05/18/2015
Characteristics of
Adolescence and
Pre-Adolescence
Lauren O’Leary, NCSP, LPC
October 25th, 2014
Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
To identify universally experienced path of cognitive,
social and emotional development in adolescents.
To identify risk factors and protective facts that
contribute to the adolescent path of development.
To identify strategies and techniques that may help
support common classroom challenges with
adolescents.
To develop an awareness of multiculturally differences
in adolescence development (e.g., diversities among
economically challenged teens, racial, ethnic, religious,
LBGTQ teens…etc.).
Adolescence Defined

“The Wonder Years” – a time of unprecedented
growth & change

Brain experiences a growth spurt just before
puberty & then “pruning”
 More
growth than any other time in life except infancy
 Prefrontal
Cortex, Frontal Lobe – development not
complete until 25 years old
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Myth of Storm and Stress
According to Research:
 Most
adolescents admire and love their
parents.
 Most adolescents rely upon their parents for
advice.
 Most adolescents embrace many of their
parents’ values.
 Most adolescents feel loved by their parents.
Boy with a Pipe
by Pablo Picasso




Rapid Physical
Changes
Self-consciousness
Need for peer
approval
Identity
Rapid Physical Changes
Growth spurt
 Maturation of the reproductive system
 Appearance of secondary sex
characteristics
 Increased muscle strength
 Redistribution of body weight

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Moodiness
Correlations with influx of hormones and
irritability is found in:
A. Adolescence
B. Pre-Adolescence
Biology of the Brain

Adolescents have less
 Dopamine
– mood changes and problems
with emotional control
 Serotonin – decreased impulse control

Adolescents have more
 Melatonin
– responsible for the sleep wake
cycle
Hot Verse Cool Cognition

“Hot” Cognition – Teens are thinking under
conditions of intense emotion and high arousal
(less rational).
 Adult
 Teen


Sees Risk
Sees Reward
“Cool” Cognition - Thinking logically about
situations that have both risk and reward. Using
decisional balance (i.e. pros and cons) to make a
choice.
Take away – Emotional reactions from adults fuel
the emotional reactions of teens.
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Frontal Lobe


Controls planning,
working memory,
organization, & mood
modulation
Location for executive
functions in the brain
Function of Frontal Lobes
Decide what’s worth attending to and
worth doing
 Provide continuity and coherence to
behavior across time
 Modulate affective and interpersonal
behavior so that drives are satisfied within
constraints of internal & external
environments
 Monitor, evaluate, & adjust

Executive Functions




A set of processes that help people connect past
experience with present action
EF are used in activities such as planning, organizing,
strategizing, paying attention to & remembering details,
managing time & space
Necessary for complex, goal-directed behavior &
adaptation to a range of environmental changes &
demands
One of the most vulnerable cognitive functions


Affected in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders
Vulnerable to injury – TBI, acquired disorders
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EF Development
Rudiments of EF begin in early childhood
Protracted course of development
 Multi-stage process that coincides with
brain’s physical maturation


 Different
skills emerge at different times in
development
Two Assumptions
Guare & Dawson, 2013
1.
2.
Most individuals have an array of
executive skills strengths and
weaknesses.
The primary purpose of identifying areas
of weakness is to be able to design and
implement interventions to address those
weaknesses.
Self Assessment
Take a moment to rate yourself on your
Executive Functions
 Calculate your 3 greatest strengths and 3
weaknesses

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Executive Skills: Definitions
Response Inhibition: The capacity to
think before you act, ability to resist the
urge to do something
 Working Memory: The ability to hold
information in memory while performing
complex tasks, incorporates ability to draw
on past learning or experiences to apply to
current and/or future situations

Executive Skills: Definitions
Emotional Control: Ability to manage
emotions in order to achieve goals,
complete tasks, or control/direct behavior
 Flexibility: Ability to revise plans in the
face of obstacles, setbacks, new
information, or mistakes
 Sustained Attention: Capacity to
maintain attention to a situation or task in
spite of distractibility, fatigue, or boredom

Executive Skills: Definitions



Task Initiation: Ability to begin projects without
undue procrastination, in an efficient or timely
manner
Planning: Ability to create a plan to reach a goal
or complete a task, involves being able to make
decisions about what is or is not important to
focus upon
Organization: Ability to create or maintain
systems to keep track of information or materials
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Executive Skills: Definitions



Time Management: Capacity to estimate how
much time one has, how to allocate it, & how to
work within time limits & deadlines
Goal-Directed Persistence: Capacity to have a
goal, follow it through to completion, & not be
distracted by competing interests
Metacognition: Ability to stand back & take a
“birds-eye view” of a situation, allows one to
observe their own problem-solving process,
includes self-monitoring & self-evaluative skills
EF in Adolescence
Middle school & high school present a
significant increase in the demands for
organizational skills
 Issues may emerge with self-directed use
of skills, task initiation, mental flexibility,
etc.

