Executive Functioning in the Adolescent

Presented by Cecile Selwyn, M.Ed, Ed.SDirector , Commonwealth Learning Center

Workshop Topics

• Overview of Brain Functioning

• What is Executive Functioning

• Executive Functioning in the Adolescent Brain

• Help for the Disorganized Student

Getting to Know the Brain

• Cerebrum

• Cerebellum

• Limbic

• Brain Stem

• Thinking Skills

http://www.managementcanvas.iimindore.in/icanvas/images/stories/Marketing-Branding/neuromarketing3.JPG

What is Executive Function? What does it look like in the classroom?

• Cognitive Tracking - being able to focus

• Set Maintenance – to keep on task

• Set Shifting –be flexible and use a different approach if necessary

• Abstraction – to notice what is common behavior

• Response Suppression – to stop a certain behavior

What does it look like?

• Loses/breaks everything• Yells out answers in class/difficulty sitting in a seat• Talks to you when you are on the phone• Messy room, desk, locker• Coat & shoes dumped on the floor, clothes all over the bedroom• Forgets…homework, permission slips, water bottle, sneakers• Takes things without asking• Does not read directions• Doesn’t know when practice is cancelled• Doesn’t know that a project is due• Starts a project at the kitchen table at 6pm• Needs to use the bathroom 10 minutes into a long trip

• Forgetful– leaves behind and loses things, late on assignments

• Impulsive, risk taking, reckless• Poor judgment, poor decisions, can’t foresee

consequences• Misunderstanding, misreading, misinterpretations• Stay up late, can’t get up early• Moody, overly sensitive, hysterics• Shocking dress, tattoos, piercing• Alcohol, drug use• Argue with logical and rational reasoning• Messy rooms, lockers, notebooks

9d11c75c/cool-brainguest481c2fe7

Motivation, Sleep & Distractors

• Motivation dopamine – main neurotransmitter involved in motivation and reinforcing behavior

Nucleus Accumbens directs motivation to seek rewards

they want high excitement for low effort

don’t understand consequences• Sleep Pineal gland produces melatonin but takes longer to rise in

adolescents

in other words: the teen brain program for nighttime starts later

• Effects too early to tell the effects of drugs, nicotine and video games

• Adrenal glands release hormones that regulate mood and excitability

• Melatonin levels take longer to rise• There is a “developmental gap”: • parts of the brain responsible for sensation are flooded

with hormones while parts of the brain for “exercising judgment” is still under construction “Risky Business” no brakes whacky behaviors shaky judgments

Important Findings for Adolescent Cognitive Behavior

Immaturity forces responses to social interactions from an emotional stance –

• Can’t read facial expressions,• Have trouble with impulse control and either do something or say

something without thinking,• Rule breaking• Don’t have the ability to see consequences,• Can’t diffuse anger,• Can’t delay gratification• Sex, Drugs and Rock n roll

Results from recent NIMH studies

• Extensive structural changes occur well past puberty

• The brain is now thought to be far from mature until ages 20-25, some teens seem slower to exhibit proper use of their executive functions

• Some researchers estimate a 3 year lag in acquisition of behaviors

• During puberty: raging hormones: sex hormones trigger changes in the limbic system (the emotional center)

feelings reach flashpoints earlier teens seek thrills and intense situations feel the need to leave the nest, explore the world and find a partner

adrenal glands release hormones that regulate mood and excitability melatonin levels take longer to rise

Ethical Concerns

Before the prefrontal cortex is fully developed, teens can get a driver’s license and join the army and are subject to the death penalty for poor decisions

They are still in training for time management and organizational skills

Mental Health Concerns• Depression and Suicide * Substance Abuse• Eating Disorders * ADHD behaviors• OCD * Schizophrenia

Understanding the disorganized student• Frequently loses papers

• Doesn’t hand in assignment on time or at all

• Has a backpack full of crumpled papers

• Can’t break down long-term projects and misses deadlines

• Leaves everything for the last minute

• Disrupts home life with frantic searches, urgent requests for last minute help

• Has anxiety melt-downs

What is not taught

• How to locate papers

• How to bring home the right books

• How to complete and hand in an assignment on time

• When the teacher introduces the “process” (how to find materials, take notes, create an outline, write a first draft and then edit), set deadlines, break up the larger project into smaller parts)

• the student misses this and doesn’t apply it later, the student falls into a poor pattern of behavior, grades drop and tensions grow

Late Assignment Report

Student name: __________________________________________ Date received: ______________Assignment: __________________________________________________________________Date the assignment was due: ________________ Total days late Reason (s) for missing the due date: school-based sports/extracurricular activity job/work requirements difficulty with material/lack of understanding procrastination heavy course load social events, clubs, or group event out of school otherDetails: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What interventions were required in order to complete the assignment? home-based effort and completion time homework club at lunch homework club after school extra help from teacher tutorial counselor visit otherDetails: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What strategies could be put in place next time to avoid this situation?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Organized Student• Organization at School lockers, planners, notebooks, homework assignments, files on computer, checklist (to do, to have) backpacks,

• Organization at Home room, (divide into separate zones), closets, desk and desk drawers or files, work and study space, calendars, clocks, to do lists, priority lists, to ‘remember’ lists• Time Management order priority, estimation of time, schedule, calendar, clock for time management (not digital), house rules

Go from this to this

Go from this to this

Quick Summary• Development of the teen brain is variable in direction and • Prefrontal cortex continues to develop: old thinking – ages

12-20, new thinking – ages 12 through mid 30’s examples: from temper tantrums at age 3, to succumbing to peer pressure to try drugs/alcohol, to deferring long-term commitments to a career or partner, until the 3rd decade of life

• Genes do not cause brain development• Adults and adolescents: some teens are very mature and some adults

are not

• Hormones and Neurotransmitters play a big part in the teen brain development, (ADHD, depression, sleep deprivation, emotional factors

• Many mental disorder symptoms first emerge during adolescence

• Alcohol and drugs affect the teen brain more than adults

What can be done?• Awareness of learning styles and working styles

• Metacognition strategies

• Self-activation and self-regulation

• Accepting responsibility and consequences

• Organizational help

• Executive function coaching

References for ParentsBooks• Where’s My Stuff –The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide by Samantha Moss• How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk – A.Faber & B, Mazlish• Organizing the Disorganized Child – Martin Kutscher & Marcella Moran

Linkswww.learningworksforkids.com; http://life.familyeducation.com;www.teach-the-brain.org

Organizations• Council for Exceptional Children• National Institute of Mental Health: Brain Basics• National Center for Learning Disabilities• Child Development Institute