Ilana Kukoff

By Editorial Staff

The pandemic has taken a toll on mental health for many people, including children. And parenting certainly doesn’t come with a rulebook.

Exec Edge sat down with Cognition Builders Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ilana Kukoff, to find out how she built her company to use data in parenting and teach kids life skills to cope with challenges.

Exec Edge: Can you give us some further insight into what Cognition Builders does?

I created Cognition Builders after seeing a gap in the education and mental health space. I wanted to improve the way in which people overcome life’s real challenges. Cognition Builders is an educational innovator that uses a data-driven approach to help families, couples, and individuals live better lives. We focus on specialized, team-based support to resolve the behavioral, intellectual, social, emotional, cognitive, and academic needs. Essentially, we are professional fixers.

Exec Edge: What is the Cognition Builders business model?

We offer a variety of education-based programs designed to guide you or your children in gaining the necessary skills for a productive and successful life. Each program is tailor made for clients, addressing and supporting their unique seminal, social, emotional, and behavioral growth needs. Whether we’re living in or out of the home, we immerse ourselves in the lives of our clients to catch the minutiae that others miss and provide in the moment changes. Our intimate method combined with our ability to be ethically and clinically committed, allows us to build a foundation for future growth for our clients.

Exec Edge: What are each of your roles in the business?

We play a critical role in the Cognition Builders business, with each of us bringing a unique perspective and a diverse skill set. I am the CEO and the owner of the company but we are one Executive Team. Sarah is the Executive Clinical Director and COO, with a background in behavior analysis and education. She focuses on business development, behavioral trainings, and overseeing our clients with behavioral challenges. Jessica holds two masters in psychology and is the Chief Learning Officer, one of her main responsibilities is to develop the individualized programs and curricula that have been so successful thus far. Erica is the Executive Clinical Director and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. In her role, she manages our clients with clinical diagnoses and complex family needs.

Exec Edge: What sets Cognition Builders apart from the standard routes that have traditionally been recommended to families?

We function in a very different way from the standard methods prescribed and often, families and individuals come to us after they hit a wall with traditional methods. With Cognition Builders, we created something that had never existed before. We offer curricular only programs that are either full time in person or we place family-authorized cameras during the approved period should you not want someone living in your home full-time. Our method gains us direct access to how our clients behave 24/7 therefore addressing a fundamental aspect that traditional methods are not able to. Once we have an understanding of the way that our clients function, we utilize past proven data in order to determine next steps, providing our clients with notes on a daily basis.

Exec Edge: What’s ahead for the company and what are some of your long-term goals?

Cognition Builders is always growing and innovating to meet clients’ needs. A few years ago, Cognition Builders began offering curricula-based bootcamps to increase the reach of our services. We currently offer them at Stetson University and, as a result of COVID-19, we added additional virtual Adulting Bootcamps at Stetson University to meet their students’ needs. Each of the new programs we offer is designed to address new needs in the market.

Over the years, established clinicians and those just coming to the field frequently turn to us for advice. It became increasingly apparent to our team at Cognition Builders that they needed management services to ultimately achieve success, so we decided to begin offering them guidance. This organic evolution of our business came to fruition after realizing that clinical graduate programs have so much to cover, thus leaving them with little time to educate clinicians on the work required to start a private business. With so many clinicians wanting to go into private practice, we wanted to fill this gap in the market by educating them on the business aspects such as billing, payroll, marketing, and acquiring as well as retaining clients. As an educational company, the Cognition Builders’ Executive Team will also advise clinicians as they embark on the journey of creating and growing their own private practices. Most individuals starting businesses aimed at guiding clients hold the belief that the main aspect is the help they are providing. However, it is imperative to take into account that they are also running a business, which requires a specific set of business skills. Through the provision of expert management services and access to our custom curricula, our support will ensure that their practices thrive.

Exec Edge: Why do you think Cognition Builders has been able to achieve the level of success it has?

The level of success that we have achieved thus far is 100% attributed to the quality of our work, which speaks for itself. From the outset, we have been very open with our clients in regards to how we work and manage expectations as well as progress through daily notes. Our team always delivers the most intricate data to set the efficacy of our work.

Exec Edge: What are some of the goals you set out to achieve with Cognition Builders?

We wanted to change the way people navigated life’s challenges and provide support in a unique way. I think perhaps the most important thing we’ve been able to prove to our clients is that our methods work and our clients are more successful as a result of Cognition Builders. Our business relies fully on referrals and it’s a testament to our model that we have been able to achieve such a high level of success.

Exec Edge: How are you hoping to provide some of the services you offer to families who aren’t able to afford the full experience?

It has been extremely important to us to find a way to offer our services to those who cannot have someone with them 24/7. We are proud to launch our bootcamps as a way to provide a broader group of individuals and families with the opportunity to improve their lives and build a new foundation for themselves. Our bootcamps utilize the tried and tested methods that we have embedded into our programs as well as the data we have been collecting, on a more accessible level.

Exec Edge: As a 100% women-owned and operated business, what are some of the challenges you’ve had to face and how have you overcome these?

As women, we have always been taught to be pleasers, but telling people what they want to hear will never result in achieving any productive objectives. We, as a team of strong and aspiring women, have broken away from the traditional ideals and antiquated expectations of women in order to affect real change within our families’ homes. At Cognition Builders, we are direct, assertive, and honest in our methods, and this shift within ourselves allows us to solve problems much more efficiently. We are immensely proud of being a 100% women-owned business and we are constantly innovating as a result of the unique perspective each member of our Executive Team brings to the table.

