TPP 483: Sarah Kesty on Stealth Manifestations of Executive Function Challenges
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
39 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed just now
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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I'm Debbie Reber, and this is Full Tilt Parenting. And this is another episode about executive functioning. And we're going to be talking about how we can better support these skills without judgment or overwhelm. My guest is Sarah Kesti. She's an executive function, autism, and ADHD coach and the host of the Executive Function Podcast. She's also a four-time teacher of the year whose brain tool school coaching programs support high schoolers, college students, adults, even other coaches in building the strategies that make daily life smoother and more manageable. Her new book for teachers, Growing Executive Function was just released in September 2025. So today, Sarah and I are going to talk about how awareness around executive function has evolved, why self-regulation is foundational, and how different skills, whether they're emotional, cognitive, or behavioral, are all interconnected.
Sarah will share her non-judgmental coaching philosophy along with practical skills for navigating resistance when it shows up. Most importantly, Sarah is going to remind us that there's so much hope here. Executive function skills can grow and there are concrete steps we can take to help our kids thrive. And as a reminder, if you want to watch this conversation, head over to the Full Tilt Parenting YouTube channel and please subscribe, leave a review, leave a thumbs up, maybe even comment on this episode while you're there. All right, here's my conversation with Sarah Kesti. Hey, Sarah, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you, Debbie. It's wonderful to be here.
I am excited to get into all things executive function with you. Your name has come up multiple times. Our mutual friend, Seth Perler, I know really respects your work in the executive function space. And I thought you need to come on the show so we can get into it with you. So as a way of introducing you to listeners, would you give us a little bit about your personal why in this space and the work that you do in the world?
Yeah, I taught for nearly 20 years and it was always the reflection of like when kids would blossom or when they'd have that moment or when they'd kind of turn the corner and have like internalized skills.
What is executive function and why does it matter for neurodivergent kids and adults?
And I was always kind of taking one Zoom out of like, why? Because if I can extract that and make it a template and give it to other kids, that's amazing. That's my job as an educator. And you know what? It was always executive function. It was always self-regulation, which I kind of incorporate within the executive function because it's self-management. You're using your prefrontal cortex. So same thing. Or planning or prioritizing or organizing just something that... gave them the tools to student and then to adult and then to be whatever post-education life they have, it all came back to executive function. And so as I dug in and sort of experimented with strategies and language and eventually coaching,
it just became very clear that that was really the secret sauce for living well and especially living well when you had a neurodivergent brain. So that's why I'm beating this drum and trying to make it easy and accessible for everybody. Because if you Google it, Debbie, oh my gosh, it can get very medical and clinical and overwhelming. So I kind of want to be that Sherpa along the journey, that bridge between research and action.
Yeah, that's great. And I also imagine that things have changed a lot since you got into this space. I still remember the first time I heard of this term executive function. My kiddo, who's now 21, was six. And I was just fascinated by this whole idea, but it was like a whole new language almost. So I'm just wondering, just for some perspective in the neurodivergent space in the executive function conversation, what have you seen change in the time since you first started doing this work in terms of awareness and understanding?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:38
2
What is executive function and why does it matter for neurodivergent kids and adults?
2:38–6:55
3
How has awareness of executive function changed since Sarah first started working in the field?
6:55–11:06
4
Why is self‑regulation considered the foundation of all executive function skills?
11:06–14:39
5
What does ‘living in hard mode’ look like and how does it affect executive functioning?
14:39–18:33
6
How can dehydration, stress or lack of sleep push a brain into hard‑mode executive dysfunction?
18:33–21:26
7
What practical, non‑judgmental coaching strategies help kids build executive function skills?
21:26–26:16
8
How can parents support struggling executive function without becoming over‑helpful or nagging?
26:16–39:12
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids