+ Executive Function February 23, 2015 Resource Teacher Training Karen Horner.

+

Executive Function

February 23, 2015Resource Teacher Training

Karen Horner

+Do you know anyone who is…..

Disorganized?

Not able to complete homework or assignments?

Unmotivated except when a topic interests him or her?

Rarely able to get things done?

Easily angered?

Having difficulty with social situations?

+Can’t versus won’t

Is this ‘behaviour’?

Is this an act?

Is this student just lazy?

Why can’t this bright student get assignments handed in?

… Difficulties with Executive Function may be the culprit!

+Executive Function

Executive Function is not the same as

intelligence…

…so then what is Executive Function?

+What did your brain have to do?

How different would your day have gone if your brain didn’t work in an

efficient manner?

+Executive Function

“High level cognitive functions which enable us to manage our emotions and monitor our thoughts in order to work

more efficiently and effectively….. These skills help us to regulate our

behaviour”(Dawson and Guare, 2010)

+Executive Function

Executive Skills are built in, but are not necessarily developed at birth.

+ It Starts With the Brain and Brain Development

+Prefrontal Cortex and Frontal Lobe

+How do executive skills develop?

Through a process called myelination. Myelin acts as insulation, increasing the speed with which nerve impulses are transmitted. The faster the impulse, the better the skill.

+When is brain development complete?

+A teenage brain is like a Ferrari…

+All skills, including executive skills, improve with practice…

The more you practice, the better the skill.

Practice also makes the task less effortful

+Executive Function is Like a Conductor or….

+An Air Traffic Controller

+Executive Function

The following information is from the Provincial Outreach Program for Autism

and Related Disorders (POPARD) Handout on Executive Function

Executive Function for students with Autism has been divided into two

categories:Hot Executive FunctionsCold Executive Functions

+Executive Function –

Hot Functions

“Affective, motivational processing – includes: inhibition and emotional regulation, shifting and flexibility, initiation and self monitoring

Most closely associated with behaviour and emotional regulation in social situations.”

+Executive Function –

Cold FunctionsCold Executive Functions:

“Abstract, de-contextualized processing includes cognitive tasks, such as: working memory, planning organizing, and sustaining attention

Most closely associated with academic performance in learning situations” – thinking about thinking

+8 Elements of Executive FunctionThinking About Thinking (Cold)

Behaviour Regulation (Hot)

•Initiation •Inhibition•Planning •Shifting Attention•Organization •Emotional Control•Working Memory•Monitoring•Metacognition

+Thinking About Thinking:

Task Initiation

The ability to begin projects without undue procrastination, in an efficient or timely fashion.


Planning/PrioritizationThe ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to complete a task.

It also involves being able to make decisions about what’s

important to focus on and what’s not important.


Organization

The ability to design and maintain systems for keeping track of

information or materials.


Working Memory

The ability to hold information in mind while performing complex tasks. It incorporates the ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project into the future.

+Thinking About Thinking: Monitoring/ MetacognitionThe ability to stand back and take a

bird’s eye view of oneself in a situation. It is an ability to observe how you problem solve. It also

includes self-

monitoring and self-evaluative skills.


Time ManagementThe 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

+Behaviour Regulation:

Flexibility

The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new

information or mistakes. It relates to an adaptability to changing

conditions.


Sustaining Attention

The capacity to attend to a situation or task in spite of

distractibility, fatigue, or boredom


Response InhibitionThe capacity to think before you act. This ability to resist the urge to say or do something allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behaviour might

impact it.


Emotional Control (Also called self-regulation

or affect)

The ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals, complete

tasks, or control and direct behaviour.

+Executive Function and the Impact on Learning, Behaviour and Socialization ADHD

Learning Disabilities

Autism

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Depression

Head Injuries

Etc…..

