Executive Functioning

I recently attended the 1st Annual Canadian Social Thinking® Providers Conference in Richmond, B.C.

Sarah Ward was a keynote speaker presenting on Executive Functioning.

WOW!  She was amazing!

Before I tell you about her talk, here are a few quotes to describe what Executive Functioning is, because personally I didn’t know before I attended this conference.

“Executive control is the starting point for essential mental tasks such as getting started on something, sustaining attention, remembering critical information, and monitoring one’s own actions.  These tasks, among other executive functions, play an undeniable role in determining the pace and success of a child’s development.”  (Adam J. Cox, “No Mind Left Behind.” 2008)

“Among the many contributions of executive control is the ability to focus, plan, and act in a goal-directed manner.  Executive control enables us to look into the future, identify a goal, coordinate a sequence of steps, and initiate action to achieve a goal.”  (Adam J. Cox, “No Mind Left Behind.” 2008)

“Executive skills allow us to organize our behavior over time and override immediate demands in favor of long-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 manage our emotions and monitor our thoughts in order to work more efficiently and effectively.  Simply stated, these skills help us regulate our behavior.”  (Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, “Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents.” 2010)

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY VERY BENEFICIAL AND IMPORTANT!

Now back to Sarah’s presentation………………

She was dynamic, funny and most importantly informative.  She spent over 3-hours providing us with strategies on how to help children and teenagers who have difficulty with Executive Functioning.  I would love to spend an entire day learning from her.

A few things I learned from Sarah:

1.  Kids need Situational Awareness/Intelligence in the Classroom

     STOP and read the room

     S – Space – Read the room

Where am I?    What’s going on?    Is this expected or unexpected?

     T – Time – Get on a Timeline

Time of day (routine vs non-routine)    What’s happening at this moment in time?  What is coming up?    What pace is required?

     O – Objects – Sense the organization

How are things organized?  Location and purpose

     P – People – Read the Person

Face, Body, Appearance, Mood

2.  When working on Executive Functioning your language should always contain a visual word

What time will you see when your show starts?    What will you look like when you are ready to go to school?

3.  Kids need to have a sense of passage of time.  Teach them to be time trackers

4.  Teach students to do a Mental Dress Rehearsal.  Task planning happens in a different space than where the task itself happens.  For example, ‘Bob’ needs to imagine in his mind what it looks like to get ready for soccer.

I have only touched on a few things Sarah Ward taught us.  I encourage all of you to go see Sarah present on Executive Functioning if you can.  Or hire her to speak to your group.  A 2-day workshop would be phenominal.

She and her co-director, Kristen Jacobsen, have a website that I encourage you to check out.  Click here to take a look at it.

We all want our children to have confidence, opportunity and fulfillment of their potential.  I’ve written this blog to draw attention to the importance of Executive Functioning in that wish.