Classroom Accommodations to Help Special Education Students with Executive Functioning Skills

Executive Function and

Self-Regulation (EF/SR)These are the skills that provide critical supports

for learning and development, and while

we aren’t born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and

practice. 

Executive Function and Self-Regulation1. Paying Attention or Focus

Focusing is obviously central to achieving our goals. If we are sodistracted that we can't pay attention, we can't concentrate.

2. Working MemoryWorking memory is holding information in our minds while

mentally working with it or updating it, such as relating what you're reading now to what you just read or relating what you are learning now to

what you learned earlier.

3. Cognitive Flexibility Cognitive flexibility is being able to flexibly switch perspectives or the focus

of attention and flexibly adjust to changed demands or priorities.

4. Inhibitory ControlThis is the ability to resist a strong inclination to do one thing and instead do

what is most appropriate. It means sticking with something you are doing after you've had an initial failure -- inhibiting the strong inclination to give

up or continuing to work on something even when you're bored.

Why teach Executive Functioning Skills?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efCq_vHUMqs

In the classroom…Executive functioning allows students to access information, think about solutions,

and implement those solutions. 

In the real world…

The facts…• Children with learning disabilities often have

executive functioning disorders as well. • Executive functioning is a term psychologists

use to describe the many tasks our brains perform that are necessary to think, act, and solve problems. 

• Executive functioning includes tasks that help us learn new information, remember and retrieve information we've learned in the past, and use this information to solve problems of everyday life.

What are we working towards? The goal is for students to: • initiate action• maintain attention• organize their work and daily

environment• plan oral and written

assignments/projects• improve working memory• improve self-awareness

     What behaviors are we targeting?

The student…• Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes.• Has difficulty sustaining attention.• Does not appear to listen.• Struggles to follow through on instructions.• Has difficulty with organization.• Avoids or dislikes tasks requiring sustained mental effort.• Loses things.• Is easily distracted.• Is forgetful in daily activities.• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in chair.• Has difficulty remaining seated.• Runs about or climbs excessively.• Difficulty engaging in activities quietly.• Acts as if driven by a motor.• Talks excessively.• Blurts out answers before questions have been completed.• Difficulty waiting or taking turns.• Interrupts or intrudes upon others.

How our brain processes information

Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary.

Here are some common accommodationsteachers can make to pave the way to

learning.

Closing thoughts…If you look at what predicts how well children will do

later in school, more and more evidence is showing that executive functions -- working

memory and inhibition -- actually predict success better than IQ tests.

The beauty and the purpose of executive functions is they enable the student to control themselves, to

reflect deeply, and to consider things from multiple points of view. As such, they involve paying

attention, remembering what the student needs to remember to pursue their goals and thinking.