While you’re getting settled please…• Complete the “Self Identification Form”• Complete the “Pre-Training Questionnaire” • Answer the following question:• How many unmotivated learners do you typically have in

your classroom?• What is the best way to address unmotivated learners?

Executive FunctionKelly RafterKids’ Potential

Funded by voter approved mental health services act (Prop 63)

Did you know?• 1 in 5 California adults reports needing help with mental or emotional

problems.• Approximately 9 million children have a mental health issue but only 1 in

5 receives appropriate treatment• With support and treatment, 70-90% of people with a diagnosed mental

illness have a reduction in symptoms but it typically takes 6-8 years for young people to get health

• People with mental health illness (anxiety, ADHD, depression, autism, etc.) experience stigma and discrimination in the classroom and in their families. Many times, this includes treating a student with ADHD differently in front of classmates, blaming parents or others for mental health illness, or talking about students as “strange,” “crazy,” or “weird.”

• As teachers, you are key in reducing stigma by spreading awareness, encouraging treatment, acting with compassion, and accepting students for who they are rather than what his or her diagnoses is.

• We need to be role models of compassion and acceptance.

Ways we perpetuate stigma…• Calling a student Autistic or ADHD (e.g. “Troy is autistic”)

• Do not let a mental illness define the person.• Instead say, “Troy has autism.”

• Saying that a student is lazy• Do not assume that laziness or lack of motivation is the reason the

student is failing.• Instead, identify the root of the problem. Is the task too difficult? Does it

require skills that the student does not have? Did their attentional issues get in the way of them understanding the directions?

• Telling parents or the student that they just need to “try harder”• Parents turn to you as the expert and need strategies to help.• Students internalize your words and begin to label themselves as lazy or

“bad.”• Instead, offer tools and strategies that you find helpful for students

struggling with attentional issues in your own classroom.

What is Executive Functioning? 1: Using Thinking Skills to Select and Achieve Goals or Solve Problems• Planning• The ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or to

complete a task. Making decisions about what is and isn’t important to focus on.

• Organization• The ability to arrange or place tings according to a system

• Time Management• The capacity to estimate how much time one has, how to

allocate it, and how to stay within these time limits and deadlines. Also, it involves a sense that time is important

• Working Memory• The ability to hold information in mind while performing complex tasks. The ability to draw on past learning or experience to apply to the situation at hand or to project problem-solving strategies into the future

• Metacognition• The ability to stand back and take a bird’s-eye view of oneself in a situation, observing how you problem solve, self-monitoring, and self-evaluating (i.e., asking yourself, “How am I doing?” or “How did I do?)

What is Executive Functioning?2: Guiding or Modifying our Behavior as We Move Along the Path• Response Inhibition

• The capacity to think before you act, which allows us the time to evaluate a situation and how our behavior might impact it

• Self Regulation of Affect• The ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals, complete tasks,

or control and direct behavior• Task Initiation

• The ability to begin a task in timely fashion, without procrastination• Flexibility

• The ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information, or mistakes. Adapting to changing conditions

• Goal-directed Persistence• The capacity or drive to follow through to the completion of a goal and not be put off by

other demands or competing interests

What Brain Structures are Involved in Executive Function?• The prefrontal cortex (part of frontal lobes) is not

the only brain structure involved, but is likely the most pivotal• The frontal lobes decide what is and isn’t worth attending

to• The frontal lobes provide continuity and coherence to

behavior across time• The frontal lobes modulate affect and interpersonal

behaviors• The frontal lobes monitor, evaluate, adjust

The Brain

• The role of the frontal lobes in executive function make them central to learning

• Educational expectations should take into account deficiencies or strengths in this area, as well as age-related normative behavior

• ADHD typically negatively affects frontal lobe functioning

• Deficits in frontal lobe functioning are dealt with by adults externalizing the abilities associated with healthy frontal lobe functioning

Executive Function in the Growing Child• The frontal lobes are the last brain structure to

fully mature• This maturational process isn’t complete until

early adulthood• Therefore, executive function improves as the

child grows up• However, some individuals have deficits in

executive function that do not normalize with age

Developmentally Appropriate Executive Function Tasks: Kinder—2nd Grade• Run errands (two to three step directions)• Tidy bedroom or playroom• Perform simple chores, self-help tasks; may need

reminders (i.e. make bed)• Bring papers to and from school• Complete homework(20-minute maximum)• Decide how to spend money (allowance)• Inhibit behaviors: follow safety rules, don’t swear,

raise hand before speaking in class, keep hands to self

Developmentally Appropriate Executive Function Tasks: 3rd—5th Grade• Run errands (may involve time delay or greater distance, such as

going to a nearby store or remembering to do something after school)• Tidy bedroom or playroom (may involve vacuuming, dusting, etc)• Perform chores that take 15-30 minutes (clean up after dinner, rake

leaves)• Bring books, papers, assignments to and from school• Keep track of belongings when away from home• Complete homework (1 hour maximum)• Plan simple school project, i.e. book reports (select and read book,

write report)• Keep track of changing daily schedule (i.e. different activities after

school)• Save money for desired objects, plan how to earn money• Inhibit/self-regulated: behave bad when teacher is out of the

classroom; refrain from rude comments, temper tantrums, and ban manners.

