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Integrate Critical Thinking Skills & Executive Functioning. Help kids develop problem-solving skills related to critical thinking and executive functioning.
Read about executive function skills and how they can help your child learn and develop. In this post, you will learn about inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility. Your child needs them for self-control and self-regulation, as well as for planning, organising and completing tasks.
Kids with Autism often struggle in the area of Executive Functioning or “Organized Thinking.” Our kids can be very “smart” and have a cognitive black hole with …
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
Autism Therapy & Applied Behavioral Analysis Services in New York Autism Therapy & Applied Behavioral Analysis Services Within New York, we specifically service the 5 boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. Path 2 Potential offers children with special needs an opportunity to reach their fullest potential using…
What are executive functioning skills? Executive functioning (EF) skills are the abilities in our brain that help us complete everyday tasks. These skills include planning, organization, time management, metacognition, working memory, self-control, attention, flexibility, and perseverance. S
Executive functioning skills are the brain processes that help kids and teens plan, organize, manage time, and persevere through challenges. Read more about executive functioning skills here, or consider some of the resources below to get started right away. Resources for Older Learners: Int
For kids who struggle with executive functioning skills, there are parts of the day that require more intentional focus in order to successfully progressthrough the day. Identifying high-stress or high-processing times during the day can help parents, teachers, and therapists come up with a plan of action for executive functioning skills and kids’ daily activities. ... Read more
18 working memory games and strategies designed to develop a child’s memory, planning, and organization skills in a fun and effective way!
Learn key executive functioning skills by age, and engaging executive functioning activities to boost development for toddlers, kids, and teens!
Task initiation is a powerful skill. The ability to tell oneself that a project or job needs to be started is a big part of getting anything done. A bigger part of that is actually starting. How many of us have to-do lists that are a mile long? Knowing a job needs done is part ... Read more
We all have had students who have a difficult time with impulse control, planning ahead, time management, starting a task, completing a tas...
Many students struggle with executive function skills – things like prioritizing, focusing, organizing, completing tasks, or understanding cause and effect. These sequencing activities provide an opportunity for students to improve their executive functioning or life skills and are great for kids with ADHD, Autism, or Cognitive Impairments. Simply mix up the steps for each situation ...
These executive function games are powerful ways to work on working memory, attention, organization and other executive functioning skills.
8 Executive Functioning Skills determine if a child is ready for staying organized in school.
Share the accommodations listed in this free checklist with your child's teacher to better address the executive functions challenges that impact learning, retention, and organization skills.
Find an explanation of three key areas of executive function: working memory, self-control, and mental flexibility. Plus, how they impact children.
What are executive functioning skills? Executive functioning (EF) skills are the abilities in our brain that help us complete everyday tasks. These skills include planning, organization, time management, metacognition, working memory, self-control, attention, flexibility, and perseverance. S
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
Executive functioning skills are the brain processes that help kids and teens plan, organize, manage time, and persevere through challenges. Read more about executive functioning skills here, or consider some of the resources below to get started right away. Resources for Older Learners: Int
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
Executive functioning skills are getting a lot of attention right now in education. Honestly, it's not even the amount of attention that they deserve, though. Executive functions are essentially the building blocks for completing all tasks in life (in school and beyond). If you think of executive
Understanding Executive Functioning Checklists are often used to help students who struggle with executive functioning, but research shows that pairing pictures with lists is critical to their effectiveness. Executive functioning is a key to students' success
What are the executive functioning skills? Learn all about them in this post plus get a free printable download to share for a handy reference.
Executive functioning skills are key for our students to find success in the classroom and throughout their lives. EF skills include working memory, time management, organization, task initiation, emotional control, planning/prioritizing, and sustained persistence (note: these categories vary depending on which EF resource you are reading). Executive functioning skills don't always fall into a curriculum, ...
Are you wondering what executive function milestones to look for in your children? We've mapped it out in our executive function skills by age post.
