Coaching College Students with Executive Function Problems

Mary R. T. Kennedy, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Chapman University in Orange, California. She is a certified speech-language pathologist who has worked with individuals with acquired brain injury for many years. Board certified by the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS), Dr. Kennedy is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and a recipient of the ANCDS Honors Award. She has been associate editor and guest editor for peer-reviewed journals on topics related to brain injury. Dr. Kennedy's research and more than 60 publications have focused on management of cognitive and language disorders after brain injury. Her current work documents common challenges facing college students with brain injury, and validates the usefulness of coaching that explicitly instructs students in self-regulation so as to support executive functions.