What is executive function coaching?

Executive function coaching is practical support helping a child plan, organise, start tasks and manage time and emotions. It is not a regulated UK occupation, and anyone can use the title, so check vetting first.

What a coach does

Executive functions are the skills we use to organise daily life. They include planning, working memory, attention, emotional control, flexibility and getting started, as described by Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. A coach helps your child practise these skills against something real: packing a school bag, beginning homework, estimating how long a task will take or recovering when a plan changes.

A session might involve choosing one problem, breaking it into small steps, trying a visual plan or timer, and checking next time what worked. The coach should build strategies your child can use without them. This is different from subject tutoring, which teaches maths, English or another curriculum area. Coaching does not require an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism or dyspraxia diagnosis.

Where coaching sits in the UK

Executive function coaching is not a regulated UK occupation. It is not listed on the government's UK-wide Regulated Professions Register, and Skills England classifies the broader coaching professional occupation as not regulated. Executive function coach is not a protected title, so anyone can use it. The title alone tells you nothing about a person's qualifications, experience or safeguarding practice. If a coach also claims to be an occupational therapist, practitioner psychologist or another regulated professional, check that separate registration.

Coaching is also not listed as an ADHD intervention in the current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on ADHD. NICE instead recommends options including parent training, changes to the child's environment and, in particular circumstances, medication or cognitive behavioural therapy. Do not assume the National Health Service (NHS) will provide or pay for coaching. Families usually arrange it privately, and a coach should not replace clinical care, school support or treatment recommended by a qualified health professional.

EHCPs and choosing safely

In England, executive function support can be written into an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the legally binding plan describing a child's needs and support. If coaching, or equivalent clearly specified support, is included as special educational provision, the council must secure it (section 42, Children and Families Act 2014). For special educational provision, the SEND Code says the plan must be detailed and specific and should normally quantify the type, hours and frequency of support and the level of expertise needed (paragraph 9.69). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use different SEND systems.

Before booking, ask for:

• an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate;
• relevant training, special educational needs and disabilities experience, and current references;
• accreditation with the International Coaching Federation or European Mentoring and Coaching Council;
• a trial session, written goals, review points and a clear complaints policy.

For online sessions, keep a parent nearby or use a shared, visible space. Ask how the coach records concerns and who their safeguarding lead is.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.