Executive Functions
I was fortunate today to attend Advanced Training on Executive Functions presented by Sarah Ward MS CCC-SLP and Kristen Jacobsen MS, CCC-SLP. I learned a lot of new strategies and techniques and am excited to try them out in the classroom. Here are some highlights, but first:
What is Executive Functioning?
According to the Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University, "executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions and juggle multiple tasks successfully." Our brains are not simply born with these abilities, we "are born with the potential to develop them."
Normal Development
I learned today that our ability to make a mental image in our mind to anticipate the future is developmental. Here is a timeline of how far ahead one should be expected to anticpate time.
2 years old: NOW
3-5 years old: 5-20 minutes
1st grade: Several hours
3rd grade: 8-12 hours
12-16 years old: 2-3 days
17-23 years old: 2-3 weeks
23-35 years old: 3-5 weeks
(Jacobsen and Ward, Cognitive Connections)
Strategies
As a speech therapist I can teach students to develop imagery, progressing from concrete to abstract images. Today I learned about a way to structure this thinking: Get Ready, Do, Done. There are also many scheduling and time management techniques to help a student monitor this process.
More Information
You can learn more about Executive Functions as Sarah Ward will be presenting the SEPAC workshop on April 28, 2016 at the Horace Mann Auditorium. I would highly recommend this workshop!
I can't wait to start trying out some of these new techniques and strategies to improve executive function skills in our students.
-Mrs. Rocco MS CCC-SLP
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