What do EF weaknesses look like?






Doesn’t bother to write
down assignments
Forgets directions
Forgets to bring materials
home
Runs “out of steam”
before finishing work
Chooses “fun stuff” over
homework & chores
Passive study methods
(or doesn’t study)







Forgets homework /
forgets to pass it in
Leaves big assignments
or chores until last minute
Can’t break down longterm assignments
Sloppy work
Messy notebooks
Loses or misplaces things
Can’t find things in
backpack / locker / binder
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Clyde
Clyde is a 14 year old 9th grade student. His
teachers report that he never does his
homework, his back pack is a black hole, he is
constantly shouting out answers in class, and
once you tell him something it goes in one ear
and out the other.
Positively, they note that Clyde is enthusiastic
about learning. When he is assigned a paper he
initially has good ideas and they see so much
potential. However, when asked to start the task
Clyde becomes frustrated and won’t modify his
ideas to make the assignment more
manageable. Teachers never see a final project
and are frustrated with his “laziness”.
EF Deficits

Based on the Vignette we just read, and
every thing we’ve learned about executive
function deficits thus far how many EF
deficits can you identify for Clyde?
Strategies to Manage EF
Weaknesses

Intervene at level of the environment
 External
supports for behavioral & emotional
control

Intervene at the level of the student by:
 Teach
student the weak skills
the student to use the skills
 Motivate
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Environmental Modifications
1.
2.
3.
Changes in physical or social
environment
Modify tasks student is expected to
perform
Change interactions with the child
Physical or Social Environment
Supports
Add barriers
 Reduce distractions
 Provide organizing structures
 Provide supervision
 Careful, deliberate seat assignments or
groups
 Establish simplified, consistent routines

Amend Task Presentation
Make the task shorter, reduce amount of
work required or divide it into pieces with
breaks built in along the way
 Make steps more explicit
 Create a schedule and/or timelines of
tasks, assignments, due dates, etc.
 Praise student for using their EF skills

 Example:
Reinforcing use of Math or Writing
Labs
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Altering Interactions



Rehearse with student what will happen and
how you & the student will handle it
Set clear limits & expectations
Use prompts (verbal or nonverbal)
 Provide


feedback & consistent consequences
Remind student to check their list, agenda,
rubric, schedule, etc
Build in variety or choice with respect to tasks to
be completed or the order in which they are to
be done
Coaching Students

Teach EF skills they are deficient in
 Most
students are not able to acquire executive
skills through observation or osmosis
 Explicitly teach systematic thinking
 Have students identify their own EF goals
 Coaching links current behavior with future
goals
 Can create an incentive system to encourage
students to use skills being taught
Helping Clyde
In small groups, identify ways in which you
could provide supports for Clyde, in order to
improve his success in the classroom?
 Environmental
Modifications
or Social Supports
 Amending Tasking Presentation
 Altering Interactions
 Coaching EF Deficits
 Physical
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Piaget’s Stages of Development
Stage
Description
Sensorimotor
Formation of increasingly complex
Birth – 2 years
sensory and motor schemes that allow
infants to organize and exercise some
control over their environment.
Age Range
Preoperational
Children develop the tools for
representing schemes symbolically
through language, imitation, imagery,
symbolic play, and symbolic drawing.
2 – 7 years
Operational
Children begin to appreciate the
logical necessity of certain causal
relationships.
7 – 11 years
Formal Operational
Continues through adulthood. Allows
an individual to conceptualize about
many simultaneous interacting
variables.
11 – 15 years
Six Characteristics of
Formal Operational Thought
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Mentally manipulate multiple pieces of information
Things could change in the future
Hypothesize about a logical sequence of possible
events
Able to anticipate the consequences of their
actions
The capacity to the logical consistency or
inconsistency in a set of statements
Think in a relativistic way about themselves, other
individuals, and their world
Adolescent Egocentrism