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Flexible Thinking is one of the most common skill deficits we see when working with our referral students. Inflexible thinking can impact all areas of the school day and can lead to interfering behaviors such as refusals, meltdowns, or even aggression. Students who lack flexibility may: have difficulty with changes to schedules or routines struggle to cope with unseen events have trouble transitioning struggle with shifting gears between activities or topics demonstrate rigid thinking can lead to difficulty maintaining friendships It is important that educational teams approach flexible thinking as an executive functioning skill that needs to be directly taught. Today's Executive Functioning Forum will provide educators with ideas for providing accommodations and instruction to help students with developing their Flexible Thinking skills. Provide Consistent Schedules and Routines Students with autism and executive functioning skill deficits thrive off predictability and routine. Knowing what to expect daily can be calming and can greatly reduce anxiety. Even when looking to teach flexibility skills, it is important to first set the foundation by having consistent routines that students can rely on so that you can begin directly teaching skills associated with changing these routines. Expecting students to cope or "get used to" erratic schedules each day is counter-productive and often leads to students just feeling on edge each day. When feeling this way, students may become even more inflexible in an attempt to control the environment that they perceive is out of control. Use visual schedules and checklists to help communicate to students what their daily routine will be. Make these visual supports interactive so that they are meaningful to students. Laurie Maravetz Schafer Middle School, Springfield Jennifer Jette Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia Angela Crum Parkwood Elementary, Beavercreek For more ideas on using schedules in the classroom visit our Super Star Schedules posts. Prime for Transitions When using schedules, it is still important to prime for transitions so students know when it will be time to go to the next activity. Using a structured work system or mini schedule helps students know what is expected during a scheduled activity. The end of the task marks the natural end of the period and cues students to go on to the next scheduled activity. Kirsten Johnson Greene INC Traci Parker Forest Elementary, Troy If there is not a clear end to a task or activities, visual supports can be used to cue students on the transition. A time timer or time timer watch shows the student the passing of time. While a visual countdown can be used by the staff to show the passing of time and provide reminders as they count down. The bottom of the countdown shows where they will be transitioning to next. Jennifer McGowan Smith Middle School, Vandalia Help students develop their metacognition through discussing transitions with them and help them to identify possible triggers so that you can directly teach coping strategies. We love this transition discussion guide! Leslie Mann Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia For more ideas on supporting transitions check out our Around Town Round Up-- Transitions post. Prime for Changes Some schedules make it easy to communicate changes because you can manipulate the picture icons or write the new sequence of activities. Other schedules may require a visual cue to prime students such as a change card or post-it note. Angela Crum Parkwood Elementary, Beavercreek Jennifer Schmidt Beavercreek High School, Beavercreek Teach Strategies for Perspective Taking When an individual demonstrates inflexible thinking it can be difficult for them to make and keep friends. This can stem from their inability to shift gears between the activities and topics they love to the things others enjoy. It can also be a result of their unwillingness to take the other person's thoughts or feelings into consideration. They may come off as rude or uncaring when really they may be unaware of the issue due to their own mindblindness. First, introduce the idea of speech bubbles and thought bubbles. Teach students to filter what things are appropriate to say (speech bubble) and what is better left unsaid (thought bubble). Offer role-playing opportunities and discuss scenarios to provide students with time to practice this skill. Use visuals to prime and prompt students. Versailles Elementary Nancy Cera Brookville Elementary, Brookville Nancy Cera Brookville Elementary, Brookville For more ideas on teaching speech bubbles and thought bubbles check out our Around Town Round Up-- Speech Bubble/Thought Bubble post. When teaching about speech and though bubbles, emphasize how actions and words can impact what others think. Use contingency maps and flow charts to help student see the consequences of their actions and words. This type of forward thinking is often difficult for our students with autism especially when they are having difficulty with flexible thinking because they are unable to consider the perspective of others. Taylor Ruef Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Once the student has a toolbox of strategies to help them think more flexibly. Use visual supports to prime them like the list of strategies on the Be Flexible card below. Prime the student before times where flexible thinking may be difficult such as when working on a group project or going out to recess. Then, provide a visual cue to prompt them in the moment if you notice they start to struggle with being flexible. The front of the Be Flexible card below is one example of a visual cue prompt. Providing students with visual supports and direct instruction will help them develop their ability to think flexibly, cope with changes, and foster friendships. For more ideas on meeting the needs of students with executive functioning difficulties, check out our previous Executive Functioning Forum posts. Planning and Organization Attention and Impulse Control Memory Emotional Regulation
Think of working memory like a mental sketch pad; a place to store information for short periods of time while we're working through a task. Kids, teens, and adults use this skill on a daily basis to completely basic and complex tasks. For students, these tasks range from completing simple mental ma
A master list of a wide variety of executive functioning activities to improve skills for your children or students. 50 fun activities!