Originally published at https://finance.yahoo.com on June 7, 2021.

Ilana Kukoff and Sarah Lopano

The families that Cognition Builders supports are often titans in their industry. They know how to create a successful business, but are frequently at a loss when it comes to their families. Cognition Builders puts family life into the perspective of business, to help our clients understand how to get the returns that they want on their family life.

We teach parents that successful families, just like a business, do not just happen overnight. You have to be intentional and effortful to get what you want and what’s in the best interest of your family. Of course, success is going to look different for each family, but we can all agree that happy, healthy kids with whom you have a loving relationship, is the foundation that families strive for. If you want your kids to be close to you when they’re adults, the foundation for those future relationships begins now.

As the CEO of your family, you have to take charge. Let’s begin by setting aside a weekend to get your family organized, using these steps as your guide.

1. Set Goals. Cognition Builders has a curriculum for this and it begins by identifying what your wish list is for your family. What does a successful morning look like to you? Is it breakfast, sharing what you have on the agenda for the day? Is it sharing a problem you’re facing and want to get your kids' input on? If we want our teens and younger children to be thinkers we need to expose them to age-appropriate material and get their input. Respect goes both ways and we can’t have deep meaningful relationships without it. While this is an example of what we do, you can do this on your own.
2. Create expectations. Every member of your family — parents, and kids — should have a clear role. What is their job as a member of the family and how will they get it done? The roles for our kids should be centered around learning, being social, and helping. Think about this in terms of an employee. The more clear their job description is, the more likely they are to succeed. In addition, there need to be clear contingencies for when your kids do or don’t do their job. Think about it, if you don’t work, your compensation goes out the window; that’s the natural consequence. There needs to be a natural, appropriate consequence for your teen too. For example: let’s say your teen is responsible for unloading the dishwasher and doesn’t do it. An appropriate consequence would be that they aren’t allowed to use any of the dishes to eat on until their job is done. Always make sure no one is completing your child’s job for them. These small micro-responsibilities create the foundation for larger responsibilities when they live on their own.
3. Identify your resources. Our three primary resources in business and in life are our skill sets, our time, and our money. And just like in a business, these resources are scarce. Consider the resources of all caretakers: parents, grandparents, teachers, nannies, coaches — anyone in the position to help your child grow and develop. Think about which goals need the most resources to be accomplished, which are your priorities, and what can be done with the resources you have available. If you hire a nanny, tutor, or other help in the home, ask them to provide daily or weekly, as Cognition Builders provides, so you know exactly what’s happening in your home and where you may need to make changes. You wouldn’t allow one of your employees to go without metrics, would you?
4. Allocate your resources. Schedule specific, focused time for each member of the family to work toward their goals. Maybe you block an hour on Tuesdays to take your daughter to the park and help her practice social skills. Maybe you schedule 30 minutes every Saturday for alone time with your spouse. Maybe you sign your son up for piano lessons. Whatever your goals are, allocate and define which resources will be used to reach them. Don’t allow your family to drop the ball. Commit to something and follow through with it for at least 3 months, so you can truly determine whether it’s working or not.
5. Establish structure. Kids do best when they know their days are predictable. Every child, even the ones who want to be left alone, needs structure. Now that you have scheduled in time for your biggest priorities, you can create daily routines, and schedules around the “must-dos”. Use family google calendars. Post these routines and schedules around the house. Find a system that works for your family so everyone is on the same page, and stick to it. Sticking to something requires oversight each day. If you cannot do it, talk with your partner or other caregivers about doing it. Don’t leave things to happenstance or they won’t happen.
6. Preparation. As parents, when we come home from a long day of work we often just want to relax and wind down. We’re so tired from our day that it is hard to give of ourselves to our family. To help ease this strain, have a plan for exactly what you will do so that it feels less overwhelming. Have topics of conversation that you’re going to talk to your kids about, a plan for tackling dinner chores, bedtime routines, and how you are going to respond to difficult behaviors. Preparation is the antidote to feeling overwhelmed.
7. Follow through. Maintain the structure and schedules you created. Follow them each and every day — consistency truly is key! You can’t judge the efficacy of something without doing it each and every day. It isn’t fair to say something doesn’t work unless you’ve done it all the time with intention and follow-through. Remember you and your family are learning a new group of skills together and that takes time to generalize and sustain itself. Check back on your goals regularly. Use metrics to keep a log of progress for objective data. If you’re not making progress, problem solve! Work with your family to make changes so that you are moving the needle.

As with anything business or family-related, this is often easier said than done. Some steps may come naturally to you, while others feel artificial and forced. It can feel uncomfortable at first to use a list of conversation starters to engage with your teen. But what this does is teach you to go deeper with your relationship. The structure of routine may feel rigid, but it establishes consistency. And once you do it for a while it will become second nature to you and your family

With time, what once felt forced will become a habit and you will see the returns on your investment. Your family will flourish.

Cognition Builders is an educational company that places Family Architects in the home to help implement tailored curricula to establish structure and change language and behavior in real-time. We are teaching parents the ins and outs of running a successful family so that they can focus on love, enjoyment, and connection.