3 Key Strategies for Managing
Executive Skill Weaknesses
•
Intervene at the level of the environment
•
Intervene at the level of the child by—
1. Teach the child the weak skill
2. Motivate the child to use the skill
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Move from external to internal:
critical dimensions
•EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
•CHANGE
•ENVIRONMENT
CHANGE
CHILD
•EXTERNAL CUE
SELF-CUE
2
Begin by modifying the environment
What do we mean by “modify the environment?”
Environmental modifications are any changes
we make that are external to the child.
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Strategies for modifying the environment
1. Change the physical or social environment
2. Modify the tasks we expect the student to
perform
3. Change the ways adults interact with the
student
4
Change the physical or social environment
• Seating arrangements
• Assignment of students to classrooms or teams.
• Classroom design (including how desks are arranged, as
well as placement of work materials, homework collection
bins, etc.).
• How the teacher navigates the classroom (standing at
front of room, sitting at desk, roaming around class).
• Look at how things are set up at home—could they be
rearranged to support weak executive skills?
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Modify the tasks we expect the student to
perform
•
•
•
•
Presentation of brief tasks
Build in frequent short breaks
Allow for choice
Make open-ended tasks more closed-ended or
provide support to do open-ended tasks
• Make steps more explicit (e.g., with templates)
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Change the ways adults interact with the
student
• Label the executive skills being practiced; be
explicit about why they’re important.
• Use prompts and reminders (ask kids how they
can remember)
• Embed metacognitive questions into instruction
• Use specific praise, reinforcing the use of
executive skills (Rule of thumb: 3 positives for
every corrective feedback)
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Thinking About Executive
Skills on a Deeper Level
We can impose executive skill
instruction and strategies on
kids
OR
we can help students figure
out how to grow their own
executive skills
What would this look like?
1. Create a common vocabulary and a set of
clear definitions.
2. Help kids see how people (both kids and
adults) rely on these skills in everyday life.
3. Teach kids to assess their own executive
skill strengths and weaknesses.
4. Help kids generate strategies they can use
to raise the efficacy of their executive skills in
situations that are important to them.
How to implement a child-centered
intervention
1. Decide what executive skill you’re concerned
about.
2. Select a recurring situation where the
weakness affects behavior.
3. Gather some baseline data (ideally, objective,
but if that’s not possible, create a vivid picture
of the behavior in action that you can share
with the child).
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How to implement a child-centered
intervention
4. Share with your child your data or
observations. Talk about the negative impact
you think it has and what positive effect you
think might come from trying to change the
behavior.
5. Ask for input from the child (Do you agree
this is a problem? Can you think of other
situations where this comes up?).
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How to implement a child-centered
intervention
6. Brainstorm some strategies the child might
try to improve the behavior, emphasizing
how the strategy should benefit the child
(rather than the adult). Have some
suggestions handy before you begin the
conversation.
7. Have the child select a strategy to try and
explain when the child will use the strategy.
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How to implement a child-centered
intervention
8. Just before the target situation, ask the child
what the plan is. In the beginning, keep the
practice sessions brief and compliment the
child often.
9. Prompt during the target situation if the child
doesn’t remember to use the strategy
independently.
14
How to implement a child-centered
intervention
10.Debrief afterwards. Ask child how it went
before giving your own feedback. Always
find something to praise and be specific!
11.Continue as long as necessary, but continue
to praise progress and improvement.
12.When problems arise, troubleshoot—if one
strategy stops working, have the child
choose another one to try.
15
Application
• 7 year-old Amber has a terrible time controlling her impulses at
school. She talks constantly, shouts out answers to questions,
and interrupts others, both her classmates and the teacher.
Getting through circle time in the morning is a challenge
because the teacher feels she’s not in control of the meeting.
This is an important part of the school day, because it’s her
chance to connect with her students and to give important
instructions for how the day will go. She’s created an outline for
each meeting so that the class knows what needs to be
covered, but she still feels like it’s disjointed, and she’s found
many times that when children return to their desks, they’re not
sure what they’re supposed to do next.
Application
Executive Skill
• Response Inhibition
Problem Behavior
• Interrupting
• Talking out without raising hand
Application
Executive Skill
• Response Inhibition
Problem Behavior
• Interrupting
• Talking without raising hand
Goal Behavior
Amber will raise her hand to speak during circle time.
Application
Problem Behavior
• Interrupting
• Talking without raising hand
Goal Behavior
Amber will raise her hand to speak
during circle time.