Children with executive function disorder have trouble with organization & tasks. Learn more about identifying & helping kids with EFD!
Learn key executive functioning skills by age, and engaging executive functioning activities to boost development for toddlers, kids, and teens!
What is Executive Functions? Executive functions, or what I like to call the conductor of the brain, is the process of the mind gathering together and making sense of all the information we receive from our instruments or senses. Helping us to create meaning from what we see, hear, touch, taste, and experience, executive functions also allows us to focus our attention, learn and think about new information, and make connections to what we already know. The Three Parts of Executive Function Executive function is not fully understood in the literature and studies continue to explore this complex skill. However, there seems to be a consensus amongst many Organizations and Institutions such as Understood as well as Harvard and Stanford Universities that executive function can be discussed as having the following component parts or mental processes that generally reside in the prefrontal cortex of the brain: 1) Working Memory Working memory is a place where our memory works to gather sensory input, hold it, process it, manipulate it and also encode and retrieve information from long-term memory. When considering Alan Baddeley's well-researched model, working memory processes information two ways. On the one hand, it uses the "visual-spatial sketch pad" to create internal visual and spatial aids to assist memory. On the other hand, it offers the "phonological loop" which is a guiding inner voice that can keep information active in one's mind. Clearly, working memory offers us an internal stage where we can make sense of the world around us. 2) Inhibitory Control Inhibitory control or response inhibition helps us manage four essential skills. First, it helps us focus on what we are learning and block distractions. Second, it manages our mind and allows us to engage in metacognition or thinking about our thinking. Third, inhibitory control enables self-regulation skills and emotional control. Fourth, inhibitory control helps us regulate our surroundings. For instance, you may choose a quiet location when doing your work or sit at a desk with the needed materials. 3) Cognitive Flexibility Cognitive Flexibility is about keeping our brains flexible and limber. It offers three skills. First, it involves switching activities and shifting focus, such as moving from one assignment to the next. Second, it revolves around the idea that different situations have different rules. Third, requires switching a point of view which enables us to consider situations from many vantage points. Cognitive flexibility helps us to make the best decisions in novel situations. Understanding Executive Functioning Problems: Many teachers and parents have trouble understanding how simple tasks such as remembering appointments, using an agenda, or turning in assignments can be difficult, but unfortunately, these and other similar tasks can be extremely challenging for some individuals. However, the good news is the primary part of the brain that manages executive function, which is called the frontal lobe, continues to develop through high school and college. Therefore, many kids that struggle with executive functions can significantly improve their abilities over time. Come Learn about the Executive Functioning Screener! CLICK HERE Also You Can View Our Executive Function Course You Might have Executive Functioning if: Here are 11 common signs of executive functioning disorder: You have trouble maintaining a planner or agenda for recording assignments. You have trouble planning long term projects and often complete them at the last minute.You often forget papers, notebooks and other materials needed for school or homework. You have a hard time estimating how long a task or project will take. You have trouble starting your homework independently. You are easily distracted. You have a hard time keeping track of your possessions and often lose important materials. You have trouble listening to and following multistep directions. You have trouble transitioning from one task to another. You have trouble keeping appointments. You have trouble keeping your bedroom and book-bag organized. Come Learn about the Executive Function Screener! CLICK HERE What are Some Common Myths and Truths? Myth: Kids with executive function weaknesses are lazy and unmotivated. Truth: Most of these kids are motivated and hard-working, but they have trouble maintaining attention and stamina. As a result, these students