starting something new, even something helpful, might just be too much to handle. In this episode, Rachel and Steph unpack what commitment overwhelm really is, why it shows up for both l...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET celebrate 400 episodes of Learn Smarter! In this special milestone episode, they reflect on what they’ve learned over the years—from their learners, their guests, their listeners, and each other. Rachel and Steph share their biggest takeaways about growth, executive functioning, and the parenting journey, and they look back on some of their favorite moments and funniest behind-the-scenes stories. They also take time to thank the Learn Sm...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome back Dr. Karen Wilson, a pediatric neuropsychologist, founder of ChildNexus, and podcaster of Diverse Thinking, Different Learning. She teaches Rachel and Steph about early indicators that could impact learners. She shares how the early signs are used as information and early signs should be observed in relationship to their peers. She talks about the importance of listening to parent/teacher gut and intuition and they have a qui...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET talk about the lost art of boredom and why it’s so essential for developing executive functioning skills. It’s well documented that kids, learners, and adults are really overscheduled and overstructured (and we really do not like and have a problem tolerating being bored). Rachel and Steph explore what boredom actually does for the brain, how it supports creativity, problem-solving, and self-reflection, and why tolerating “nothing to do”...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss how tricky the decision to start educational therapy when parents receive mixed feedback from the other adults in their learner’s life. They chat about why a lack of consensus can easily emerge and the questions you can ask yourself to help you determine if you should start educational therapy. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Education...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET Dr. Jessica Broitman and Dr. Jack Davis for part 2 of their conversation about Non-verbal Learning Disorders (Developmental Visual Spatial Disorder). They share what to do once you know that your learner has NVLD. They talk about the importance of passion, giving your learner permission to talk about whatever their learner is upset about with you, not pretending that NVLD is easy and taking complete advantage of their verbal strengths. T...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome Dr. Jessica Broitman a psychoanalyst, child psychologist, and researcher and Dr. Jack Davis, school psychologist and neuropsychologist for this conversation about non-verbal learning disorders. They share the history of NVLD and discuss the process of renaming NVLD to be classified as Developmental Visual Spatial Disorder. They also talk about what NVLD is and the developmental signs of NVLD at ages and stages. Connect with Dr. D...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET dive into all the ways learners unintentionally overcomplicate their foundational systems. From color-coding everything to creating elaborate planners they never use, Rachel and Steph unpack how learners often make organization and productivity harder than they need to be. They discuss why this happens and what parents and educators can do to help learners simplify. You’ll hear practical strategies to help learners build systems that are...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET talk about one of the most common concerns they hear from parents: “My learner doesn’t want extra work.” In this episode, they explore what’s really behind learner resistance and how to tell when a learner is truly ready for support. They share how resistance is often a form of self-protection, not defiance. Rachel and Steph break down practical ways to build readiness through trust, curiosity, and small wins—so support feels empowered i...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET explore what’s really happening when support starts to feel like nagging. They discuss why it happens, how it affects both parents and learners, and share practical ways to shift from constant reminders to strategies that build independence and strengthen connection. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My E...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET welcome back Dr. Ellen Braaten, clinical psychologist and professor, to discuss her latest publication Motivation Mindset Workbook. In this super fun interview, Dr. Braaten talks about motivation as a skillset, how it’s a part of executive functioning and how executive functioning and motivation are two sides of the same coin. She shares how we can operationalize motivation and talks about the differences between motivation and effort. W...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET dig into the differences, similarities, and overlap between procrastination and perfectionism. They dig into the motivations of both and discuss how to decipher what’s going on and some strategies of what to do next. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedth...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss how there is no perfect time of year to start educational therapy support. They discuss the benefit of “just getting started” and all the emotional benefits of beginning to address learner challenges. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss the hot topic of executive functioning skills in sports. They talk about the benefit of sports in general and how executive functioning skills are strengthened as a result of sports. They also chat about some potential pitfalls of executive functioning skills and sports. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website ...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss how hard and stressful it can be for parents of learners in educational therapy to figure out what the next best school for the child is. They are often asked, “Should I tell the school what’s going on with my kid?” and “What questions should we ask?” In this episode, Rachel and Stephanie go over things to think about and questions to consider asking as parents make critical decisions. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.c...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss a few important strategies that a lot of learners employ: study buddies and body doubling. In this episode, Rachel and Steph discuss the virtues (and pitfalls) of body doubling and study buddies. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myed...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss how important educational therapy is when learners have a busy schedule. As educational therapists, Rachel and Steph are constantly supporting busy learners who want to accomplish and engage with all the things–and look at educational therapy as a “waste” of their very valuable time. In this episode, Rachel and Steph dig into how vital it is for a busy learner to have strong executive functioning skills and that busy-ness is ofte...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss metacognition, which is the idea of “thinking about thinking”. The ability to reflect back and compassionately examine one’s own thinking is an important skill developed in educational therapy. Rachel and Steph talk through how to develop this with learners. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET share a behind the scenes episode on Steph’s executive functioning experience (nightmare?) of moving homes. She shares the challenges, overwhelm, and curveballs that occurred during her recent move and how it has helped her empathize with executive functioning skills challenges. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website ...

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET reair episode 50 of Learn Smarter: the Educational Therapy podcast to remember their guest, Dr. Thomas Brown. To contribute to his memorial fund, click here. To read his obituary, click here. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterpodcast, @kappedtherapy, @myedtherapist

Rachel Kapp, M.Ed., BCET, and Stephanie Pitts, M.Ed., BCET discuss a major parent, learner, and educational therapist frustration today–which is why strategies don’t stick. In this episode they dig into the plethora of reasons why strategies don’t stick or rather become “generalized skills”. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnsmarterpodcast How to connect with us: Join our e-mail list Rachel’s Kapp Educational Therapy Group website Steph’s My Ed Therapist website @learnsmarterp...