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Executive Functions. what are they how do they affect your child how can you help your child who has vulnerable EF skills. Joyce M.

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Executive Functions

what are they

how do they affect your child

how can you help your child who has

vulnerable EF skills

(2)

What does executive functioning mean to you?

What are two broad categories of ways to help children/students

with vulnerable EF skills?

What skills are included under EF?

What signs are indicative of a child with vulnerable EF skills?

Can these skills be taught?

When are EF skills developed?

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EF skills

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“Executive skills allow us to organize our behavior over time and override immediate demands in favor of longer-term goals. Through the use of these skills, we can plan and organize activities, sustain attention, and persist to complete a task. Executive skills enable us to mange our emotions (referred to as “hot” EF skills vs... the other skills referred to as “cool”) and monitor our thoughts in order to work more efficiently and effectively.

Executive skills help us select and achieve goals or to develop solutions to problems. These skills include: planning, organizing, time management, working memory, and metacognition (self-monitoring and self-evaluation). To reach a goal, we use skills to guide and modify our behavior as we move on the path towards reaching a goal. These skills include: response regulation, self-regulation or affect, task initiation, cognitive flexibility (this includes making transitions), and goal-directed persistence.”

From: Dawson and Guare, Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents

EF…..the brain’s CEO, or the orchestra conductor of all our cognitive skills

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Preschool - run simple errands; tidy bedroom/playroom; perform simple chores and self-help tasks; inhibit behaviors (don’t touch hot stove, don’t run into the street)

K-2- run errands; two/three step directions; tidy bedroom/playroom; perform simple chores; do self-help tasks w reminders; bring papers to and from school; complete hw assignments (20 mins max); decide how to spend money/allowance; inhibit behaviors (raise hand to speak, keep hands to self, don’t swear) & follow safety rules

Gr 3-5 - run errands (may involve a time delay); tidy bedroom/playroom; perform tasks that take 15-30 mins; bring materials to and from school; keep track of belongings when away from home; complete hw (up to 1 hour max); plan simple school project; keep track of changing daily schedule; save money for desired objects; inhibit & self regulate-behave when teacher leaves classroom, refrain from rude comments

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Gr 6-8- help w chores in home baby sit younger siblings

use a system for organizing schoolwork (inc. planner, notebooks) follow school schedule

plan and complete long-term projects

plan time inc. for after-school activities, homework, family responsibilities inhibit rule-breaking when authority not visible

Developmental Tasks Requiring EF Skills

More Specifically…..Students in middle school are expected to:

• remember to write down assignments consistently

• keep track of assignments and materials (notebooks, folders, books,

• know which materials need to be brought home or taken to school daily

• plan and monitor long-term assignments, including breaking them down into subtasks and creating timelines

• plan how work will be organized and time will be spent, including estimating how much time is required to complete daily assignments as well as long-term assignments

• keep track of other responsibilities or belongings-sports equipment, lunch money, permission slips, etc

- manage the complexity of changing classes, inc taking different materials to different classes and having teachers with different organizational styles and expectations

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High

School-manage schoolwork effectively on a day-to-day basis:

complete & hand in assignments on time, study for tests,

create & follow timelines for long-term projects

make adjustments in effort & quality of work in response to feedback

establish & refine a long-term goal and make plans for meeting that goal (ie college)

select appropriate courses & maintain GPA for college acceptance maintain extra curricular activities inc SAT/ACT prep

complete college apps

make good use of leisure time (employment & recreational activities)

inhibit reckless & dangerous behaviors

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What specific skills are included in EF?

Depending on whose work one reads, the skills included in EF vary. Learning Works For Kids, a website, lists 12 executive functions that may be useful in clarifying a child’s executive strengths and weaknesses:

Planning – The ability to develop a set of strategies in order to accomplish a goal; the ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task; it involves being able to make decisions about what’s important to focus on and what’s not important to focus on.

Organization – The ability to use a systematic approach for achieving goals; the ability to arrange or place things according to a system.

Time Management & Prioritization – The ability to respond to things in a timely fashion; the capacity to estimate how much time one has, how to allocate it, and how to stay within time limits and deadlines; it also involves a sense that time is important.

