2 Day-Advanced Course-Executive Function in Kids and Teens Who Are Smart but Scattered – Margaret Dawson

Salepage link: At HERE. Archive:

Make good choices. Study. Take turns. Start homework. Sit still. Focus. Finish homework. Turn in homework.

Executive function (EF) is at the core of everything kids and teens are asked to do each day at home and school. And yet when these expectations aren’t met, professionals often turn to consequences, discipline, and “tough love” to encourage change. And when that doesn’t work, the child is labeled as “lazy” or “unmotivated” rather than someone who lacks certain skills.

Watch Peg Dawson, Ed.D., NCSP, leading expert in executive function, for this advanced training where you’ll not only gain a comprehensive understanding of executive dysfunction and its impact on young lives, you’ll also have a complete clinical toolbox full of interventions to:

• Assess for and diagnose executive function difficulties from childhood to early adulthood
• Change any environment to accommodate low or weak executive skills
• Boost skills in organization, planning, decision making and emotional regulation
• Provide effective psychoeducation and training to parents and families
• And more!

And while many intervention plans are too complicated and time-intensive for long term success, Peg offers up simple, straightforward, and practical interventions that can be used every day to improve any child or teen’s level of functioning.

This recorded training is a must-watch for any professional working with kids and adolescents – buy today!

1. Describe the neurological processes involved in executive skill development both in typically developing children and those with executive dysfunction (such as ADHD).
2. Identify developmentally appropriate expectations for executive skill development in children from preschool to early adulthood.
3. Communicate the role of executive skills in school performance and daily living for children and adolescents.
4. Determine “best practices” for assessing executive skills, including both formal and informal measures.
5. Implement strategies for modifying the environment to be more supportive for children with weak executive skills.
6. Create daily routines both at home and at school that support the development of executive skills.
7. Utilize a 4-step process to task-analyze classroom lessons to identify the specific executive skills that are involved.
8. Generate strategies for overcoming common obstacles to effective deployment of executive skills.
9. Educate students about executive skills so they can identify their own executive skill strengths and weaknesses and develop supportive strategies where needed.
10. Design child/student-centered interventions that target specific executive skills to resolve specific problem situations at home and/or school.
11. Utilize behavioral incentives and other motivational strategies to encourage children and teens to engage in the level of practice necessary to develop effective executive skills.
12. Provide education to parents of teenagers on the dynamics of the parent-child relationship during adolescence, the impact this has on executive skill development, and how to design age-appropriate interventions. 

Get to Know Executive Function (EF)

• The 11 executive skills
• Two dimensions of EF skills: Thinking and doing
• Are EF skills innate? Learned?
• Exercise: Match the descriptor to the EF skill

The Neurobiology of EF

• Normal v. atypical brain development
• Chronological v. age of functioning, ex – ADHD
• How do executive skills develop in the brain?
• Negative influences on EF development
• Can executive skills be recovered?

Assessment: What Does Weak EF Look Like?

• Parent/teacher interviews: What to ask/ look for and why
• Behavior rating scales (BRIEF-2, ADHD Rating Scales-V, and more!)
• Limitations of formal evaluation
• Observation/informal assessment
• When is it an educational disability?
• Co-morbidity with mental health disorders

Linking Assessment to Intervention: 3 Key Skills to Accommodate Executive Skill Weaknesses 

• Environmental Modifications
  • Any changes made external to the child – physical or social
  • Modify the nature of the task(s)
  • Change the ways adults interact with the child
  • Exercise: Brainstorm modifications for each EF skill
• Teach Deficient Skills
  • Adults (temporarily) become the child’s frontal lobe
  • 3 steps to embedding executive skills into:
    • Content area lessons
    • Whole-class routines
    • Small group curricula
  • Adaptations for K-6, middle school, and high school
  • Step-by-step examples: Cleaning room, starting the day, homework plans, classroom organization
  • Exercise: Design an EF-conducive classroom or home routine
• Motivate the Child to Use the Skill
  • A new look at incentives and reinforcement
  • The benefits of using incentives
  • Simple “go-to” incentives
  • Longer term, more elaborate incentives
  • Exercise: Brainstorm and discussion on incentives

STRATEGIES, STRATEGIES, STRATEGIES: Must-Have Interventions for Home, School & Beyond

• The 7 keys to effective intervention design
• The “perfect” intervention has these 2 factors
• Must-have strategies for getting kids on board
• Covey’s in my control/out of my control

Student-Centered Interventions: Steps and Guidelines

• Exercise: Step-by-step development of a student-centered intervention
  • Case: Sarah – seatwork struggles, poor follow through
  • Case: Max – task refusal, wanders, not following directions
  • Case: High school student – intellectual disabilities

Practical, Innovative Strategies Designed to Target:

• Beginning & end of day routines
• All things homework – collection, completion, turning in!
• Paying attention
• Desk cleaning
• Writing papers
• Longer-term projects
• Organization
• Managing open-ended tasks
• Taking notes
• Temper control
• Impulsivity
• Transitions
• Perspective taking
• Problem solving
• And more!

Coaching: 1:1 Interventions for Executive Skill Development

• Key components of coaching
• Stages and goal setting
• Class-wide peer coaching
• Evidence behind coaching’s effectiveness

Clinical Considerations

• ABA/RTI in schools
• Working with parents and families
• Multicultural factors
• Limitations of the research and potential risks