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 Executive Functioning ( or as we like to call it - Self Regulation)
In September of 2012, we were fortunate to have Karen Ott vandeKamp and Elisha Chambers, two psych-educational consultants for Trillium Lakelands DSB, give our students a 'workshop' on executive functioning. During our lesson, the students reflected on their strengths and difficulties related to eight areas of executive functioning. They are:
inhibition |
shifting |
working memory |
planning |
emotional control |
organizing self |
self awareness |
getting started |
During the 2011-2012 school year, we focused on five areas: getting started, organizing, inhibition and emotional control. For this school year (2012-2013), we will focus on the remaining four categories, with an emphasis on Working Memory, as this is an area that all of us struggle with, and something which impacts every aspect of our daily lives.
As I did last year, I will contiue to post our area of focus in this area, as well as strategies that we are working on in class. If you are still wanting to work at home on the areas we worked on last year, please scroll down to see the posts from the previous year.
September, 2012
Working Memory: defined by Wikipedia as "the system which holds multiple pieces of transitory information in the mind when needed for verbal and nonverbal tasks such as reasoning and comprehension, and to make them available for further information processing" (or simply put: the ability to hold information in my mind to complete a task".
Working memory impacts us in many ways throughout out academic day. From holding onto numbers for calculation, letters for spelling, rhyming, facts for comprehension, dates in history, to listening and following through on instructions, and completing taskswith more than one step, to name just a few.
We will working on the following strategies throughout the year:
- make sure I have eye contact with the teacher when she is teaching a lesson
- take frequent, brief breaks and use my fidget tools
- complete harder tasks when I am more alert
- ask for steps to be written down, and use those steps as a checklist
- chunk tasks into smaller steps
- ask the teacher to repeat instructions, lists, etc.
- create a mneumonic (ie., Kings Play Chess on Fine Green Soil = Kingdom, Phyllum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species =:)
In addition to the above strategies, here are some things that may be helpful at home to reduce the working memory load:
- reducing the amount of information to be stored by giving directions one step at a time and/or providing breaks in between tasks
- increasing the meaningfulness and degree of familiarity of the material to be remembered (sometimes we call this "real life applications", or "attaching the new thinking to some old thinking)
- use simple language - both vocabulary and sentence structure
- provide written prompts and cues, checklists, visuals, etc.
September, 2011
Over the course of the year we will focus on one of these areas of executive functioning in order to build skills and confidence. Specifically, over the next two or three weeks, students will be writing goals related to "Getting Started". They will choose two of the following strategies that will help them get started on tasks. At the end of the learning block, they will reflect on how well they did, and what they might do next time. These strategies would also be effective at home.
- Ask my teacher to break the task into chunks
- Work with a partner
- Ask my teacher to repeat the instructions
- Remove myself to a quiet spot
- Use the computer
October 17, 2011
Well, the students have worked hard to "get down to business" as quickly as possible upon entering the classroom. While it is still a work in progress, I believe we have all made great gains in this area! We will continue to work on this throughout the year.
Last week, we began work on the character trait of Perseverance, and have tied that in with our Executive Functioning skill of Inhibition, which is an area all of us find difficult. Inhibition covers quite alot, so for the moment we have narrowed it down to "Accountable Talk". Accountable talk means we are talking for a purpose, and usually with a shoulder partner. It means we are not talking out just because we have an urge to share =:). Once again, students are choosing one or two strategies to help them self regulate and inhibit the urge to shout out or verbalize at the wrong moment. They include:
- sitting on your hands to control the urge
- counting to ten before speaking
- using a sticky note to jot down an idea instead of shouting out
- using square breathing
- putting our hand up
You might find it helpful to use some of these strategies at home.
November 23, 2011
We continue our work on inhibition and are now focusing our efforts on "Accountable Movement". This includes recognizing when we are using our fidget tools and selective seating appropriately and inappropriately, and then putting steps in place to become more effective in our choices. I am also asking the students to be reflective regarding where and how they move throughout the classroom in an effort to make the best use of our time and space. Just as we did with accountable talk, students are choosing one or two strategies as aids. They may choose from the following:
- carefully choose where I sit, and what I sit on, to minimize distractions
- take frequent, short breaks (walk around the classroom, use a break card, go the 'the island')
- begin an activity with a movement break (yoga, deep breathing, guided relaxation, push ups, ball bouncing)
- ask myself "what will I do with this tool" before I begin to use it
Once again, these are strategies that are transferrable tohome. Let me know how they work!
December 2011 and January 2012
Organization - or lack thereof =) We've been working on organizing ourself and our belongings, something we all (including myself) struggle with. Organization is often affected by two things: memory and impulse control - first, we need to actually remember where things belong, and then we need to act on that memory, something which is difficult to do. Putting our computers away is difficult, as is placing work in the appropriate spot (ie., duotangs or notebooks). Pencils are a whole other issue - sometimes we just have to agree that there are some items that are too easy to lose, and that as adults, it's easier, quicker and more helpful to just give them the pencil =:). Here are some strategies we are trying in our room to help keep us organized:
- exit cards posted at the back of the door as a checklist - the adult needs to ask "did you....."
- use one spot for all of your belongings - ours is our cubby
- create checklists - did I/ do I/ should I.... and remember to use the checklist!
- keep extra sets of things (ie, the pencils) to avoid frustration
- we will use our ipods to help us remember our homework - more to come on that!
February and March 2012
Emotional Control - the ability to control our emotional reactions. Frustration tops our lost of emotions that we find difficult to control, especially
when we are trying our hardest to accomplish something, or when things don't go our way, especially when interacting with our peers. Anxiety can
be caused by lots of things - worrying about what happened, or what might happen, unpredictability of events or actions by ourselves or others,
and by stresses and pressures of every day life. In our room we are practicing using our words: " I don't like it when....it makes me feel..." so that
we can not only identify what we're feeling, but also let others know the same. We all have experienced times when we have difficulty controlling
our emotions. Here are some strategies to try:
- talk it out with an adult (parent, sibling, teacher) using an "I" statement
- create a list of metaphors and use them in times of stress ("I'm cool as a cucumber")
- exercise, yoga, meditation, finding a quiet spot to de-escalate and decompress
- use a break card (walk to the office, get a drink, etc.) and square breathing
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