+What Do Executive Skill Weaknesses Look Like in Students?• Ask without thinking • Easily over-stimulated and has

trouble calming down

Interrupts others Gets stuck on one topic or activity

Overreacts to small problems Gets overly upset about :little things:

Upset by change in plans Out of control more than peers

Overwhelmed by large assignments

Can’t come up with more than one way to solve a problem

Talks or plays too loudly Low tolerance for frustration

Doesn’t notice impact of behavior on others

Acts wild or out of control

Don’t see their behavior as part of the issue

+What Do Executive Skill Weaknesses Look Like in Students? Doesn’t write down assignments Forgets homework/forgets to

pass it in Forgets directions Leaves long-term assignments or

chores until the last minute Forgets to bring materials home Can’t break down long-term

assignments Runs out of steam before

finishing work Sloppy work

Choose “fun stuff” over homework or chores

Messy notebooks

Passive study methods (or doesn’t study)

Loses or misplaces things (books, papers, notebooks, mittens, keys, cell phone, etc.)

Can’t find things in backpack

+What Do Executive Skill Weaknesses Look Like in Students on ASD Spectrum?

Overreacts to small problems Gets stuck on one topic or activity

Upset by changes in plans Gets overly upset about ‘little things’

Overwhelmed by large assignments

Out of control more than peers

Resists change of routine Can’t come up with more than one way to solve a problem

Doesn’t notice impact of behavior on others

Low tolerance for frustration

Don’t see their behavior as part of the issue

+What Do Executive Skill Weaknesses Look Like in Students on ASD Spectrum?

Difficulty With: Monitoring

behaviour/performance/emotions

Regulating behaviour/emotions

Inhibiting automatic/overlearned responses

Shifting from one task/situation to another

Flexible problem solving Changing expectations Adapting to change Planning/organizing an

activity Applying past learning to

new situations

+3 Key Strategies for Managing Executive Skill Weaknesses

Intervene at the level of the environment

Intervene at the level of the child by:1. Teach the student the weak skill2. Motivate the student to use the skill

+3 Primary Ways Adults Can Help Students with Weak Executive Skills

1. Change the environment both to reduce the impact of weak executive skills and encourage the use of executive skills.

2. Help the student learn and practice executive skills.

3. Use incentives to help students to use skills that are hard for them.

+Move from External to Internal:Critical Dimensions

EXTERNAL INTERNAL

CHANGE CHANGE

ENVIRONMENT STUDENT

EXTERNAL CUE SELF-CUE

+Executive Function

How do you support a student with Executive Function deficits?

……Be their ‘external brain’!

+Executive Function

When planning to accommodate for deficits in these areas it helps to

determine which executive function is being challenged and based on that,

what would be the best intervention to support the need

*

+Prevent

1. Change the Environment

2. Adapt the Task

3. Provide cues

4. Provide modeling

+1. Change the Environment

Start here

Changes depend on the area of need

Impose structure

E.g. messy desk due to organizational problems

Text books kept on the shelf not in desk, binder system

+Environmental Modifications

Task domain/Executive

Skills

Classroom/Home Support

Change the social environment

- Response inhibition- Emotional control

• Reduce social complexity (e.g. fewer kids, more adults, supervision on playground, structured play vs. free play)

• Change the ‘social mix’ (seating arrangements in class, special table in cafeteria)



Skills


Change the physical environment

-Response inhibition-Sustained attention-Task initiation-Organization

• Add barriers (gates, laws)• Seating arrangements

(e.g. place distractible kids near teacher, away from windows)

• Reduce distractions (e.g. music as white noise)

• Use organizing structures (e.g. clear plastic containers with labels, consistent space on blackboard for writing homework



Skills


Modify tasks

-Sustained attention-Task initiation-Working memory-Flexibility-metacognition

• Make tasks shorter or build in breaks along the way

• Make steps more explicit

• Help kids track time

+Response Inhibition

Environmental Modification

Teaching Strategy

• Increase external controls

• Cue the child (external to internal)

• Restrict access • Teach wait/stop• Post home or

classroom rules and review regularly

• Teach delayed gratification

+The Marshmallow Experiment

The Zimbardo Experiment

+Working Memory


Teaching Strategy

Use orthotic memory devicesPrinciple of ‘off-loading’