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Working Memory – The ability to remember something while performing an activity on this memory; the ability to hold information in mind while performing and completing a complex task; it incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project problem-solving strategies into the future

Metacognition – The ability to self-monitor, self-evaluate, and observe oneself; the

ability to stand back and take a bird’s eye view of oneself in a situation; the ability to observe how one’s own self problem solves

Response Inhibition (self-control) – The ability to stop or delay an action rather than display impulsive behavior; the ability to think before one acts; this ability (to resist the urge to say or do something) allows time to evaluate a situation and evaluate how one’s behavior may impact the situation

Regulation of Affect – The ability to manage one’s feelings effectively for decision-making, task-completion, achieve goals, or control and direct behavior

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Task Initiation (getting started) – The ability to initiate a task without procrastination

Flexibility – The ability to be adaptable, improvise, and shift approaches to demands; the ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information, or mistakes; it involves

adaptability to changing conditions

Goal-Directed Persistence -The ability to persevere on tasks that require sustained effort; the capacity or drive to follow through to the completion of a goal and not be put off by other demands or competing interests

Social Thinking– The ability to respond appropriately to social conditions

From: http://www.learningworksforkids.com/executive.htmland Dawson and Guare, Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents

And still more…..

Sustained Attention – The ability to maintain one’s focus and attention in the presence of distractions

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Two dimensions of EF skills…Thinking & Doing

EF skills involving thinking

Working memory Planning Prioritization Organization Time management Meta-cognition

EF skills involving doing (behavior)

Response inhibition Emotional control Sustained attention Task initiation Goal-directed persistence Flexibility

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Behaviors Found in a Student with Executive Function Issues:

• Starts assignments/tasks without necessary materials • Does not leave enough time to complete tasks

• Skips steps in multi-step tasks

• Has difficulty relating to a story chronologically • “Jumps the Gun” socially

• Wastes time doing a small project and fails to do the big project • Written work is poorly organized

• Has difficulty identifying what material to record in note-taking

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Typical Behaviors Found in a Student with Executive Function Issues:

• Fails to turn in completed work

• Loses important papers or assignments

• Has difficulty getting started on tasks, which may appear as oppositional behavior • Appears distractible and/or impulsive

• Picks smaller, immediate reward over larger, delayed reward • Runs out of time before completing assignments/tasks

• Has good ideas but doesn’t get the job done

• Has difficulty making transitions and/or coping with the unforeseen • Doesn’t check to insure that each step is completed

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Typical Behaviors Found in a Student with Executive Function Issues:

• Doesn’t check work before submitting it

• Exhibits inappropriate or over-reactive responses to situations • Starts tasks but may not finish

• Cannot find clothes, shoes, toys, books, pencils, etc. • Doesn’t realistically evaluate performance in school

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Two principles to consider when thinking about helping children with EF

vulnerabilities

1. Start with external changes/structures and then move to internal changes

2. Children can be supported by intervening with their environment and/or intervening with them - think of ways to change the environment

change the physical or social environment change the nature of the task

change the way cues are given

change the way adults interact with students

- think of ways to change children’s skills by motivating them and/or directly teaching them to develop their EF skills to perform tasks and achieve goals

According to Kahn & Dietzel, parents and teachers have two primary roles in helping children with EF vulnerabilities: help them be successful in their daily lives & teach the skills and strategies/ approaches that allow the children to be independent in the long run. By providing temporary supports we may reinforce overdependence and learned helplessness.

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• Set a goal; that is ONE goal

• Create a checklist to reflect the procedure or steps to reach the goal • Supervise your child as he/she follows the procedure

• Evaluate the process and make necessary changes • Fade the supervision

“Remember, the ultimate goal is to help children / students develop their own EF skills so they can function independently.”

Process to teach EF skills to children:

• Identify the problem or problem behavior..be specific

“We must maintain a balance between support and skill building; if we only accommodate, without attempting to strengthen EF skills, we may promote dependency and helplessness.”

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How to Change a Behavior

Teach, using specific behavioral terms, what is expected of your child vs... punishing Collaborate with your child

Focus on the desired outcome

Raise the stakes…….use a reward system Reward small steps in the right direction

Maintain reasonable expectations and decide when to let your child experience natural consequences for his/her behavior

Remember, change does not occur in a smooth, steady, uphill manner

From: Late, Lost & Unprepared; Kahn & Dietzel

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Matching your Child to the Task

• When you know your child has EF vulnerabilities, pay close attention to your child’s emotional and behavioral responses to the tasks assigned.

• When your child avoids a task, consider the possibility that your child can’t do it.

• Figure out what EF skills the task requires & ask yourself whether your child possesses these skills.

E.g.. Cleaning one’s bedroom….what EF skills are required?

• Task initiation…….start w/out reminders

• Planning…………..plan of attack

• Prioritization………what needs to be saved vs... thrown out

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Matching your Child to the Task

• Figure out if something in the environment is making task difficult & tweak/change the environment.

• If your child has successfully handled the task some of the time, figure out what made the success possible and incorporate it.