Possible Strategies
•
•
•
•
Have Amber sit next to teacher to
enable better control
Ask Amber to leave the circle at the
first interruption
Give Amber tokens for raising her
hand
Quietly praise Amber frequently for
waiting her turn or raising her hand
•
•
•
Pass a ball or other object to the
child whose turn it is to speak
Give Amber 5 tickets at the
beginning of circle time and remove
one each time she calls out; ask her
to leave group when she is out of
tickets.
Use a reward system—tokens can be
traded in for something from a
treasure chest
Problem Behavior
Goal Behavior
Amber will raise her hand to
Let’s Practice
speak during circle time.
• Interrupting
• Talking without raising hand
Teaching Procedure
1. Keep track for 1-2 days of how many times Amber speaks
out with raising her hand. If possible, get some sense of
how often others in the class speak out.
2. Share the data with Amber-”I’ve been keeping track for the
last couple of days and I’ve found during circle time you
didn’t raise your hand to answer questions about 10 times
each day. Other kids forgot to raise their hand only 2-3
times.”
3. Talk about how you think that affects circle time. “I’m
getting frustrated because I can’t explain the work and then
people don’t know what to do, and other kids seem to be
frustrated because they don’t get to talk as much as you
do.”
Teaching Procedure
Let’s Practice
4. Ask Amber if she thinks this might be a problem for her,
too. If she’s unsure how to answer, ask how other kids
might be feeling when Amber talks out.
5. Suggest that Amber may not have learned yet how to
handle circle time. Ask her to watch another child (pick a
role model) during circle time to see how that child
behaves.
6. Talk with her after the observation. Ask her what she saw
and write down her answers.
7. Ask Amber if she has any ideas how to fix the problem. If
she has trouble coming up with anything, suggest some
possibilities from the strategy list you already created. Ask
her to pick one to try.
8. When she has chosen a strategy, suggest that they try it for
a week to see how it goes. Tell her your going to be
keeping track of how many times she talks out, so you’ll
know whether the plan is working.
Teaching Procedure
Let’s Practice
9. Just before circle time each day, take Amber aside and
remind her of the plan. At the end of circle time, meet with
Amber and share your behavior count. Use lots of praise.
10. Each day share the results from that day and compare it to
previous days—and to baseline. A graph can be a powerful
way to present the data.
11. If the first strategy is not successful, have her pick another
one to try.
12. NOTE: If she talks out A LOT, you may want to target only
the first 5 minutes of circle time and increase gradually.
Application
• Corey is a 9-year old who tolerates school okay but hates
homework. He puts it off as long as he can, drags his feet even
getting the materials out of his backpack, and then engages in a
wide variety of avoidance behaviors (sharpening his pencil or
finding “just the right pen,” suddenly getting hungry and needing
a snack, and then the dog needs petting, and his younger
brother is watching an interesting tv show in the next room, and
that absorbs his attention). Unless Mom or Dad is sitting right
there, the work won’t get done—it may not even get started. And
then he zips through it without caring whether the answers are
right or wrong. The tension between him and his parents can get
pretty intense. And his parents keep saying to each other,
“We’re not in 4th grade anymore—why does it feel like WE have
homework?!”
Application
Executive Skill
• Task Initiation
• Sustained Attention
Problem Behavior
• Difficulty getting started on
homework
• Takes too long to finish
homework
Application
Executive Skill
• Task Initiation
• Sustained Attention
Problem Behavior
• Difficulty getting started on
homework
• Takes too long to finish
homework
Goal Behavior
Corey will begin homework by 5 pm and finish by 7 pm (with time out for
dinner)
Application
Problem Behavior
• Slow getting started on
homework
• Takes too long to finish
Goal Behavior
• Corey will begin homework by 5
pm and finish by 7 pm (with time
out for dinner)
Possible Strategies
•
•
•
•
Make a homework plan right after
school
Cue the child in advance of the start
time
Schedule short breaks (ask the child
how long he can go before he might
need a break)
Ask the child to estimate how long
he things each assignment will take
•
•
•
•
Allow the child time to do something
fun if the homework is done by an
agreed-upon time
Use a timer or a stopwatch
Ask the child where the best place to
do homework is
Use a reward system—points for
starting and finishing on time and
not complaining
Problem Behavior
Goal Behavior
• Corey will begin homework
Let’s Practice
by 5 pm and finish by 7 pm
• Slow getting started on
homework
• Takes too long to finish
(with time out for dinner)
Teaching Procedure
1. Keep track for a week of when Corey starts his homework
and how long it takes him to finish it.