• Directions/Past experience (prompt them to access it)

• Agenda books/calendars • Generate options and have them choose (or elicit options from student)

• Notebooks (to do lists) • Mentally rehearse association between cue and working memory

• Electronic devices & apps (iPad, iPhone)

+Emotional Control


Teaching Strategy

• Reduce or eliminate triggers

• Teach kids to recognize situations or early signs

• Give child a script to follow

• Graded exposure/guided mastery

• Remove student from problem situation

• Teach coping strategy

• Rehearse the strategy repeatedly until it is internalized

+Flexibility


Teaching Strategy

• Limit flexibility demand • Increase support

- reduce novelty - highlight similarities - provide a template - put in place a default strategy - turn open-ended tasks into closed-ended tasks - make steps more explicit - normalize errors

- present expectations - walk them through the task - give plans or rules for managing situations - think aloud

+Sustained Attention


Teaching Strategy

• Reduce distractions • Teach self-monitoring/peer coaching

• Prompt to attend (look, listen, respond)

• Have the student identify something to look forward to

• Modify/limit task length or demand (end in sight)

• Build in variety/choice

• Choose best time of day

• Immediately reinforce

+Task Initiation


Teaching Strategy

• Provide cues/prompts • Have the student select cueing system

• Reduce perceived effort/task demand

• Help the student limit initial demand

• Walk through first step – build behavioural momentum

• Help the child select reinforcer

• Make help readily available

• Help the child make a plan for doing the task

• Establish set time to do non-preferred tasks

+Planning/Prioritization


Teaching Strategy

• Demonstrate what a plan is

• Walk through the planning process

• Help student design a plan/template

• Have them apply plan to a simple task and gradually prompt kids to do more of the planning themselves

• Provide planning tools (calendar, agenda, apps)

• Ask questions to get kids to prioritize (What do you need?, What should you do first?)

+Organization


Teaching Strategy

• Demonstrate principle of off-loading the example from their lives

• Help them walk through the process. Have them motorically practice it (a long-term process, requiring that they put a system in place that’s monitored, initially on a daily basis)

• Work with them to create scheme, template or picture

• Ask students to evaluate current systems and challenge them to improve them

• Show organizational tools and have them try them out

+Time Management


Teaching Strategy

Make schedules and time limits explicit

Help kids learn what time means (time gaps in behavioral contingency)

Work with kids to make a schedule to follow and prompt each step of the way•Picture schedules•Clocks, alarms•Tablet/phone apps•Timers

Show them ways to mark time and let them practice

Practice how to estimate how long it takes to do something

Help them to follow schedules (daily events to homework plans)

+Goal-Directed Persistence


Teaching Strategy

• Establish goals with kids • Point out to kids how they already set goals but they may not know what they are. Define goals as something that people want to get better at or to change

• Reward kids for persistence (sticking with difficult tasks)

• Ask kids to set small, achievable goals, or a goal for something they want to do outside of school or set class goals

• Make sure the goal or benchmark is in sight

+Metacognition


Teaching Strategy

• Specify what is to be evaluated and how (goal or objective)

• Help student on how performance will be evaluated

• Evaluate performance for the student

• Have the student evaluate her performance

• Provide sample to match or error-monitoring checklist

• Compare evaluations

• Teach students to ask questions

- What’s my problem? - What’s my plan? - Am I following my plan? - How did I do?

+After the Fact…

Label what the student did well

Talk about the situation (s)

Ask for feedback from others

+More Strategies

Break complex tasks down into manageable tasks with deadlines

Goal Estimated Time Needed: Start Date__/__/__Deadline Date __/__/__

Done

1.

2.

+Resources…

See Resources Handout for more ideas

First Class – Special Programs – Resources – Executive Function

+ Executive Function February 23, 2015 Resource Teacher Training Karen Horner.

Documents

Transcript of + Executive Function February 23, 2015 Resource Teacher Training Karen Horner.