• If your child can do a task sometimes but not all the time, this may simply mean you have identified an EF vulnerability.

• If your child has the EF skills to do a task, the problem may be that your child doesn’t believe he/she can succeed? If so, figure out why he/she lacks confidence. (task seems too big, tried & failed previously, previous efforts have been met with criticism, someone has always jumped in and helped)…so he/she has never learned to overcome an obstacle independently.)

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What can teachers do to help students with vulnerable EF skills?

• Use checklists

• Use rubrics for assignments

• Create and use “how to lists ” or “tool kits” for procedures • Use calendars

• Break up long-term assignments

• Check that students use their assignment book • Teach study skills

• Teach highlighting/taking margin notes

• Inform students how long assignments should take • Teach 2-column note-taking

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What can teachers do to help students with vulnerable EF skills?

• Establish daily routines for : handing in homework, gathering necessary work materials, planning to accomplish the day’s tasks, writing down homework, gathering necessary materials for homework, reviewing directions for assignments (at first use a checklist each student or pair completes, then fade by cuing students to use checklist independently)

• Make class rules, teach the rules explicitly, practice the rules, cue students, then fade

• As a problem arises during year, discuss with class, identify it, & come up with a process to solve it. Having students help develop a plan incorporates EF skills.

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• Incorporate EF skills strategies into daily instruction--ask questions that require EF skills e.g.. “how can you remember to …..” ; “since this is a big assignment, please write down the steps you need to follow”; “how will you study for this quiz/test”

In order for class-wide strategies to be effective….

• the strategy/process must be taught explicitly

• the strategy/process must be monitored daily for a LONG time before fading begins • the strategy/process must be designed, described, and taught carefully

*if the strategy/process fails, redesign the strategy/process for those students

What can teachers do to help students with vulnerable EF skills?

• Set goals…each student sets a goal (academic or behavioral) and teacher and student meet routinely to check how student is progressing towards meeting goal. If a group goal is established, use advisory to have each student report progress (e.g.. how to study for quiz/test, time management)

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What can parents do to help their child who has vulnerable EF skills?

Directly teach the deficient skills rather than expecting that your child acquires the skills through observation or osmosis

Consider your child’s developmental level and make sure your expectations are developmentally appropriate

Move from the external to the internal…use cues instead of expecting your child to remember to do ____; keep tasks brief instead of expecting your child to work for an extended time period

External changes include: changes you make to the environment, changes to the task, or

changing the way you interact with your child (rehearse what will happen, use verbal prompts)

Use your child’s innate drive for mastery & control…create routines & schedules; build in choices; practice difficult tasks in small steps & gradually increase the demands; use

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What can parents do to help their child who has vulnerable EF skills?

* Modify tasks to match your child’s capacity to exert effort…remember, our students have a long, challenging day, with lots of transitions (EF), so they may be tired at the end of the day * Use incentives…bribery works, but you must be consistent

* Provide JUST ENOUGH support for your child to be successful

* Keep supports and supervision in place until your child achieves mastery or success

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Coaching is the process in which an adult works with a student to set important

school-related goals, to ensure that the student’s behaviors and actions on a daily basis are consistent with those goals, and brings the student closer to achieving those goals.

Consider hiring a coach….so, what is coaching?

1. Set a goal, identify possible obstacles, write a plan to reach goal

2. Hold daily sessions (5-10 mins)

- review/evaluate the plan for previous day - make a plan for that day

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* efficient time-management

* improved organizational proficiency *sustained motivation

* effective planning and scheduling practices * development of proactive behaviors

* goal setting and clarification activities * academic and social balance

* increased self knowledge of learning styles * development of self-discipline

* reduction of fear of failure

* skills for coping with ADD/ADHD and other learning differences * personal and academic growth

* renewed excitement and curiosity for learning

From: http://www.rnbc.org/execfunct.aspRush University Medical Center; Rush NeuroBehavioral Center

Through coaching and teaching children to improve their executive

function skills, the children will gain knowledge of:

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Bibliography:

Cooper-Kahn, Joyce & Dietzel, Laurie; Late, Lost, and Unprepared; Woodbine House; 2008 Dawson, Peg & Guare, Richard; Smart But Scattered; Guilford Press, 2009

Dawson, Peg & Guare, Richard; Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents; Guilford Pr. 2004 Meltzer, Lynn; Executive Functions in Education; Guilford Press, 2007

Remember, the ultimate goal is to help children develop their own EF skills so they

can

function independently

Wrap Up

Do you better understand what executive functions are?

Do you have some idea of how to help your child who has vulnerable EF skills? Please seek out various resources at school to help you help your child.

References

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