Instruction & Dragons
Executive Functioning meets D&D in a brand new quest!
What if your student could be a powerful wizard, a daring rogue, or a raging barbarian
all while learning and practicing Executive Functioning Skills and Soft Skills?
Join us for an epic quest & slay your challenges in D&D style!
"My son with ASD is doing so much better. His grades are higher than ever and he's having a blast!"
-Mother of 17 year old I&D student
"Since starting I&D, we've truly seen such a change in our son. He got higher grades in organization, following directions, self-regulation & task sequencing, which is new."
-Mother of 8 year old I&D student
"Jayk uses the story to help her build essential skills. When I asked my daughter if she wanted to take a break from tutoring and support over the summer, she said 'yes, except for Jayk!'"
-Mother of 10 year old with developmental differences
1:1 on Zoom
NEW SEASON NOW ENROLLING!
The Many Benefits of I&D
Our educational program is designed to help students with learning differences practice life skills, including:
Strategic Problem-Solving
Students must make strategic decisions in order to succeed in their fictional quest.
Perspective Taking
Students role-play as their own original characters, learning how to take the perspective of others.
Creativity
Students exercise their creativity through an original, descriptive, and detailed story.
Social Skills
Students navigate both real-life and fictional social situations throughout sessions in a safe space.
Structured Communication
Students learn to communicate while focusing on active listening in a group dynamic.
Simple Math Skills
Students face in-story challenges requiring the use of math skills in a fun & engaging way
Ages 6-19+
*Sliding scale program available. Works with some California Regional Centers.
(sessions tailored to different age groups)
Students can participate in group format or 1:1,
in-person in Southern California, or on Zoom from anywhere!
In Collaboration with Organizational Tutors
Jacob (Jayk) Gallagher is a tutor specializing in learning differences and executive functioning who has achieved excellent results in the Los Angeles area over the last 17 years, working with students on Executive Functioning Coaching, Mentoring, and Soft Skills building, helping them improve their scholastic performance as well as on standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, GED, CHSPE, and HSPT.
His extensive experience includes working one-one-one with students of various backgrounds to improve their confidence and performance, using techniques and experience gained through Jacob’s personal experiences with his own OCD, ADD and other differences. In addition, Jacob has taught classrooms of ESL and SAT Prep along with one-on-one sessions delving deeply into such subjects as American History, Spanish, Essay Writing, English Grammar and European History. Jacob has worked with every major tutoring company in Los Angeles, many of which have provided extensive training year after year in honing skills to help students overcome differences, and he has worked with many private clients over multi-year spans, watching them develop from struggling 8th graders to successful high school seniors. His students have gone on to achieve superlative test scores and attend Ivy League colleges.
Jacob holds a BA from Emerson College, and has had successful careers over the years as a grunge musician, rapper, actor, radio show host, filmmaker and screenwriter among other creative pursuits. He’s also been a small business owner for the past 17 years as a talent manager, helping extremely talented and well-known actors achieve their dreams in movies and television shows of which you’ve no doubt heard.
When it comes to tutoring style, Jacob believes in hard work and repetition, list-making and detailed notes. But, he approaches his method with an added casual sense and slightly informal tone, which helps build an alliance with the student in order to work together to achieve goals while both avoiding mistakes, and practicing self-kindness.
Jayk created Instruction & Dragons, a successful program that dynamically builds both executive functioning and soft skills tutoring and mentoring onto the structure of TTRPGs like Hasbro's D&D, creating an engaging, fun and extremely transformational experience that has produced prodigious results in students with ADHD, OCD, ASD and other learning differences.
I&D Students in their Own Words
About Jayk
How Our Program Works
Schedule a call with Jacob today to discuss how the program can be individually tailored to your student’s needs.
TTRPGs like D&D themselves provide massive Executive Functioning and Soft Skills practice for students before Instruction & Dragons is added into the mix. Resource management, organization, group problem solving, community-building, Simple Math practice; the seeds are already there but are maximized and built upon by I&D.
Most important of all: This program is exceptionally FUN and empowering for students.
Examples of Progress
So far in the life of the program we’ve seen:
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An ADHD student who could not pay attention in classes that bored him, now
taking detailed notes and asking questions in those least liked classes.
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An ASD student who interrupts others now waiting and prompting others to
take their turn speaking.
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A student who swears compulsively every time something negative happens learning
to restrain that habit within one month.
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An ADHD student who reportedly only worked one-on-one and did not do well
in groups, months later now an open, vulnerable, vibrant part of a community.
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Students who insulted others and themselves, openly engaging in positive self-talk
and looking for ways to compliment and support others.
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Many other examples of consistent progress and growth, unique to the particular
student and case.
Executive Functioning
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Normally present in-game Executive Functioning practice situations are heightened by I&D storylines and circumstances.
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Working memory is practiced on a weekly basis as students are tested on what information their fellows have shared outside-of-game, as well as the complex lore that’s been imparted inside of the game. Students are placed at the edge of their comfort zone but never made to feel unsupported; this contributes to slow and steady growth.
Soft Skills
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Group decision-making, perspective taking, consequence analysis and acceptance of peer-perspective are all heightened through a system of Structured Communication that allows students to practice listening, speaking up for themselves, and growing together.
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Community is built as students show up for each other week after week, supporting each other through difficult situations, learning that being different is good, that they are enough and that their fellows have their backs.
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For those with social anxiety, ASD, and other forms of difficulty connecting with groups, social interaction is gamified, leading them to take risks of vulnerability they might not otherwise take.
Both EF and Soft Skills
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Additional practice is added through possible homework that is individually tailored to the students' needs. If completed they gain advantage in the game; a natural motivator.
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Each student receives individually tailored in-session “Blessings and Curses” which further help them grow in the areas of EF and Soft Skills with in-game rewards or setbacks that are specific to their needs.
Transparency
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Parents receive detailed notes taken weekly on their student’s areas of growth, progress and challenge.
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Instructor is available for a free 20-minute phone call each week in order to continue to adapt the program to your student’s needs.
Find out more about this unique, proprietary system through a one-on-one call with Jayk.
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