are often misread and misunderstood. It is important to realize that executive functioning issues are NOT the result of laziness, lack of effort, or carelessness. In fact, criticizing these learners and providing negative feedback and pressure often worsens these difficulties and can trigger feelings of helplessness. Myth: ADHD and executive function issues are the same. Truth: Attention is only one small piece of the executive function skills that the brain performs. Therefore, some kids with poor executive function skills do not have ADHD. Likewise, there are some kids with ADHD that do not struggle with other areas of executive functions such as working memory, flexible thinking, impulse control, self-monitoring, multi-step instructions, sustained attention, planning skills, prioritizing skills, completing tasks, task initiation, time management, and organization. What the research is discovering, however, is that there is a positive correlation between those with ADHD and executive functioning disorder. Myth: All kids should be able to learn executive functions.Truth: Just like some are blind or paralyzed, others have learning disabilities that make executive functions extremely difficult. In fact, some individuals have such a difficult time with executive functioning skills, they require support from technology and people (such as personal assistants or secretaries) throughout their life. Myth: Kids can't get school accommodations for executive function skills. Truth: With proper testing, many of these kids are diagnosed with a learning disability or ADHD. In addition, with a diagnosis, students can get an individualized education program (IEP) or 504 plan that can offer reasonable accommodations. How to Improve Executive Function: 1. Maintain a structured, daily routine. 2. Teach learners how to set priorities. 3. Generate a consistent homework plan. 4. Break large assignments into manageable tasks. 5. Make to-do lists. 6. Demonstrate time management skills by generating self imposed deadlines. 7. Teach study skills and test taking strategies. 8. Provide incentives and positive reinforcement. 9. Utilize graphic organizers for planning ideas and writing. 10. Teach metacognitive skills by thinking through thought processes aloud. 11. Be patient and supportive. 12. Think aloud so that you can demonstrate how to use executive functioning skills. Where Can I Get Ready Made Materials and Exercises that Help Develop These Skills? You can take my comprehensive course (CLICK HERE to learn more) or you can purchase my The Executive Function Cognitive Remedial Bundle. The bundle offers a comprehensive approach to improving a student’s planning, time management, and organization abilities. This bundle offers a discounted suite of downloadable activities, games, and handouts that were designed to help learning specialists, educational therapists, and even parents assist students in developing executive functioning skills. To get a free sampling of activities from Planning, Time Management, and Organization for Success (one of the publications in the executive functioning bundle), CLICK HERE If you would like a free copy of the images in this blog, CLICK HERE. Please note that these images are copyrighted and should not be used on your own website without prior permission. Clearly, one can improve executive functions in younger children as well as throughout life. Whether one is struggling with poor working memory, weak planning skills, trouble keeping track of materials, or breaking tasks into manageable chunks, to name a few, there are many strategies that can be learned to improve this vital skill. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn, Learning Specialist Courses, and My Memory Mentor. Blog: https://goodsensorylearning.com/blogs/news YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1 Executive Function Podcast: https://goodsensorylearning.com/pages/the-personal-brain-trainer-podcast-with-dr-erica-warren Store: http://www.Goodsensorylearning.com/ Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/ Assessments: www.mymemorymentor.com Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/694000
Learn top notch executive functioning skills resources to help you and your children. These executive functioning ideas will guide you successfully. #executivefunctioning
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In many ways, strong executive functioning skills are the foundation for success. These are the mental processes that help learners plan through assignments, organize materials, initiate a task, manage time well, stay focused, try new strategies when stuck, and persevere until the completion of a go
