ORGANIZING THE RACING,

CLUTTERED MIND

Jessica Blasik, M.S.Ed.

Lisa Pass, Ed.S., NCSP

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

LEARNING GOALS: Understand some neurodevelopmental reasons

why children and adolescents may struggle to stay organized

Identify some of the most common Executive Functions and how they influence behavior

Determine you and your child’s EF strengths and weaknesses

Learn a problem solving technique to use to plan and implement your own behavioral interventions at home

THE HUMAN BRAIN: THE BASICS

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Executive Functions:

mental processes that

control and regulate

behaviors and abilities

Orchestra Conductor/CEO Organization Planning Initiation Shifting Working Memory Emotional Control Self-Monitoring Inhibition

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT CHILDHOOD THROUGH EARLY ADULTHOOD

(Thompson PM, Giedd JN, Woods RP, et al., 2000; Shaw, Greenstein, Lerch, et al., 2005)

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

Neuronal pruning (decrease in gray matter) occurs as brain becomes more “hard wired”

White matter increases as associations are made throughout the brain

Skills and behaviors practiced consistently during late childhood and early adolescence have a higher probability of being hard-wired into the adult brain

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF GIFTEDNESS

Some evidence that gifted children have larger parietal and frontal lobe areas

fMRI studies indicate that gifted children may have more efficient connections between frontal lobes and other areas of the brain (including emotion centers)

More widely spread activation when problem solving

GIFTED BRAIN (BOYLE, CUNNINGTON, SILK, VAUGHAN,

ET AL., 2005)

Brain activation in gifted (a) and non-gifted (b) students Mental rotation task

ASYNCHRONOUS DEVELOPMENT

Asynchronous

Development: uneven

intellectual, physical, and

emotional development.

Most noticeable in individuals with higher IQs.

Some cognitive abilities may be much more developed than others

Executive Functions normally develop at different times, so may appear asynchronous

ASYNCHRONOUS DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

-“My teachers saw me at once backward and precocious, reading books beyond my years and yet at the bottom of the Form. Winston Churchill

-“The servants all thought that young Isaac was foolish, and his mother did not know what to do with him…”

From Isaac Newton, The Greatest Scientist of All

Time

-“I used to take these maths tests which were supposed to be done in one period and it took me not just that period but the next one, which was a play period and sometimes the one beyond that…”

Roger Penrose, Cambridge Math Professor

INVENTORY

Complete the Executive Function Parent and Student Questionnaire

Score Each Section Higher scores indicate particular

strengths, low scores weaknesses Write down the three highest and three

lowest scores to get a “profile”

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Were there any surprises, either for your profile or your child’s?

Were your profile and your child’s profile the same, or different?

How might the differences or similarities between your profiles effect how you work with your child?

THE FAMILY DYNAMIC

How do these profiles effect family functioning?

Let’s take a lesson from the Hecks

WHEN YOU HAVE DIFFERENT PROFILES

When your strengths are your child’s weaknesses

Collaborate with child to get buy-inBe creative in using your strengths to

enhance their skillsMake a point to identify where you are weak

and your child is strong to maintain moraleWhen needed, lend them your strengths

WHEN YOU HAVE SIMILAR PROFILES

When your weaknesses are similar to your child’s weaknesses

Collaborate with your childBrainstorm solutions togetherShare stories from your past as lessonsGet others to help

A FEW EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONSON WHICH TO FOCUS

Executive Functions:

mental processes that

control and regulate

behaviors and abilities

Self-MonitoringOrganization InitiationShiftingPlanning

SELF MONITORING

Involves self monitoring and metacognition related to: tasks and environment interpersonal awarenessown performance

Recognizing what is going on inside one’s own mind, body, environment, relationships.

SELF MONITORING INTERVENTIONS

What adults can do to helpAlign external demands with internal

desiresSet small, attainable goals for each activity,

task, or class Student based suggestions

Have your child learn to check in with him/herself by asking: What am I doing right now? What am I supposed to be doing right now?

