Testimonials

Our son was diagnosed with executive functioning disorder the summer prior to his sophomore year in high school.  A friend who has a child with the same diagnosis referred us to Nicole Gambino, and we are fortunate to have benefitted from her guidance and expertise for approximately seven months during the later half of our son’s sophomore year.  While entitled the “Preflight Homework System,” the program offers so much more than help with homework.  Nicole teaches important organizational and communication skills that are critical to academic, social, and professional success throughout one’s life.  

In working with Nicole, we have witnessed bright changes in our son, who is now a junior: he communicates more consistently with family members (in person and via text and email); he has become more self-confident, advocating for himself by reaching out to teachers on a regular basis; he has made new friends; and he has secured a part-time job.  Nicole has been an integral part of our son’s recent successes, and we are pleased to recommend her without hesitation.  Thank you, Nicole!  

My Son has always had trouble with organization.  (Organization of EVERY kind.)  His backpack was a mess, his folders were disheveled and his papers were always “missing”.  Homework assignments were late because they could not be located and had to be redone.  Watching him struggle was painful, but when I tried to help it just escalated into an argument.  He needed a system that he could follow that would remove me from the equation.

Nicole Gambino started working with my Son (During his 7th grade year) to improve the process that he uses to complete, file and store his school work.  His workspace has become his personal office and he takes pride in keeping it tidy.  His backpack is organized and he knows where to find his materials.  He has always been bright, but with the strategies that Nicole has helped him to implement he is bright and, certainly, less frustrated.  It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience and outcome.  

Nicole and her Pre-Flight program was so helpful for my son when he was in high school.  I wish we learned about her program and services earlier since we would have started much sooner.  Her program works so well and she holds her students accountable and teaches them skills that will help them forever be successful in life.  Every student should have this kind of support. Nicole helps not only with homework management and executive function study skills, but also with learning how to advocate for oneself, and learning basic self-help skills. Morning management, (getting oneself out of bed in the morning) figuring out a system to remember items that need to be brought to school and setting reminders for short and long term planning are a few examples.  It is definitely worth the investment!

My daughter started to work with Nicole Gambino at the beginning of her fifth grade year.  Intellectually, our daughter is exceptionally bright, but organizationally, she struggled – her backpack and desk at school was a mess; as early as 8 years old her room was upside down; no matter how hard we tried daily routines were never adhered to; and homework was always a nightmare!  Needless to say, it became increasingly more important for her to attain better self-organization skills in order for her to be successful in school.  We made the decision to hire an executive function coach for Emily in her final year of elementary school to better prepare her for the transition in to middle school.

Nicole’s objective was teaching my daughter strategies to better approach her school work in a thoughtful and well-structured process. This enabled her to be independent, organized, and less stressed.  Within a few months of adopting Nicole’s program and weekly coaching, my daughter’s anxiety was noticeably less.  Her attitude in school was confident and calm and she quickly internalized the strategies Nicole taught her.  She was seeing results academically and emotionally!  My daughter has proudly risen to the top of her fifth grade class in 10 short months with applying Nicole’s method.  She is now a proactive, independent learner, and more importantly, confident.  Nicole’s goal is for her students to succeed academically and personally.  For our daughter, working with Nicole has been enormously positive and with tremendous outcome!

The benefits my son has received from working with Nicole Gambino are priceless!  Nicole has taught my son to “think” long term.  She has taught him to plan himself weeks in advance.  She has taught him strategies to be in control of his schedule as opposed to his schedule controlling him.

My son is a 17-year honors student, varsity athlete, and vice president of his class, member of 2 music groups at his school and on parish council at our church.   By his third year in high school, he was showing the classic signs of burnout.  He was becoming forgetful, overwhelmed, and anxious.

After seeing Nicole’s advertisement in our local paper, I called her.  I met her first one-on-one before my son met her.  She was professional, calm and very strategic in her advice to me.  As a parent, it was clear to me Nicole is a trained professional in working with students.  In addition, she was able to communicate clear and concise goals.

Nicole’s goal was to empower my son, in a specific period of time, to achieve a calm plan that is achievable and accountable.  They met two times per week for one month.  The second month involved weekly meetings.  By the third month, all of my son’s grades improved.  Most importantly, he was able to implement tools on a regular basis which allowed him to achieve his goals.

Also critically important, is Nicole’s ability to form strong relationships with parents.  She is direct, she is experienced, and she is forthcoming with feedback critical to my child’s success.

As a parent, my job is to support my son with all the tools necessary to become independent and successful.  With Nicole’s critical work at this period in his development, I was concerned about his drive to thrive with the upcoming college process ahead of him.  I believe he is better equipped to handle the upcoming deadlines, pressure and expectations he faces currently in high school but in the upcoming years ahead of him.