Personal Fable
 Unique
 Risky

and invulnerable
behaviors
Imaginary Audience
 Attention
getting behaviors
to be noticed
 Self-Consciousness could increase
 Need
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Conditions that Support
Formal Operational Thought
1.
2.
3.
Functioning in a variety of roles
Participating in a more heterogeneous
group
Content of the high school curriculum.
Kohlberg’s
Stages of Moral Development
Preconventional Level: Punishment and Reward
Stage 1: Obedience to authority
Stage 2: Nice behavior in exchange for future favors
Conventional Level: Social Norms
Stage 3: Live up to others’ expectations
Stage 4: Follow rules to maintain social order
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Kohlberg’s
Stages of Moral Development
Postconventional Level: Moral Codes
Stage 5: Adhere to social contracts when it is valid
Stage 6: Personal moral system based on abstract
principles
Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg
Level
Stage
Ages
Social Orientation
Pre-Conventional
1
2-4
Obedience and Punishment
2
4-7
Individualism, Instrumentalism
3
7-10
Good Boy/Girl
4
10-12
Law and Order
5
Teens
Social Contract
6
Adult
Principled Conscience
Conventional
Post-Conventional
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The Moral Dilemma
Two young men, brothers, had got into serious trouble.
They were secretly leaving town in a hurry and needed
money. Karl, the older one, broke into a store and stole a
thousand dollars. Bob, the younger one, went to a retired
old man who was known to help people in town. He told the
man that he was very sick and that he needed a thousand
dollars to pay for an operation. Bob asked the old man to
lend him the money and promised that he would pay him
back when he recovered. Really Bob wasn't sick at all, and
he had no intention of paying the man back. Although the
old man didn't know Bob very well, he lent him the money.
So Bob and Karl skipped town, each with a thousand
dollars.
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The Moral Dilemma

Using the moral dilemma we just read, in
groups of 5-6, identify how a person at
each moral stage of development would
interpret the situation and solve the
problem.
Engaging the Adolescent Learner

Help students make the connection between the
concepts taught & how the information applies to
them, make the information relevant
 As
they feel a more personal connection to
information, they likely will feel more empowered &
want to learn more

May benefit from a Socratic method
 Discuss
a topic, use questions to clarify answers on
either side of an issue

Inquiry or problem-based learning
Engaging the Adolescent Learner

Design lessons that include a full range of
sensory motor experiences
 Engaging
sense & emotions will increase
attention span & heighten memory

Have students write reflectively
 Helps
consolidate learning and create
meaning between activities

Peer collaboration & cooperative learning
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Engaging the Adolescent Learner
Allow for student choice (when possible)
Opportunities for movement & physical
exercise
 Consider various learning styles when
creating lessons


Learning Styles



Auditory: Learn best through discussion,
repeating facts aloud, hearing others talk, music
can be an effective tool
Visual: Learn best by seeing, remember
information that they’ve written or read, use
written instructions or illustrations for reference,
charts, diagrams, vides
Kinesthetic-Tactile: Remember best by doing,
engage in their own physical movement or
watch someone else perform a task, use
manipulatives, hands-on activities
Conditions that Support Adolescent
Learning

Adolescents learn better when they…
 Encounter
learning that is appropriate to their
developmental level & is presented in multiple
ways & in an enjoyable, interesting manner
 Are intellectually intrigued by tasks that are
“authentic” & perceived as challenging, novel,
& relevant to their own lives
 Are allowed to share & discuss ideas, & to
work together on tasks, projects, & problems
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Conditions that Support Adolescent
Learning

Adolescents learn better when they…
 Are
given multiple strategies to acquire, integrate, &
interpret knowledge meaningfully, to demonstrate
understanding, & to apply knowledge to new
situations
 Are provided opportunities to develop & use strategic
thinking skills (i.e. reasoning & problem-solving)
 Are given guidance & feedback about their work, &
are permitted to monitor personal growth &
understand
 Are in a safe, supportive environment where value is
given to personal ideas & negative emotions are
minimized
Questions?
Thank You!
Resources
Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2009). Smart but Scattered. New York, New
York: Guilford Press.
Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2012). Coaching Students with Executive
Skills Deficits. New York, New York: Guilford Publications, Inc.
Dawson, P., Guare, R., & Guare, C. (2013). Smart but Scattered
Teens. New York, New York: Guilford Press.
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2010). Human Development; A LifeSpan View, 5th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2006). Development Through Life;
A psychosocial approach, 9th edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson
Wadsworth.
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