Developing Independent Executive Function Skills

Learn it on Saturday...Implement it Monday Morning!

Participation in this workshop will lead to a detailed understanding and foundation of the executive function skills for immediate use in home, school and clinical settings. Going beyond symptom management these strategies are guaranteed to improve executive functioning for more independent and ‘less stressful’ living.  You will leave this seminar with increased competency as well as many new tools for your ‘tool box’  including client worksheets and resources!

Click Here for the Full Conference Brochure!

Do you have students who are disorganized and may not have the materials they need or even turn in the homework they have completed?

Is their desk, locker or room a ‘black hole’ for papers and materials?

Do you observe students who struggle to “stop and read the room” and meet the demands of the situation?  

Or do you see students who struggle to initiate complex academic assignments, procrastinate and then run out of time to do their ‘best work’?

Do you see students who are constantly multitasking, so tasks/assignment take twice as long as they should?  

Do you wish your student had a sense of urgency when it comes to time so that tasks are completed, and routines to get out the door happen on time?

Is it heartbreaking to hear their difficulties engaging and completing tasks described as a lack of motivation, but you see the problem as their inability to breakdown the demands of an assignment and have a sense of how to start?

Intention Deficit Disorder

Our intentions are reflected by what we do in the moment in order to be prepared to take action or have an outcome at a later time. More often than not, task planning happens in a different space and time from where we execute the plan. Consider this scenario: On Monday the teacher tells the class there will be a test on Friday. The student writes 'test' in their agenda and receives a plan/script for how to study: 1. Review Study Guide 2. Make flash cards and mnemonics 3. Memorize terms 4. Have mom or a friend quiz you. However, this does not guarantee the student will either initiate studying or give themselves enough time to study! They 'intend' to start studying soon! We agree with Dr. Russell Barkley who describes some of these students as seemingly having an “intention deficit disorder” more often than an “attention deficit disorder”.

How do we go from intention to action? Intentions are, according to Dr Russell Barkley who is a leading expert on ADHD, "the things we are doing to get ready for what lies ahead in time -- our goals; our plans; the assignments that we should be working on; the paths that other people have given us that we need to be paying more attention to in order to be ready when that time gets here." Students with attention challenges can pay attention to what is happening in the moment but struggle to attend to what lies ahead in time and has to be done next in order to get ready for that future. Individuals with executive function(EF) deficits exhibit a delay in the development of this self-regulatory temporal horizon.

The challenge for parents and professionals is to recognize the symptoms of executive function deficits and know how to help students not merely compensate for but truly develop independent executive function skills. Executive Function challenges are more prevalent than ever. We will consider the reasons for this apparent increase in diagnosis.

Course Outline

A New View of Executive Function Skills

Understanding how therapy works: The Award Winning 360 Thinking model explained

360 Thinking in Practice: Best Methods for Changing Behaviors

Being a Beat Ahead:  Following Routines, Initiating Tasks, Making Transitions

o   Using the core skills of gesture and stated intention to be a “Mind MIME” and help students create mental visual imagery for the future.

o   Teach students to be a ‘mental time traveler’ and pre-experience the physical actions to complete a task in prospective time and space.

o   Learn how to increase a student’s spatial temporal window or how far into the future they can see and sustain prospective planning

o   Implement treatment interventions for improving impulse control and working memory

o   Increase self-determination and motivation

Improve organization of materials, papers and personal belongings

Increase Time management

o   Building an internal sense of the sweep of time. How to create and stick to time markers; identify and manage time robbers

o   Manage of daily time

o   Long term project management. Reducing procrastination, understanding task demands and prioritizing steps

Task Completion

o   Show students the process of how to plan homework -even if it lasts more than an hour, or must be completed over days and or weeks. Helping students to plan and effectively utilize time in a resource room/learning skills/homework center

o   Teach students how to break down complex tasks and assignments and then plan for, organize and initiate tasks

Homework

o   Practical strategies will be given to help with the initiation of difficult assignments and to ensure work is returned in a timely manner.

o   The homework space:  learn tricks for supporting students and their families in creating a positive and productive environment for homework – even if you do not go home with the student!

When: 

Saturday April 7, 2018

8:00-8:30am Registration. Coffee will be served.

8:30-3:00 Seminar. A Box Lunch will be Provided.

Cost: $215.00

Fee Includes Morning Coffee/Light Refreshment, Box Lunch, Course Booklet, and Many Hands On Materials

This program has been approved for 5 Social Work Continuing Education hours for relicensure, in accordance with 258 CMR. Collaborative of NASW and the Boston College and Simmons Schools of Social Work Authorization Number D 73465.

This workshop is offered for 0.5 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area)

 

Register Now!

or Click Here for Full Conference Brochure!

   

Kristen Jacobsen, MS CCC-SLP

Co-Director at Cognitive Connections LLP,  Kristen has co-authored the innovative 360 Thinking approach to facilitate executive functioning skills. Kristen has also co-authored executive function articles and educational  products, including the Academic Planner and Tracknets, as well as the Time Tracker Program and Get Ready*Do*Done instructional approach. Kristen provides hundreds of trainings and workshops for teachers to deliver effective executive function based instruction that can reach all learners in their classrooms.
 

Who Should Attend

Parents of children who need additional strategies to be organized and effectively manage their time, tasks and materials.  

Parents of children who have  learning challenges with associated executive function based weaknesses.     

Teachers who want to learn how to implement functional strategies into their classrooms which will foster the development of the executive function skills in their students.    

Professionals  who work with children and adolescents who struggle to initiate, to be flexible in their thinking, to execute and complete tasks successfully and who need to provide their patients and families with practical strategies. 

Strategies will be given to address the needs of school aged children.  Multiple examples for younger and older children will be given.  It is not recommended that children or teens attend.

This program has been approved for 5 Social Work Continuing Education hours for relicensure, in accordance with 258 CMR. Collaborative of NASW and the Boston College and Simmons Schools of Social Work Authorization Number D 73465.