smart tool

You will have access to the different skill notebook tools several ways:

• podcast - first series of episodes will be on executive function

• articles on parent connection blog on social mind center site

• executive function coaching programming now available

• customized coaching and training for families to expand social competency equipping and set up home learning curriculum

• tutoring support by ESE trained educator

The different skill notebook will provide strategies to build skills such executive function, social communication (language) and social cognition skills resulting in social emotional competency. With all the changes in the last few months due to Covid the need for executive function skills is more critical than ever. The learning environments keep evolving requiring adaptation.

The format of the notebook will identify the skill, strategy and design a system to support the strategy across environments.

Skill: Self-awareness and acquiring the words to express abilities and limitations.

Strategy: Story telling and sharing personal experiences with social and academic challenges.

Build: Create opportunities to share your life experiences. This models for your children sharing and storytelling (narrating skill).

• Find opportunities to share during meals, playing games, or during walks. Walking and sharing is my favorite time to share.

• On our drives to and from school we had our daily car dialogues. We would also go eat after school which gave them time to decompress and share about the day.

Story:

Both Gaby and Nick have always loved to hear stories about my childhood and teenage years. My childhood was quite an adventure. My parents and family were all Cuban refugees. Spanish is my first language. My experiences and perspectives were very tied to my families exodus from Cuba.

They both love my story of how I had to repeat first grade due to barely knowing the English language. My father insisted my first language would be Spanish and I would learn English in school. However, I went to a Spanish speaking preschool and kindergarten. My language limitations resulted in my failing 1st grade. They love seeing my pictures in first grade with big glasses. My hardship put into perspective their They cannot imagine going to school not knowing the language.

Yet, Nick went to Kindergarten and his speech was limited. A difficult time for him yet definitely a better scenario than me being completely lost for an entire school year not knowing the language.

Sharing stories of our challenging experiences help our children expand their perspectives and understanding that everyone has struggles, strengths, weaknesses and climbs in their life.

Here is one of our checklist from our different skill notebook to help familiarize you with the executive function skills category.

Executive Function is a set of mental processes that have to do with managing oneself and one's resources in order to achieve a goal and involves mental control and self-regulation (Jericho, 2012);

1.    Working memory: holding information in mind while performing tasks

2.    Cognitive flexibility: to move freely from one situation to another and to think flexibly in order to respond appropriately to situation (adapt)

o   helps us to sustain or shift attention in response to different demands or to apply different rules in different settings

3.    Inhibitory control (includes self-control)  the ability to stop one’s own behavior at the appropriate time, including stopping actions and thoughts

o   enables us to set priorities and resist impulsive actions or responses

Executive skills resulting from the above three processes (Rodden, 2020) :

o   attention/focus: is sustained attention is the ability to maintain attention despite distractibility, fatigue or boredom

o   abstract reasoning/concept formation/saliency determination: the ability to make connections, synthesize and categorize information.

o   emotional regulation/control is the process of recognizing and controlling feelings or reactions to feelings (ability to modulate emotional responses by bringing rational thought to bear on feelings) 

o   self-monitoring is the ability to monitor and evaluate your own performance and to measure it against some standard of what is needed or expected

o   task initiation is the ability to recognize when to get started on something and begin without procrastinating

o   organization is the ability to create and maintain systems to keep track information and materials

o   planning/prioritizing the ability to create steps to reach a goal and to make decisions about what to focus 

Executive Function skills lead to self-regulation. Self-regulation is the ability to have control over our goals and direction of our lives (self-management). There are seven major types of self-regulation associated with executive functioning (Rodden, 2020):

o   self-awareness: commanding self-directed attention

o   self-restraint: inhibiting oneself

o   non-verbal working memory: holding things in your mind to guide behavior

o   verbal working memory: retaining internal speech

o   emotional: using words and images along with self-awareness to alter how you feel about things

o   self-motivation: motivating yourself to do things when no outside consequences exists

o   planning and problem solving: finding new approaches and solutions

Resources

Rodden, Janice. What is Executive Function Disorder? Additudemag. May 11, 2020; https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-executive-function-disorder-

 Jericho Schools. August, 2012. Executive Functioning: A Handbook for Grades K-12; http://www.jerichoschools.org/

 Cuncic, A. How to Practice Self-Regulation. verywellmind. March 15, 2019; https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536.

 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011). Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function: Working Paper No. 11. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

 Philip D. Zelazo, P. D.  3  Areas of Executive Function. Understood.org. https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/types-of-executive-function-skills?_ul=1*1w7rvn5*domain_userid*YW1wLWIyV0U2a3FCUldLVEVzb3ZDZXpWRWc.

 The National  Center for Learning Disabilities. (2013). Executive Function 101. Retrieved from www.LD.org.

 Meltzer, L.J. (2010). Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom. New York: Guilford Press.

 Meltzer, L.J. (Ed). (2007). Executive Function in Education: From theory to practice. New York: Guilford Press.

Atwood, T. (2007). The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome. London, England. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

  What is Speech? What is Language? Retrieved from https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Speech-and-Language/