Nicole provided a tremendous service to my daughter. (During her 8th grade year)  Her process, detailed follow-up, and communication strategy with my daughter and us is incredible. Working with Nicole helped my daughter’s confidence, study skills, organization, grades and interaction with teachers. I wished we had worked with Nicole earlier. She has been a critical part of our daughter’s success this year.

What Nicole offered that was different from everyone else was a system of organizational skills. Nicole showed our child how organize all the papers handed out to her during the school day as well as to read for better comprehension using a highlighter system. Lastly, she helped our child navigate the confusing world of research papers by teaching her how to use 3×5 cards and color coding them to create order.

Nicole was able to share with our daughter her knowledge and skills in organization which made all the difference. Our typically C student made Bs and As during her senior year and gained a new level of confidence so now, when she is presented with a task as small as filing her papers to a task as large as writing a research paper she knows the small steps needed to pull it all together.

We are eternally grateful to Nicole Gambino for helping our child and would recommend her without hesitation. She was a God send!

Our son has been diagnosed with ADHD and Language Based Learning Disability. Although he has always been smart, generous, kind and motivated he was also disorganized, unfocused and unaware of time. He would come home from school with his papers crumpled at the bottom of his backpack. He may or may not have had his homework and homework materials in that crumpled mess. We often would drive back to school to get his materials or request a friend send a photo of a forgotten homework page. Many times he completed his homework only to forget to turn it in. Large projects would overwhelm him and he would procrastinate until the day before the project was due. He was trying very hard to be successful in school but his disorganization was a constant source of frustration and meltdowns. He wanted good grades and he was working hard for them but his disorganization and lack of focus were holding him back. He was beginning to dislike school and lose confidence in himself.

Our son began his coaching with Nicole at the beginning of 6th grade at age 11. Nicole immediately set up a workspace just for him. She taught him strategies to keep himself organized. She got his binder in order and taught him how to maintain that order himself. He no longer forgets to bring home his homework. He brings it home in pristine condition and turns it in on time thanks to the organizational strategies Nicole implemented. He has a schedule that keeps him on task. She taught him how to manage his time by breaking his homework into manageable chunks. He no longer gets overwhelmed by big projects because he knows how to plan them out. Nicole has also taught him reading comprehension strategies and provided instruction for graphic organizers to help him organize his ideas for his writing assignments. She’s also implemented new study strategies. His grades have improved and his confidence has soared. He went from feeling frustrated to feeling proud. And, he enjoys the time he spends with Nicole. She is very kind but firm in her approach. He is able to be his funny, joking self but Nicole is very clear about her expectations and he is motivated to do well. The difference in him has been amazing. We have had a wonderful experience with Nicole.

Grace, a conscientious and dedicated student, entered the 9th grade at age 14 with some trepidation.  Though Grace had performed well in 8th grade on homework and in-class work, she had struggled to perform as well on tests and long-term projects.  She spent hours and hours studying, but her test results just didn’t reflect the effort she was putting in. We had worked with Grace on our own to try to address these issues, but she wasn’t making the progress she expected, escalating tension and anxiety both at home and at school.  She had heard that freshman year would be even more challenging and was nervous about how she would do.

Knowing she would have help from Nicole soothed Grace’s nerves right away (and mine, too!).  Nicole leveraged her expertise to assess Grace’s needs and implemented a proven homework process to help Grace organize her assignments and due dates. Nicole taught Grace a whiteboard calendaring strategy that helped Grace plot a path toward successfully preparing for tests and long-term assignments over time, instead of haphazardly or right at the last minute.  Nicole helped Grace understand how to break test preparation and projects into pieces and gave her tools to lay out that work and ensure she completed it.  Additionally, Nicole taught Grace new test preparation methods and worked with Grace to evaluate which methods were most effective for Grace’s learning style. As Grace was learning these skills, Nicole held her accountable at every step, challenging Grace to push herself and making sure Grace was following her new strategies.  Nicole made sure I knew where Grace needed additional support and held me accountable, too.  All of this helped Grace improve both her test performance and her confidence.

The most impactful of all of the tools and strategies Nicole introduced was, without a doubt, self-advocacy.  Nicole taught Grace that in order to get the most out of her learning experience, she would need to engage directly with her teachers.  Nicole, in her no nonsense style, introduced and insisted Grace follow a test preparation process that included setting appointments to meet with teachers to discuss test preparation before the test and to discuss test results after the test.  Although Grace was nervous about this at the beginning, Nicole worked to nurture Grace’s confidence, and it became one of the most impactful strategies of the many she learned from Nicole.  Grace learned that most teachers are willing and some even eager to help students who ask questions and engage with them directly.  For Grace, that lesson built her confidence in dealing with teachers which has led to more confidence, in general.  And, of course, better test performance.  None of this would have been possible without the positive, respectful and no-nonsense presence of Nicole Gambino.

We will forever be grateful to Nicole for the work she did to enhance Grace’s executive function skills in the academic environment. We are certain that Grace will head off to college with a valuable skill set that will boost her success both in and out of the classroom.