2. Share the data with Corey-”I’ve been keeping track, and
this week you didn’t actually start your homework until 7
and you had to rush to finish it by bedtime at 8:30. Your
teacher says the work shouldn’t take more than 20
minutes. What do you think’s going on?”
3. Talk about the impact of this on both Corey and the
family—”I feel like I’m always yelling at you and it feels like
you never have any free time to do the fun things you like
to do before bed.”
4. Ask Corey what might help to make homework go more
smoothly. If he can’t come up with ideas, share a few of
your own.
Teaching Procedure
5.
Let’s Practice
Ask him to help select a strategy or two to try. The best strategies
include an agreed-upon cue, a way to stay engaged during
homework, and a reward when the homework is done.
6. Explain how the process will work: as soon as Corey gets home
from school, he’ll make a quick homework plan (what he has to
do, when he’ll do each task, and where he plans on working). Then
he gets to play.
7. You will cue him 10 minutes before the start time, so that he can
wrap up what he’s doing.
8. When he starts his homework, he writes down the start time for
the first task. He writes the stop time when he finishes.
9. He gets a 5 minute break between tasks (or every 15 minutes),
until all the work is done.
10. If he’s done by 7, he gets to play video games for 30 minutes
before starting to get ready for bed.
Response Inhibition
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
• Increase external controls
• Cue the child (external to
internal)
• Restrict access
• Teach wait/stop
• Post classroom rules and
review regularly
• Teach delayed gratification
Working Memory
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Use orthotic memory devices:
• Prompt to access past
experience
 Agenda books/calendars
 Notebooks (to do lists)
 Electronic devices & aps
(iPad, iPhone)
• Generate options and have
them choose (or elicit
options from student)
• Mentally rehearse
association between cue
and working memory
Emotional Control
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
• Reduce or eliminate triggers
Teach kids to recognize situations
or early signs
• Give child a script to follow
Teach coping strategy
• Remove child from problem
situation
Rehearse the strategy repeatedly
until it is internalized
Flexibility
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Limit flexibility demand
• Reduce novelty
• Provide a template
• Put in place a default
strategy
• Turn open-ended tasks into
closed-ended tasks
• Make steps more explicit
Increase support
• Think aloud
• Walk them through the task
• Give plans or rules for managing
situations
Teach error factor
Change tolerance by gradual
exposure
• Introduce change (lightning boltpreferred to non-preferred)
• Introduce new situations
Sustained Attention
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Reduce distractions
Teach self-monitoring/peer
coaching
Cue to attend (look, listen,
respond)
Modify task length or demand
(end in sight)
Build in variety/choice
Choose best time of day
Have the child identify
something to look forward to
Task Initiation
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Provide cues/prompts
Help the child make a written
plan for doing the task.
Walk through first step—build
behavioral momentum
Establish set time to do nonpreferred tasks
Have the child select cueing
system
Planning/Prioritization
Environmental Modification
Provide a plan/template
Provide planning tools
(calendar, agenda book,
Inspiration)
Teaching Strategy
Walk through the planning
process and gradually prompt kids
to do more of the planning
themselves
Ask questions to get kids to
prioritize (What do you need?
What should you do first?)
Organization
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Create scheme, template or
picture
Walk them through the process.
This is a long-term process,
requiring that a system be put in
place and monitored, initially on a
daily basis.
Provide organizational tools
Ask students to evaluate current
organizational systems and how
they could be improved to meet
their needs.
Time Management
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Make schedules and time limits Teach kids how to tell time and
explicit
mark time
Give kids a schedule to follow
and prompt each step of the
way
• Picture schedules
• Clocks, alarms
• Smart phone aps
• Time timers
Teach kids to follow schedules
(daily homework plans)
Teach how to estimate how
long it takes to do something
Goal-Directed Persistence
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Establish goals for kids
Point out to kids how they already
set goals but they may not know
what they are. Define goals as
something that people want to get
better at or to change.
Reward kids for persistence
(sticking with difficult tasks)
Make sure the goal or
benchmark is in sight
Ask kids to set small, achievable
goals, or a goal for something they
want to do outside of school, or
set class goals.
Metacognition
Environmental Modification
Teaching Strategy
Evaluate performance for the
student
Embed questions that prompt
metacognitive thinking
Provide sample to match or
error-monitoring checklist
Teach students to ask questions
• What’s my problem?
• What’s my plan?
• Am I following I my plan?
• How did I do?