Matching strategies to EF deficits
As you begin to address deficits in EF skills, bear in mind that you won't be addressing the specific executive function process directly. What you will be addressing is the problem (or problems) that the child is running into in his life. So, for example, you won't be putting strategies into place to support "emotional control" directly - you will be addressing a more specific situation in which emotional control is an issue (for example, the child can't accept your pointing out that his work has been done incorrectly without shutting down). Of course, these deficits will be apparent in more than one specific situation so you may be addressing the same problem in multiple situations. If the child can't accept hearing about his work done incorrectly, he probably won't be able to accept the referee blowing a whistle to signal a foul.
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Thus, it would be helpful for you to assess the child's fit in the environment so that you choose supports that might be useful across specific situations. For example, I worked with a young man at Lego camp who ran everywhere. If the group was heading to build cars, he exploded out of his chair and dashed to the Lego sheet. Then if it was time to wash hands, he dashed to the bathroom. He dashed everywhere and often, bumped into others, knocked things off chairs or tables, etc. He also struggled at the table when seated. If the group talked about the motor, he immediately had to grab it, even if it was in front of another child. Clearly, his response inhibition was deficient; his initial impulses guided his reactions. Also, his working memory (the ability to hold information in memory about the rules about running and taking turns) was deficient. So, while we would not be working on working memory or response inhibition in general, we addressed the specific situations in which his working memory was not efficient. First, we provided some extra adult support (my presence) at those times when we were going to move the groups around. Additionally, we made the movement to the next place into a contest of who could move like a monkey, giraffe, etc. so that he had to wait to hear the animal before moving. The strategies we chose addressed his specific issues. This would, in turn, strengthen the development of these executive skills over time.
Click on the executive function skill to see difficulties you may see in your student
and strategies that address those skill deficits.
To see all the strategies in one booklet, click the link.
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To continue through the website, click on an executive function skill above. If you want to follow them as they developmentally emerge, follow the feet on the right! If you want to look at certain processes specifically, then just start clicking. At each page, you can choose to come back here to this page to choose another EF or you can move to the next one that emerges developmentally by clicking the feet.
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