Executive Function Skills
Executive function skills are high-level mental processes that allow us to regulate behavior over time to achieve longer-term goals. Put simply, they help us get stuff done that we’d rather not do, but need to.
Nurturing these skills from a young age can have a bigger impact on your child’s education and long-term well-being than other factors -including IQ, school choice, or delaying kindergarten.
Nurturing these skills from a young age can have a bigger impact on your child’s education and long-term well-being than other factors -including IQ, school choice, or delaying kindergarten.
Executive function skills are all about self-regulation -the ability to do all it takes to focus on a goal despite distractions. Self-regulation skills are shaped by heredity but are strongly influenced by experience and the home environment. They continue to develop until around age 25 but are often delayed in people with ADHD and other learning differences.
My approach is informed by research in the fields of education, psychology, and over 25 years of experience as a teacher and educational consultant in public and K-12 independent schools. A father and primary care-giver of two boys ages 11 and 13, parenthood has played an instrumental role in shaping my understanding and approach.
Change takes time and commitment. I guide students and parents alike through a growth process rooted in trust, understanding the issues, shifting mindsets, and repeated practice with individualized tools and techniques. I provide learners with tailored recommendations and hands-on training using technology and more traditional learning tools and organizational strategies. Given the strong influence of the home environment, I strongly encourage parental involvement.
My framework consists of the following:
My approach is informed by research in the fields of education, psychology, and over 25 years of experience as a teacher and educational consultant in public and K-12 independent schools. A father and primary care-giver of two boys ages 11 and 13, parenthood has played an instrumental role in shaping my understanding and approach.
Change takes time and commitment. I guide students and parents alike through a growth process rooted in trust, understanding the issues, shifting mindsets, and repeated practice with individualized tools and techniques. I provide learners with tailored recommendations and hands-on training using technology and more traditional learning tools and organizational strategies. Given the strong influence of the home environment, I strongly encourage parental involvement.
My framework consists of the following:
- Attention regulation: Attention is the doorway to learning. While largely chemical in nature, there are many environmental considerations that enable a focused learning environment. Without attention, there is no learning.
- Procedural regulation: Some students struggle because they have not been taught how to accomplish tasks that depend on certain cognitive skills in ways that work for them. Like pilots who use checklists to guide their actions and keep cool under pressure, students benefit from helpful learning tools that structure challenging academic and organizational tasks.
- Emotional regulation: How we feel about something often dictates how or whether we act on it. Emotions are the rudder that dictates a learner’s response to a problem. When a student has systems for juggling the complex demands of school, emotions are more likely to motivate and sustain effort than derail it.
- Social skills / regulation: EF challenges often impact social skills. Providing clients with lighthearted, structured, and brief opportunities to reflect upon their social interactions with peers can be very helpful in terms of shaping awareness and building relationships.
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