ORGANIZATION The ability to create and maintain

systems to keep track of information or materials

ExamplesCleaning roomKeeping binders neat and organizedOrganizing thoughts onto paperKeeping track of assignmentsTaking effective notes

ORGANIZATION INTERVENTION

Strategies for Keeping Things TidyUse a bin system or folder systemTake a picture of what “clean” looks likeBreak down into manageable, small steps

Getting Thoughts on PaperCognitive MappingKeeping a daily and weekly planner

What Parents Can DoCollaborate with students when developing

a strategyBe flexible and ready to brainstormMake it fun, whenever possiblePrepare to choose your battles

ORGANIZATION

“Constantly late for school, losing his books, and papers and various other things into which I need not enter– he is so regular in his irregularity in every way that I don’t know what to do.”

Winston Churchill’s Principal

INITIATION

Getting going, getting started on tasksKnowing where to begin, what to do, who to

ask

This is NOT non-compliance or disinterest in the task, its not knowing where to start

The ability to begin a task or activity and to independently generate ideas, responses, or problem solving strategies

INITIATION INTERVENTIONS

What adults can do to helpAdditional verbal and visual promptsDemonstrate the first problem of a work

sheetBreak tasks down step-by-step to reduce

feelings of being overwhelmed Write them down on index cards or in a notebook

Student based suggestionsHave your child create “to do” lists or

create “cookbook” with lists of steps for each activity

Organizing thoughts before beginning an activity

SHIFTING

Making transitionsTolerating changeFlexible problem solvingSwitching or alternating

attentionChange focus from one topic to

another

The ability to move freely from one situation, activity, or aspect of a problem

to another, in reaction to internal or external cues

SHIFTING INTERVENTIONS What adults can do to help

Consistent routines, schedules, and activities Make minor changes and help your child

respond Use visual organizers and planners to represent

the sequence of events throughout the day Student based suggestions

Slightly alter the order of everyday activities Working with two or three familiar activities and

alternate them Practice solving problems in different ways

PLANNING

Anticipation of future eventsSetting goalsDeveloping appropriate sequential steps

ahead of timeDetermining the most effective method or

steps to reach a goalKeeping track of time and steps to complete

tasks and reach goals

The ability to manage future oriented tasks

PLANNING INTERVENTIONS

What adults can do to help Have binder with steps for activities, assignments,

tasks Ask questions like: how long do you think this will

take you to finish? Demonstrate ways to plan

Discuss plans for the day; think out loud and model planning with multiple steps

Student based suggestions Practice setting a goal and lay out steps to reach

the goal Involve your child in planning events, such as

birthday parties, cooking dinner, or scheduling activities

SO, NOW WHAT DO WE DO?

Teach deficient skills rather than assuming they’ll develop naturally

Consider developmental level in your plan

Use your child’s innate drive for mastery and control

Over-ride the desire to quit Celebrate successes! Take a deep breath: stress decreases

frontal lobe activity

TEACHING EXECUTIVE SKILLS

Identify a problem behavior Set an overall goal and several smaller

benchmark goals Outline steps needed to reach the goal Turn steps into a list, a checklist, or

short set of rules Supervise and Reward Fade Supervision and reward

A NOTE ABOUT REWARDS

Well thought out rewards have an energizing effect on behavior

Not a bribe, but a way to help a child gain motivation when it is not yet internal

Not meant to be permanent Should be collaborative with child, and

open to adjustment throughout Can be tangible, or intangible Needs to be consistent

VIGNETTES: Problem solving practice in groups

Re-watch the Hecks, choose one character, and take 5 minutes to use the problem solving model on the worksheet to define the problem

SUGGESTED RESOURCESBooks

Late, Lost, and Unprepared by Joyce Cooper-Kahn & Laurie Dietzel

Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson & Richard Guare

The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond by D. Goldberg

Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties by G. McClosky, L. Perkins, & B. Van Divner

Websites

LDonline.org

http://www.ldinfo.com/executive_functioning.htm

InterventionCentral.com