Developmentally Appropriate Executive Function Tasks: 6th—8th Grade• Help with chores around house, including daily and occasional

tasks (i.e. empty dishwasher, rake leaves, shovel snow); tasks may take 60-90 minutes to complete

• Baby-sit younger siblings or for pay• Use system for organizing schoolwork, including assignment

book, notebooks, etc.• Follow complex school schedule involving changing teachers

and changing schedules• Plan and carry out long-term projects, including tasks to be

accomplished and reasonable timeline to follow; may require planning multiple large projects simultaneously

• Plan time, including after school activities, homework, family responsibilities; estimate how long it takes to complete individual tasks and adjust schedule to fit

• Inhibit rule breaking in the absence of visible authority

Executive Function and the Common Core (Language Arts)“As a natural outgrowth of meeting the charge to define college and career readiness, the Standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century. Indeed, the skills and understandings students are expected to demonstrate have wide applicability outside the classroom or workplace. Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. “

-CCSS Introduction Language Arts

Executive Function and the Common Core (Math)“But what does mathematical understanding look like? One hallmark of mathematical understanding is the ability to justify, in a way appropriate to the student’s mathematical maturity, why a particular mathematical statement is true or where a mathematical rule comes from. There is a world of difference between a student who can summon a mnemonic device to expand a product such as (a + b)(x + y) and a student who can explain where the mnemonic comes from. The student who can explain the rule understands the mathematics, and may have a better chance to succeed at a less familiar task such as expanding (a + b + c)(x + y). Mathematical understanding and procedural skill are equally important, and both are assessable using mathematical tasks of sufficient richness.” -CCSS Introduction Math

Intervene at the Level of the Classroom• Initially the parent or teacher becomes the

external frontal lobes of their child• They provide a plan, an organizational scheme, and a specific set of directions• They monitor performance• The provide encouragement, motivation, and feedback about the success of the approach• They problem solve when something doesn’t work• They determine when the task is completed

Intervene at the Level of the Classroom• Fading Support and Supervision for the Child• After child has been walked through the process several

times, support and supervision can be gradually reduced• Instead of providing direct supervision, a list can be

created, or picture cues may be provided. Some parents use iPhone to record instructions for homework (may be able to use a similar device in classroom).

• Motivate the child to use executive function skills already within his repertoire• Use praise and recognition when an executive function

skill is used• Incentive systems are also helpful

Strengthening Executive Function Skills at School• Develop uniform procedures for tasks (handing in

homework, turning in assignments, color coded folders for unfinished work, how to organize notebooks, color coded bins).

• Daily schedules posted on the board (visual schedules for younger students) or on desks (as needed).

• Time Timer (computer version for class and/or individual)• Utilize graphic organizers (and send them home for

assignments).• Model the way to set-up/organize math assignments.• Think Aloud to solve problems (e.g. “Let me show you how I

think my way through this problem…”).• Tidy up workspace at the end of the day.

• Provide incentive for clean desks and time to clean them; share ideas for ways to organize school space, backpack, desks at home

• In class assignments: record anticipated and actual time spent on each task of the paper. Recommend the same strategy for homework.

• At the beginning of the year ask students to rate homework with regard to difficulty and plan/prioritize with regards to difficulty level. Make a plan for completion at home.

• Rank homework for order of completion and plan how/when to complete each task.

• Teacher sign planner at the end of the day (helpful for all at the beginning of the year and those that need help at the end).

• Seat partners check planners after homework is written down.

• Provide an EF “Coach” for students to aid in organizational skills Generate a study plan for tests; analyze test results and effectiveness of the plan.

• Break up projects into manageable pieces (for younger students) and teach older students how to do it themselves

Reminders:

• The process or procedure needs to be monitored daily, at first.• Some students will take longer than others to internalize

procedure or some procedures may take longer to teach.• The process must be designed, described, and taught carefully and

with attention to detail so there is no confusion and there are no loopholes.

• Monitor and provide feedback on the procedure or process (verbal cues, visual reminders, schedules, lists). If the system doesn’t work, redesign it (don’t assume a lack of motivation).

• If a child needs help with a task more than 25% of the time, make a change (e.g. make the task shorter, make the steps more explicit, make the task close ended, build in choice or variety, provide a scoring rubric).

• Consider the physical environment when there are problems (where student sits, transitional time, supervision).

Executive Function by Content Area• Math: Model how to set up paper and provide

feedback; provide paper divided into workspace and answer areas

• Language Arts: Provide graphic organizers, use the writing process, provide materials for at-home writing

• Science: Set up study plans• Social Studies: Break up projects together

Executive Function Interventions at Home• Daily schedules (visual schedules for younger students)• Rate homework with regards to difficulty and plan/prioritize with regards to

difficulty level. Make a plan for completion• Rank homework for order of completion and plan how/when to complete

each task• Record anticipated and actual time spent on each task• Teacher sign planner at the end of the day• Cross out completed tasks• Signatures (as needed) for writing down all assignments and then

completion • Backpack checks (daily then weekly)• To Do Lists (post it note) and/or color code tasks for completion• Generate a study plan and write it in planner OR on a monthly/weekly

calendar or whiteboard• Break up projects and write it in planner• Bingo for non-preferred task